January 22, 2025 • 36 mins
Another installment of the series GAY OR NAY, where we determine if someone is gay...or nay. This time? Mary Todd Lincoln and the woman who made her dresses Elizabeth Keckley.
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Speaker 1 (00:08):
School of Humans.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
I thought to celebrate this auspicious week of having mister
Donald Trump back in the freakin White House, was we
could do one of my favorite things. We're going to
determine if someone is gay or nay. You know, that's
one of my favorite things to do on the show,
is to say that people are gay.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
But hey, it's not me saying it.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
It's I'm just merely quoting scholars who have allegedly done
rigorous research to come to that conclusion.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
And of course, you guys know that.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
My favorite one of these in this line of conjecture
is Gabraham Lincoln. So that's what makes the hypothesis of
this episode all the more thrilling, because a few people
have suggested that just maybe their gaitars picked up a
little bit of something something on Abraham Lincoln's wife, Mary Todd.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Whoa whoa, whoa whoa insane? How can that be?
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Mary Todd was the one who persistently pursued sad standoff
ish Abe Lincoln in their courtship. How could that make
her gay? Well, the thing about being gay is there's
a little gay in all of us. Sorry, that's just science.
And Mary Todd might have had an extra special connection
with her modiste, Elizabeth Keckley, And if you don't watch Bridgerton,
(01:33):
a modiste is someone who makes dresses. Keckley designed many
of Mary Todd's most iconic looks and became her closest friend,
so close that some people are like, hey, isn't that
a wee bit queer? And they don't mean queer derogatory,
they mean queer as in they had romantic feelings for
each other. But at the same time you could look
(01:55):
at their relationship and just be like, hmm, mary Todd
is being extremely codependent and overbearing instead of gay. But
we have yet to reach that lie level of analysis
and determining if someone is gay or nay. So let's
just get into the episode. See what's going on, See
who's gay, see who's not gay, and have a merry
old time, a gay time if you will cue the
(02:19):
theme song. This is American filth and I'm Gabby Watts.
Every week I tell you a filthy story from American history.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
This week's episode gay.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
Ornay, Mary Todd and the Modiste. Now, after that one
hell of an intro, I'm going to tell you at
the top that I think it is very unlikely that
these two ladies were gay for each other. But later
(02:55):
in the episode, we'll look at some claims, we'll look
at some ideas, we'll entertain the notion. Okay, During Abraham
Lincoln's president see, Elizabeth Keckley became one of the most
sought after dressmakers in all of Washington, DC. She was
making these cool designs that cinched at the waist with
the very wide floor length skirts. And here's the thing
(03:18):
about the Civil War, it was a bad time. You know,
more than six hundred thousand people died by the dresses
of the era. I'd wear them. I'm down with them,
especially Keckley's. And before she worked for Mary Todd Lincoln. Weirdly,
she also designed gowns for other DC elite like Verena
(03:38):
Howell aka future Confederate President Jefferson Davis's wife and mary
Ann Curtis aka Robert E.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
Lee's wife.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
They were like, we have fundamentally opposite views on slavery,
but we do agree on fashion. And the fact that
Elizabeth designed Verena and Mary Anna's dresses is extra eerie
because Elizabeth Keckley herself used to be enslaved. We know
(04:11):
a lot about Elizabeth Keckley's life, because in eighteen sixty
eight she wrote an autobiography which led to a big
scandal that we'll get into later. Elizabeth Keckley, then she
was Elizabeth Hobbs, was born in eighteen eighteen on a
plantation in Virginia called the din Whittle Courthouse. Doesn't that
(04:34):
sound stupid? Din Whittle? It's the Dinwhittle Plantation. For most
of her life, she thought that her father was this
guy named George Hobbes. He was another enslaved man, and
he was sold off to another plantation at some point,
which was heart wrenching for her and her mother. He
was able to visit them from time to time. But
(04:54):
later on, in fact, on her mother's death bed, her
mom revealed to her that actually her biological father was
the owner of the plantation. Her mom had been sexually
assaulted by he him and that guy the owner of
the plantation when she was in her teens. He sold
Elizabeth off to somebody else in North Carolina. There she
(05:16):
had a horrific experience where she was constantly beaten, and
then a few years later she was returned back to
that family in Virginia, and she moved with them to
Saint Louis. In Saint Louis, she also had a horrific experience.
She was sexually assaulted by a white man, and from
that assault she had a son named George, named after
the man who she.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
Thought was her father.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
And in Saint Louis, the family that enslaved her was
almost completely out of money, and because of that, they
were threatening to sell Elizabeth's mother and she was like, wait, please,
don't do that.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
I can figure out how to make money.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
At that point, she'd already become an experienced seamstress, and
she was like, Hey, what I'm going to do is
I'll go find a job as a dress maker and
then we can just live off of that money. And
by live off of that money, I mean the family
would just garnish her wages. And because she was so
good at making dresses, she quickly built a reputation as
(06:16):
a talented modiste and a lot of the high society
ladies of Saint Louis came to visit her and get
her dresses. For two and a half years she lived
like this. She worked constantly and it was her money
that she was making that supported the family that enslaved her.
(06:38):
And at some point Elizabeth was like, this is crazy.
Why must I work to support this whole family? And also,
how is this fair to my son? At this point,
she didn't know that the plantation owner was her biological father,
but she was rationalizing her son like this, like he's
also half white. That means he's also half of a
(06:58):
free person. Why should he be forced into slavery. In
her thirties, Elizabeth started trying to buy freedom for her
and her son. At first, her enslavers wouldn't give her
a price, but then eventually, after many years of asking,
they said twelve hundred dollars. Elizabeth was happy to have
(07:19):
a number. She was so happy about this that she
consented to get married to a man who had been
pursuing her in Saint Louis. This was mister Keckley himself,
and when they got married, that's when she changed her
name Elizabeth Keckley. However, her excitement was very short lived,
because one it was proving impossible to raise any money
(07:41):
since the family was still garnishing all of her wages,
and also her husband was becoming a nuisance. He'd lied
to her about a lot of stuff. First, he said
he was free when in fact he was enslaved. And also,
while she doesn't go into all of his shenanigans in
her book, it became clear that she was not just
embarrassed by him, but also despised having to provide for
(08:04):
him as well. She was like, he's doing all this
degrading stuff.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
Yuck.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
For years, she tried to save money, but she could
never make enough, and then the patriarch of the household
she was enslaved and died, and her book she said
the guy who took over the estate was sympathetic to
her cause and said it would be okay if she
went to New York State. There she could appeal to
abolitionists and be like, hey, can you give me twelve
hundred dollars so I can buy my freedom and my son's.
(08:35):
But then the wife of the guy who enslaved her
was like, Hey, actually, I don't want you to go
to New York unless you get six men in Saint
Louis to promise to give me twelve hundred dollars if
you don't come back. And Elizabeth Keckley at first was like, Hey,
I am a woman of my word. Of course I'm
(08:55):
going to come back. Also, my son's here, you crazy bitch.
But she was like, fine, I'll go get those signatures.
Really good reputation in Saint Louis, and she was very
easily able to get five men to sign this document. However,
the sixth man she asked said he did not think
(09:16):
she had a good character and if she left Saint Louis,
she would never return. This made Elizabeth Keckley really upset,
because not only was she not able to go to
New York. She was like, why would this guy think
that about me? I'm like noble and thinking of the
(09:38):
circumstances I'm in, and I'm still a really good fucking person,
you dumb bitch. She didn't say like that, because she's
much nicer than I am, but she was in despair.
She wrote in her book, the heart grew heavy. Every
ray of sunshine was eclipsed with humbled pride, weary step,
tearful face, and a dull, aching pain. There was no
(10:01):
mourning for me. All was night, dark night.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
But all was not lost for Elizabeth.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
One of her clients, a woman, came by and said
that she would give her four hundred dollars. The client
was like, hey, Elizabeth, you don't need to go to
New York. I'm going to help you raise the funds
so you can buy your freedom. And this woman, along
with the help of Keckley's other clientele, raised the full
amount of twelve hundred dollars and Elizabeth Keckley and her
(10:34):
son George were able to get their freedom. And then
right after she bought her freedom, she was like, Hey,
thank you clients for getting me this money, but I
only took them as a loan. I'm going to keep
working and I'm going to pay all of you back.
And like, she probably did that because she is a
(10:55):
really honorable, noble person, but also she doesn't want to
be indebted to any white people because at some point
those white people might change their and be like, actually,
that was me purchasing Elizabeth instead of giving her a gift.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
She was a smart lady.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
She knew not to trust these people, so she continued
working in her shop and she quickly paid everyone back.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
And at that point she.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
Also told her husband to get the heck out of
her life and never talk to her again. He was
still doing his old shenanigans, his same old tricks as
degrading behavior. He was embarrassing. She was like my son
and I are leaving. I hope to never hear from
you again. And in eighteen sixty that's what she did.
(11:41):
She's around the age of forty at this point, and
she and her son left Saint Louis and moved to Baltimore.
There she tried to make money off teaching, but unfortunately
she didn't make enough, so with barely anything in.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
Her pocket book, she moved to Washington, d C.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
Where eventually she'd meet Mary Todd Lincoln the first We'll
be right back after these soothing advertisements. Now you might
be wondering, I thought the point of this episode was
(12:22):
to talk about gay stuff. Well, we'll get to that eventually,
don't you freaking worry. When Elizabeth Keckley and her son
got to Washington, d C. She had a hard time
setting up shop. She only had ten days to get
a license to start working and to start taking clients,
(12:43):
but that was proving difficult. Wow, it's kind of like
a loophole in the system. It's like, yes, you can
be a black woman who works, but you only have
ten days to get a license. And in order to
get a license, you need people to recommend you. So
you got to find the people and it's just bureaucracy,
that's like trying to oppress you. But remember she had
(13:05):
been enslaved on a plantation in Virginia pretty close by,
so she was able to get connected with some of
the people she had previously made dresses for, and they
were able to connect her to some DC society people
and also.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
Help her get her license.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
She was still struggling, but eventually she started getting bigger clients,
and as I said earlier, one of those was Jefferson
Davis's wife, Verena Howell. And just you guys know, Verena
was a popular name at the time, but actually most
people pronounced it Verina, as in Verona Vagina, but Verena,
(13:45):
in a letter one time, spelled it out phonetically.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
She was like, it's va r e e e e
e e e. She did like five e's n uh.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
Just a fun little factoid. Cackley started working for Verena
in late eighteen sixty. A few time while she was
at the Davis house, Keckley had interactions with Jefferson Davis.
One on Christmas Eve, eighteen sixty, Keckley was there late
at night finishing a dressing gown that was supposed to
(14:18):
be a gift for him.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
From his wife.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
Around midnight, he returned home, and as Keckley described it,
he was a little nervous and expressed to his wife
the admiration of the Christmas tree.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
But there was no smile on his face.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
Perhaps it was because he was thinking about seceding from
the United States of America and.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
Was stressed out about it. Being a secessionist.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
People don't talk about how stressful that can be, honestly.
But anyway, he was standing there with no smile on
his face. But then he turned around and saw Keckley
in the adjoining room. He started complimenting the dressing gown.
You know, he probably assumed it was for him.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
This is what.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
Keckley said about him. He always appeared to me a
thoughtful and considerate man in domestic circles. But she also
knew he wasn't someone who.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
Was going to be on her side.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
She reflected on that dressing gown she was making for him.
She said, I have not the shadow of a doubt
it was worn by mister Davis during the stormy years
that he was the President of the Confederate States.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
Yeah, while he was trying to uphold slavery.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
He was wearing a dressing gown made by a woman
who had bought her own freedom. I just love the
hypocrisy of it all. And then this was even crazier.
In early eighteen sixty one, Verena Davis tried to get
Elizabeth to come with them to the South. She said, Oh, Lizzie,
(15:51):
you are so very handy that I should like to
take you south with me. She was like, so, Lizzie,
you know a war is about to start and quote,
you had better go south with me. I will take
good care of you. The black people will suffer in
the North. The northern people will look upon them as
the cause of the war, and I fear, in their exasperation,
(16:13):
will be inclined to treat you harshly. Then I may
come back to Washington in a few months and live in.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
The White House.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
The Southern people talk of choosing mister Davis for their president.
In fact, it may be considered settled that he will
be their president. I just think this is crazy where
She's like, yeah, in the South, you're going to be
treated way better, like I bet. Elizabeth was rolling her eyes.
She was like, yeah, sure, missus Davis, I'll consider your proposal. Yeah,
(16:46):
I'll come to frickin Montgomery, Alabama with you, where there's
hardly any abolitionist presence and being a free black American
is nearly impossible.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
Yeah, that's probably a better choice for me.
Speaker 2 (16:59):
But Elizabeth she didn't really need her Confederate clientele at
this point because she was already in cahoots to have
more prestigious patrons. Elizabeth is like, I don't need the
wife of a pretend president because I'm soon going to
be working for the first Lady Wow, Mary Todd Lincoln.
(17:24):
So this is how they met. So one of Elizabeth's
clients was like, Hey, I need you to make a
dress for me by Sunday.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
Which was just a few days away.
Speaker 2 (17:34):
And Elizabeth was like, what that's impossible. I have so
much work to do. But our client was like, hmm,
I think you're gonna want to make me this dress
because Missus Lincoln is going to be at this luncheon
that I'm having. And Keckley, who had a goal of
working for the White House, was like, I guess I.
Speaker 1 (17:50):
Gotta do it. Then I gotta get that White House
client tele and it worked.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
Mary Todd was at the luncheon and was like, Wowie,
I like that dress. Please recommend to me the dressmaker.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
I don't.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
She didn't say wowie. That's not a direct quote, Wowie.
I'm married Todd Lincoln. So Mary Todd Lincoln wrote to
Elizabeth and was like, y'all come meet up with me
and we can like plan some dresses. So Keckley went
to go meet Mary Todd, and this is Keckley's description
(18:26):
of her. I knocked at missus Lincoln's door, a cheery
voice bade me come in, and a lady inclined to
stoutness about forty years of age stood before me. This
is why I'm saying it doesn't sound too gay, okay,
because that's not the most sensual description of someone that
(18:48):
you would be attracted to, inclined to stoutness with a
cheery voice.
Speaker 1 (18:56):
But hey, that was just the first impression.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
After their meeting, Mary Todd commissioned some work from Keckley,
and on her first job, Keckley got to see how
dramatic Mary Todd could be. The thing is, in general,
the high society of DC wasn't particularly fond.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
Of Mary Todd. There's a lot of hot gossip out
there about how she.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
Could be ignorant and vulgar and behave like a low life.
Heaven forbid. Also throughout her life, she'd have these tantrums
or what they called at the time insanity episodes. And
back then they're just like, yeah, she's having those because
she's a crazy and inappropriate woman. But now some historians
(19:48):
have suggested that maybe she was bipolar.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
But anyway.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
On her first job, Keckley was repairing one of Mary
Todd's dresses for an event that was happening on a
Tuesday evening in early eighteen sixty one. Keckley had a
lot of other and so she returned the dress to
Mary Todd on that very evening that Tuesday, and Mary
Todd was upset. She was like, you're so late. I
have no time to dress. Now everything is ruined. But
(20:20):
Missus Lincoln's friends who were there and Keckley herself were like, girl,
you have plenty of time to dress. But then Missus
Lincoln was like, boohoo, no time. And Keckley was finally like, hey,
I'll just I'll help you get into your gown. It's
gonna be fine, And indeed it was. Mary Todd was
just being over dramatic.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
For no reason. And even though Mary.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
Todd kind of had this fit, Keckley formed a really
good opinion of her because of her confidence and her
dignity that she displayed At the actual event, Keckley wrote,
I expected to see her embarrassed, but I soon saw
I was wrong. No queen, accustomed to the usage of
royalty all her life, could have comported herself with more
(21:07):
calmness and dignity than did the wife of our president.
She was confident and self possessed, and confidence always gives grace.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
That is why I have no grace at all.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
After this, Mary Todd hired Keckley again and again over
the spring and into the summer. Keckley made sixteen dresses
for her. And this is when scholars are like, hmm.
The way that Keckley talks about Mary Todd is getting
a little bit gayer, because instead of calling her stout
and cheery, Keckley started writing things about Mary Todd like
(21:44):
she had a beautiful neck and arm, and low dresses
were becoming to her. That's right, Mary Todd had a
great rack, and indeed many of the dresses that Keckley
made for her had a very low neckline.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
Some people thought it was scandalously low.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
So Kekeley would say to those haters, hey, this is
a great dress for her because she has a beautiful neck,
and don't forget about the arm. As Keckley started making
dresses for Mary Todd Lincoln, that little civil war started.
(22:26):
But despite that, despite a war, Mary Todd spent lavishly.
She bought a lot of stuff, a lot of dresses
from Keckley. She hosted a lot of parties and teas events.
She ran up credit all over town. She also was
buying new furnishings for the White House, and most of
(22:46):
the newspaper people were very unimpressed. They thought she was wasteful,
a spendthrift, unseerious. But you know, I get it sometimes
when a civil war is raging and no one likes
you that much.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
You get stressed out and relieve that by doing some shopping.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
Some retail theory, women be shopping and war isn't going
to stop that. Though, I will say this characterization is
slightly inaccurate of Mary Todd Lincoln, because again, she is
a woman, and people love to hate women. According to
(23:24):
Elizabeth Keckley's book, Missus Lincoln did talk to President Lincoln
a few times about canceling some of their swar Raisin
luncheons to save money. She's like, we do all these
extravagant things. Maybe we should cut back because of the
old war. But then it was Abraham Lincoln who was like, hey,
(23:45):
we got to have those swar Raisin luncheons to keep
morale up and also to impress any international visitors so
they can be like, Wow, the USA is way better
than any Confederate pretenders. And so during these early years
of the war, Todd and Elizabeth Keckley were spending a
(24:07):
lot of time together, so much time that again some
scholars aka like two or three are like, hey, looks
like they're veering from a regular friendship into one of
those classical nineteenth century romantic friendships.
Speaker 1 (24:23):
Or maybe it's actually a little romantic.
Speaker 2 (24:27):
I mean, at the time, Abraham Lincoln was quite busy,
you know, he was doing the war. And then also
at the time, you know, there were some rumors in
Washington that whenever he was absent from the White House
he was sharing a bed with his bodyguard David Derickson.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
Isn't that hot goss.
Speaker 2 (24:48):
Like, whenever he wasn't with his wife, he was sleeping
with little David. The wife of one of Lincoln's naval
officers wrote this in a letter. She said, Oh, there
is a bucktail soldier here devoted to the President, drives
with him when missus l is not home, sleeps with him.
(25:09):
What stuff. Wow wow wow wow. And then on the
other side, on Mary Todd Lincoln's side, people were like, well,
Keckley is around Mary Todd all the time, and not
only that, Keckley makes dresses, so she sees Mary Todd
(25:31):
often in a state of undress. Er go sexual, which, honestly, though,
I think is a very dumb argument, because Elizabeth Keckley
is a seamstress, she's a dressmaker, Like she had to
see Mary Todd an undressed because that's.
Speaker 1 (25:49):
Her doing her freaking job.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
You can't make a dress out of nothing, So yeah,
I think that's stupid to assume that, Oh, because she
makes dresses and has to measure them on Mary Todd
airgo it's gonna be safe. Just because you're naked. That
doesn't mean anything sexual is going on.
Speaker 1 (26:06):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
I should be a real historian anyway. But in general,
people at the time and historians are surprised by how
much access Keckley had to the Lincolns. It was unusual
to them, like the contemporary people at the time, because
Keckley was an employee, she was black, and also no
(26:29):
other DC Society lady ever received that much access. And
I do want to point out that, yes, Elizabeth Keckley
and Mary Todd Lincoln were for sure friends. Keckley was
also an employee. Mary Todd was the first lady, so
(26:49):
obviously there was a bit of a power and balance
in their relationship. And not only that, Mary Todd asked
a lot of Keckley. You know, she had these episodes
where she was really emotional, and whenever she would have those,
she would say, send someone to get Keckley so she
could comfort her.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
This was whether or.
Speaker 2 (27:11):
Not Elizabeth Keckley had to be working on other people's dresses.
Speaker 1 (27:15):
Mary Todd was very.
Speaker 2 (27:16):
Demanding of her time, of her emotional labor. And this
is especially crazy because in eighteen sixty one, Elizabeth Keckley's
son George died.
Speaker 1 (27:32):
When the war broke out.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
George wanted to fight for the Union, but black men
at the time weren't allowed to conscript. George, though, was
light skinned and could pass his white so he doctored
his papers and got into the army, but then in
eighteen sixty one, during his first battle, he died fighting.
(27:57):
So it is crazy to think that Mary Todd was
relying so much on Keckley during this time when Elizabeth
Keckley herself was going.
Speaker 1 (28:05):
Through her own grief. But I'm not trying to.
Speaker 2 (28:09):
Talk for her and say that you know she resented
this or anything, because Elizabeth Keckley was ready to defend
Mary Todd at any moment. In fact, she wrote this
whole book, her autobiography, in defense of Mary Todd, even
though Mary Todd would not take it that way.
Speaker 1 (28:24):
But again more on that later.
Speaker 2 (28:30):
Like on numerous occasions she had people solicit her dress making,
but only because they wanted to use her to get
closer to the first lady. Like one time Elizabeth had
a client who insisted on paying for a dress up front.
She was trying to be friendly, trying to win Elizabeth over,
and then this woman came by every day to see
(28:52):
how the dress.
Speaker 1 (28:53):
Was coming along.
Speaker 2 (28:54):
She was nice at first, but then started asking more
and more personal questions about Mary Todd Lincoln. And then
this woman was very upfront about what she was doing
She was like, don't you think you'd have some influence
with her? And then this woman made a proposition. She
was like, I really want to get in with the
White House and be friends with her and the President.
(29:17):
You know, I want to be a notable influencer. And
if you can't get me an introduction with them, I
would be fine, just like having a job as a chambermaid.
And if you help me out, If you help me
either meet them or get a job at the White House,
I'll give you a big reward. Keckley was totally taken aback.
She was like, Madam, you are mistaken in regard to
(29:39):
my character. Sooner than betray the trust of a friend,
I would throw myself in the Potomac River. I am
not so base as that. Pardon me, but there is
a door and I trust that you will never enter
my room again. That yeah, Keckley just got her ass.
(29:59):
But anyway, Mary Todd's codependence on Elizabeth Keckley got even
worse because in February eighteen sixty two, Mary Todd's young
son Willie died, and throughout his illness, Keckley was there
at the Lincolns. She was at the White House initially
to help her fit into a dress, but ended up
(30:20):
sitting with the boy much of his last night alive,
and then when he passed, Mary Todd called for Elizabeth
to wash and dress the body before the funeral, and
Elizabeth was there when Abraham Lincoln came into the room
and wept. Mary Todd was quote inconsolable. The pale face
(30:43):
of her dead boy threw her into convulsions. In one
of the days after their son died, Keckley observed President
Lincoln take Mary Todd over to a window and say,
do you see that large white building on the hill Yonder,
Try and control your grief or it will drive you
(31:04):
mad and we may have to sit you there.
Speaker 1 (31:09):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (31:09):
He was pointing to an insane asylum and saying, if
you don't get your shit together, Mary Todd, we're gonna
have to put you in there. And honestly, if my freakin'
husband told me that if I didn't get my grieving
under control, he'd have to institutionalize me, I'd turn gay immediately,
like what the hell, that's so rude. After her son died,
(31:33):
Missus Lincoln was on the move. She went to New
York and then to Boston, and each place she went
she requested Elizabeth come along. Now this took Elizabeth away
from her job, you know, the job she needed to
make money, but it.
Speaker 1 (31:52):
Did have one advantage.
Speaker 2 (31:54):
In eighteen sixty two, a lot of new freed Black
Americans were entering Washington, d c. She wrote in her book,
many of the newly freedmen came to the capital looking
for liberty, and many of them not knowing it when
they found it, isn't that bleak. It's like, hey, you're
a freed person and you're coming to the Capitol. But
(32:16):
then there's like nothing for you. So Elizabeth was like, hey,
they need money, they need support. So she created this
group called the Contraband Relief Association, and as she was
traveling around with Mary Todd, she solicited a lot of
black churches and other groups for money for these newly
(32:37):
freed people. Mary Todd immediately donated to the fund, but
she was still inconsolable. During this trip. She was prone
to even more fits. She wrote to her husband, it's
been a day or two since I had one of
my severe attacks. If it had not been for Lizzie Keckley,
(32:58):
I do not know what I should have done. And
then Mary Todd became even more inconsolable because after the war,
you guys know it, her husband was assassinated. I mean,
I sometimes become inconsolable under much less dramatic stakes and events.
(33:22):
So you know, Mary Todd, she's been through the war,
she lost her husband, she lost her son. Kind of
makes sense that she's inconsolable. And Elizabeth Keckley she's been
through even more. She was enslaved for forty years, had
also lost her son, and was having to deal with
the various challenges of being a black woman and business
(33:44):
owner in post Civil War America. But Mary Todd she
was gonna make it all about herself. After she exited
the White House, she didn't have any money.
Speaker 1 (33:58):
She was broke, she was in debt.
Speaker 2 (34:01):
She asked Congress for money, and all they gave her
was her husband in salary because obviously.
Speaker 1 (34:07):
He wasn't going to be using it because it was bad. Sorry,
that was vapid.
Speaker 2 (34:13):
And then she left Washington, d C. And Elizabeth Keckley behind.
She fled to Chicago. But a couple of years later,
Mary Todd had an idea. She was like, I still
don't have any money, but I have all these beautiful
clothes that Elizabeth Keckley made, So what if I try
(34:36):
to sell them?
Speaker 1 (34:37):
That's going to be embarrassing for me. But I'll try
to be subtle.
Speaker 2 (34:43):
And so she reached out to Elizabeth and said, Hey,
I got an idea, come and meet me in New
York City. Unfortunately, this scheme isn't going to work at all,
and as Mary Todd ruined her reputation, Elizabeth Keckley got
(35:04):
caught in the crossfire. And we'll hear all about that
what's known as the Old Clothes Scandal, next week.
Speaker 1 (35:15):
And as always, we learn a lesson on American filth.
Speaker 2 (35:17):
And I think the lesson we learned today is that
Elizabeth and Mary Todd weren't necessarily gay. But in her book,
Keckley does include some spicy letters that we'll look at
next time.
Speaker 1 (35:30):
Wow, a cliffhanger.
Speaker 2 (35:32):
I mean, it's not really a cliffhanger, because you know,
you can just like look at history like it already happened,
and you know it's been out for a while. But
I'll talk to you guys about it next time. Que
the credits. The American Field is a production of School
of Humans and iHeart Podcast This episode was written, hosted,
produced by me Gabby Wats. Our theme song is by
(35:54):
Jesse Niswanger. Our executive producers are Virginia Pressott, Elsie Crowley,
and Brandon Barr. You can follow along with the show
on the oligarchical application Instagram at American filth Pod and
also leave a review.
Speaker 1 (36:10):
Leave some stars, share the pod.
Speaker 2 (36:12):
With a friend so that we can continue to feed
the algorithm. And I'll talk to you guys next time
about the old clothe the scandal. Bye, School of Humans.
School of Humans.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
I thought to celebrate this auspicious week of having mister
Donald Trump back in the freakin White House, was we
could do one of my favorite things. We're going to
determine if someone is gay or nay. You know, that's
one of my favorite things to do on the show,
is to say that people are gay.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
But hey, it's not me saying it.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
It's I'm just merely quoting scholars who have allegedly done
rigorous research to come to that conclusion.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
And of course, you guys know that.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
My favorite one of these in this line of conjecture
is Gabraham Lincoln. So that's what makes the hypothesis of
this episode all the more thrilling, because a few people
have suggested that just maybe their gaitars picked up a
little bit of something something on Abraham Lincoln's wife, Mary Todd.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Whoa whoa, whoa whoa insane? How can that be?
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Mary Todd was the one who persistently pursued sad standoff
ish Abe Lincoln in their courtship. How could that make
her gay? Well, the thing about being gay is there's
a little gay in all of us. Sorry, that's just science.
And Mary Todd might have had an extra special connection
with her modiste, Elizabeth Keckley, And if you don't watch Bridgerton,
(01:33):
a modiste is someone who makes dresses. Keckley designed many
of Mary Todd's most iconic looks and became her closest friend,
so close that some people are like, hey, isn't that
a wee bit queer? And they don't mean queer derogatory,
they mean queer as in they had romantic feelings for
each other. But at the same time you could look
(01:55):
at their relationship and just be like, hmm, mary Todd
is being extremely codependent and overbearing instead of gay. But
we have yet to reach that lie level of analysis
and determining if someone is gay or nay. So let's
just get into the episode. See what's going on, See
who's gay, see who's not gay, and have a merry
old time, a gay time if you will cue the
(02:19):
theme song. This is American filth and I'm Gabby Watts.
Every week I tell you a filthy story from American history.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
This week's episode gay.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
Ornay, Mary Todd and the Modiste. Now, after that one
hell of an intro, I'm going to tell you at
the top that I think it is very unlikely that
these two ladies were gay for each other. But later
(02:55):
in the episode, we'll look at some claims, we'll look
at some ideas, we'll entertain the notion. Okay, During Abraham
Lincoln's president see, Elizabeth Keckley became one of the most
sought after dressmakers in all of Washington, DC. She was
making these cool designs that cinched at the waist with
the very wide floor length skirts. And here's the thing
(03:18):
about the Civil War, it was a bad time. You know,
more than six hundred thousand people died by the dresses
of the era. I'd wear them. I'm down with them,
especially Keckley's. And before she worked for Mary Todd Lincoln. Weirdly,
she also designed gowns for other DC elite like Verena
(03:38):
Howell aka future Confederate President Jefferson Davis's wife and mary
Ann Curtis aka Robert E.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
Lee's wife.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
They were like, we have fundamentally opposite views on slavery,
but we do agree on fashion. And the fact that
Elizabeth designed Verena and Mary Anna's dresses is extra eerie
because Elizabeth Keckley herself used to be enslaved. We know
(04:11):
a lot about Elizabeth Keckley's life, because in eighteen sixty
eight she wrote an autobiography which led to a big
scandal that we'll get into later. Elizabeth Keckley, then she
was Elizabeth Hobbs, was born in eighteen eighteen on a
plantation in Virginia called the din Whittle Courthouse. Doesn't that
(04:34):
sound stupid? Din Whittle? It's the Dinwhittle Plantation. For most
of her life, she thought that her father was this
guy named George Hobbes. He was another enslaved man, and
he was sold off to another plantation at some point,
which was heart wrenching for her and her mother. He
was able to visit them from time to time. But
(04:54):
later on, in fact, on her mother's death bed, her
mom revealed to her that actually her biological father was
the owner of the plantation. Her mom had been sexually
assaulted by he him and that guy the owner of
the plantation when she was in her teens. He sold
Elizabeth off to somebody else in North Carolina. There she
(05:16):
had a horrific experience where she was constantly beaten, and
then a few years later she was returned back to
that family in Virginia, and she moved with them to
Saint Louis. In Saint Louis, she also had a horrific experience.
She was sexually assaulted by a white man, and from
that assault she had a son named George, named after
the man who she.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
Thought was her father.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
And in Saint Louis, the family that enslaved her was
almost completely out of money, and because of that, they
were threatening to sell Elizabeth's mother and she was like, wait, please,
don't do that.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
I can figure out how to make money.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
At that point, she'd already become an experienced seamstress, and
she was like, Hey, what I'm going to do is
I'll go find a job as a dress maker and
then we can just live off of that money. And
by live off of that money, I mean the family
would just garnish her wages. And because she was so
good at making dresses, she quickly built a reputation as
(06:16):
a talented modiste and a lot of the high society
ladies of Saint Louis came to visit her and get
her dresses. For two and a half years she lived
like this. She worked constantly and it was her money
that she was making that supported the family that enslaved her.
(06:38):
And at some point Elizabeth was like, this is crazy.
Why must I work to support this whole family? And also,
how is this fair to my son? At this point,
she didn't know that the plantation owner was her biological father,
but she was rationalizing her son like this, like he's
also half white. That means he's also half of a
(06:58):
free person. Why should he be forced into slavery. In
her thirties, Elizabeth started trying to buy freedom for her
and her son. At first, her enslavers wouldn't give her
a price, but then eventually, after many years of asking,
they said twelve hundred dollars. Elizabeth was happy to have
(07:19):
a number. She was so happy about this that she
consented to get married to a man who had been
pursuing her in Saint Louis. This was mister Keckley himself,
and when they got married, that's when she changed her
name Elizabeth Keckley. However, her excitement was very short lived,
because one it was proving impossible to raise any money
(07:41):
since the family was still garnishing all of her wages,
and also her husband was becoming a nuisance. He'd lied
to her about a lot of stuff. First, he said
he was free when in fact he was enslaved. And also,
while she doesn't go into all of his shenanigans in
her book, it became clear that she was not just
embarrassed by him, but also despised having to provide for
(08:04):
him as well. She was like, he's doing all this
degrading stuff.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
Yuck.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
For years, she tried to save money, but she could
never make enough, and then the patriarch of the household
she was enslaved and died, and her book she said
the guy who took over the estate was sympathetic to
her cause and said it would be okay if she
went to New York State. There she could appeal to
abolitionists and be like, hey, can you give me twelve
hundred dollars so I can buy my freedom and my son's.
(08:35):
But then the wife of the guy who enslaved her
was like, Hey, actually, I don't want you to go
to New York unless you get six men in Saint
Louis to promise to give me twelve hundred dollars if
you don't come back. And Elizabeth Keckley at first was like, Hey,
I am a woman of my word. Of course I'm
(08:55):
going to come back. Also, my son's here, you crazy bitch.
But she was like, fine, I'll go get those signatures.
Really good reputation in Saint Louis, and she was very
easily able to get five men to sign this document. However,
the sixth man she asked said he did not think
(09:16):
she had a good character and if she left Saint Louis,
she would never return. This made Elizabeth Keckley really upset,
because not only was she not able to go to
New York. She was like, why would this guy think
that about me? I'm like noble and thinking of the
(09:38):
circumstances I'm in, and I'm still a really good fucking person,
you dumb bitch. She didn't say like that, because she's
much nicer than I am, but she was in despair.
She wrote in her book, the heart grew heavy. Every
ray of sunshine was eclipsed with humbled pride, weary step,
tearful face, and a dull, aching pain. There was no
(10:01):
mourning for me. All was night, dark night.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
But all was not lost for Elizabeth.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
One of her clients, a woman, came by and said
that she would give her four hundred dollars. The client
was like, hey, Elizabeth, you don't need to go to
New York. I'm going to help you raise the funds
so you can buy your freedom. And this woman, along
with the help of Keckley's other clientele, raised the full
amount of twelve hundred dollars and Elizabeth Keckley and her
(10:34):
son George were able to get their freedom. And then
right after she bought her freedom, she was like, Hey,
thank you clients for getting me this money, but I
only took them as a loan. I'm going to keep
working and I'm going to pay all of you back.
And like, she probably did that because she is a
(10:55):
really honorable, noble person, but also she doesn't want to
be indebted to any white people because at some point
those white people might change their and be like, actually,
that was me purchasing Elizabeth instead of giving her a gift.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
She was a smart lady.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
She knew not to trust these people, so she continued
working in her shop and she quickly paid everyone back.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
And at that point she.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
Also told her husband to get the heck out of
her life and never talk to her again. He was
still doing his old shenanigans, his same old tricks as
degrading behavior. He was embarrassing. She was like my son
and I are leaving. I hope to never hear from
you again. And in eighteen sixty that's what she did.
(11:41):
She's around the age of forty at this point, and
she and her son left Saint Louis and moved to Baltimore.
There she tried to make money off teaching, but unfortunately
she didn't make enough, so with barely anything in.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
Her pocket book, she moved to Washington, d C.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
Where eventually she'd meet Mary Todd Lincoln the first We'll
be right back after these soothing advertisements. Now you might
be wondering, I thought the point of this episode was
(12:22):
to talk about gay stuff. Well, we'll get to that eventually,
don't you freaking worry. When Elizabeth Keckley and her son
got to Washington, d C. She had a hard time
setting up shop. She only had ten days to get
a license to start working and to start taking clients,
(12:43):
but that was proving difficult. Wow, it's kind of like
a loophole in the system. It's like, yes, you can
be a black woman who works, but you only have
ten days to get a license. And in order to
get a license, you need people to recommend you. So
you got to find the people and it's just bureaucracy,
that's like trying to oppress you. But remember she had
(13:05):
been enslaved on a plantation in Virginia pretty close by,
so she was able to get connected with some of
the people she had previously made dresses for, and they
were able to connect her to some DC society people
and also.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
Help her get her license.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
She was still struggling, but eventually she started getting bigger clients,
and as I said earlier, one of those was Jefferson
Davis's wife, Verena Howell. And just you guys know, Verena
was a popular name at the time, but actually most
people pronounced it Verina, as in Verona Vagina, but Verena,
(13:45):
in a letter one time, spelled it out phonetically.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
She was like, it's va r e e e e
e e e. She did like five e's n uh.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
Just a fun little factoid. Cackley started working for Verena
in late eighteen sixty. A few time while she was
at the Davis house, Keckley had interactions with Jefferson Davis.
One on Christmas Eve, eighteen sixty, Keckley was there late
at night finishing a dressing gown that was supposed to
(14:18):
be a gift for him.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
From his wife.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
Around midnight, he returned home, and as Keckley described it,
he was a little nervous and expressed to his wife
the admiration of the Christmas tree.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
But there was no smile on his face.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
Perhaps it was because he was thinking about seceding from
the United States of America and.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
Was stressed out about it. Being a secessionist.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
People don't talk about how stressful that can be, honestly.
But anyway, he was standing there with no smile on
his face. But then he turned around and saw Keckley
in the adjoining room. He started complimenting the dressing gown.
You know, he probably assumed it was for him.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
This is what.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
Keckley said about him. He always appeared to me a
thoughtful and considerate man in domestic circles. But she also
knew he wasn't someone who.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
Was going to be on her side.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
She reflected on that dressing gown she was making for him.
She said, I have not the shadow of a doubt
it was worn by mister Davis during the stormy years
that he was the President of the Confederate States.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
Yeah, while he was trying to uphold slavery.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
He was wearing a dressing gown made by a woman
who had bought her own freedom. I just love the
hypocrisy of it all. And then this was even crazier.
In early eighteen sixty one, Verena Davis tried to get
Elizabeth to come with them to the South. She said, Oh, Lizzie,
(15:51):
you are so very handy that I should like to
take you south with me. She was like, so, Lizzie,
you know a war is about to start and quote,
you had better go south with me. I will take
good care of you. The black people will suffer in
the North. The northern people will look upon them as
the cause of the war, and I fear, in their exasperation,
(16:13):
will be inclined to treat you harshly. Then I may
come back to Washington in a few months and live in.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
The White House.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
The Southern people talk of choosing mister Davis for their president.
In fact, it may be considered settled that he will
be their president. I just think this is crazy where
She's like, yeah, in the South, you're going to be
treated way better, like I bet. Elizabeth was rolling her eyes.
She was like, yeah, sure, missus Davis, I'll consider your proposal. Yeah,
(16:46):
I'll come to frickin Montgomery, Alabama with you, where there's
hardly any abolitionist presence and being a free black American
is nearly impossible.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
Yeah, that's probably a better choice for me.
Speaker 2 (16:59):
But Elizabeth she didn't really need her Confederate clientele at
this point because she was already in cahoots to have
more prestigious patrons. Elizabeth is like, I don't need the
wife of a pretend president because I'm soon going to
be working for the first Lady Wow, Mary Todd Lincoln.
(17:24):
So this is how they met. So one of Elizabeth's
clients was like, Hey, I need you to make a
dress for me by Sunday.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
Which was just a few days away.
Speaker 2 (17:34):
And Elizabeth was like, what that's impossible. I have so
much work to do. But our client was like, hmm,
I think you're gonna want to make me this dress
because Missus Lincoln is going to be at this luncheon
that I'm having. And Keckley, who had a goal of
working for the White House, was like, I guess I.
Speaker 1 (17:50):
Gotta do it. Then I gotta get that White House
client tele and it worked.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
Mary Todd was at the luncheon and was like, Wowie,
I like that dress. Please recommend to me the dressmaker.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
I don't.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
She didn't say wowie. That's not a direct quote, Wowie.
I'm married Todd Lincoln. So Mary Todd Lincoln wrote to
Elizabeth and was like, y'all come meet up with me
and we can like plan some dresses. So Keckley went
to go meet Mary Todd, and this is Keckley's description
(18:26):
of her. I knocked at missus Lincoln's door, a cheery
voice bade me come in, and a lady inclined to
stoutness about forty years of age stood before me. This
is why I'm saying it doesn't sound too gay, okay,
because that's not the most sensual description of someone that
(18:48):
you would be attracted to, inclined to stoutness with a
cheery voice.
Speaker 1 (18:56):
But hey, that was just the first impression.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
After their meeting, Mary Todd commissioned some work from Keckley,
and on her first job, Keckley got to see how
dramatic Mary Todd could be. The thing is, in general,
the high society of DC wasn't particularly fond.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
Of Mary Todd. There's a lot of hot gossip out
there about how she.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
Could be ignorant and vulgar and behave like a low life.
Heaven forbid. Also throughout her life, she'd have these tantrums
or what they called at the time insanity episodes. And
back then they're just like, yeah, she's having those because
she's a crazy and inappropriate woman. But now some historians
(19:48):
have suggested that maybe she was bipolar.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
But anyway.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
On her first job, Keckley was repairing one of Mary
Todd's dresses for an event that was happening on a
Tuesday evening in early eighteen sixty one. Keckley had a
lot of other and so she returned the dress to
Mary Todd on that very evening that Tuesday, and Mary
Todd was upset. She was like, you're so late. I
have no time to dress. Now everything is ruined. But
(20:20):
Missus Lincoln's friends who were there and Keckley herself were like, girl,
you have plenty of time to dress. But then Missus
Lincoln was like, boohoo, no time. And Keckley was finally like, hey,
I'll just I'll help you get into your gown. It's
gonna be fine, And indeed it was. Mary Todd was
just being over dramatic.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
For no reason. And even though Mary.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
Todd kind of had this fit, Keckley formed a really
good opinion of her because of her confidence and her
dignity that she displayed At the actual event, Keckley wrote,
I expected to see her embarrassed, but I soon saw
I was wrong. No queen, accustomed to the usage of
royalty all her life, could have comported herself with more
(21:07):
calmness and dignity than did the wife of our president.
She was confident and self possessed, and confidence always gives grace.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
That is why I have no grace at all.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
After this, Mary Todd hired Keckley again and again over
the spring and into the summer. Keckley made sixteen dresses
for her. And this is when scholars are like, hmm.
The way that Keckley talks about Mary Todd is getting
a little bit gayer, because instead of calling her stout
and cheery, Keckley started writing things about Mary Todd like
(21:44):
she had a beautiful neck and arm, and low dresses
were becoming to her. That's right, Mary Todd had a
great rack, and indeed many of the dresses that Keckley
made for her had a very low neckline.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
Some people thought it was scandalously low.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
So Kekeley would say to those haters, hey, this is
a great dress for her because she has a beautiful neck,
and don't forget about the arm. As Keckley started making
dresses for Mary Todd Lincoln, that little civil war started.
(22:26):
But despite that, despite a war, Mary Todd spent lavishly.
She bought a lot of stuff, a lot of dresses
from Keckley. She hosted a lot of parties and teas events.
She ran up credit all over town. She also was
buying new furnishings for the White House, and most of
(22:46):
the newspaper people were very unimpressed. They thought she was wasteful,
a spendthrift, unseerious. But you know, I get it sometimes
when a civil war is raging and no one likes
you that much.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
You get stressed out and relieve that by doing some shopping.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
Some retail theory, women be shopping and war isn't going
to stop that. Though, I will say this characterization is
slightly inaccurate of Mary Todd Lincoln, because again, she is
a woman, and people love to hate women. According to
(23:24):
Elizabeth Keckley's book, Missus Lincoln did talk to President Lincoln
a few times about canceling some of their swar Raisin
luncheons to save money. She's like, we do all these
extravagant things. Maybe we should cut back because of the
old war. But then it was Abraham Lincoln who was like, hey,
(23:45):
we got to have those swar Raisin luncheons to keep
morale up and also to impress any international visitors so
they can be like, Wow, the USA is way better
than any Confederate pretenders. And so during these early years
of the war, Todd and Elizabeth Keckley were spending a
(24:07):
lot of time together, so much time that again some
scholars aka like two or three are like, hey, looks
like they're veering from a regular friendship into one of
those classical nineteenth century romantic friendships.
Speaker 1 (24:23):
Or maybe it's actually a little romantic.
Speaker 2 (24:27):
I mean, at the time, Abraham Lincoln was quite busy,
you know, he was doing the war. And then also
at the time, you know, there were some rumors in
Washington that whenever he was absent from the White House
he was sharing a bed with his bodyguard David Derickson.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
Isn't that hot goss.
Speaker 2 (24:48):
Like, whenever he wasn't with his wife, he was sleeping
with little David. The wife of one of Lincoln's naval
officers wrote this in a letter. She said, Oh, there
is a bucktail soldier here devoted to the President, drives
with him when missus l is not home, sleeps with him.
(25:09):
What stuff. Wow wow wow wow. And then on the
other side, on Mary Todd Lincoln's side, people were like, well,
Keckley is around Mary Todd all the time, and not
only that, Keckley makes dresses, so she sees Mary Todd
(25:31):
often in a state of undress. Er go sexual, which, honestly, though,
I think is a very dumb argument, because Elizabeth Keckley
is a seamstress, she's a dressmaker, Like she had to
see Mary Todd an undressed because that's.
Speaker 1 (25:49):
Her doing her freaking job.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
You can't make a dress out of nothing, So yeah,
I think that's stupid to assume that, Oh, because she
makes dresses and has to measure them on Mary Todd
airgo it's gonna be safe. Just because you're naked. That
doesn't mean anything sexual is going on.
Speaker 1 (26:06):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
I should be a real historian anyway. But in general,
people at the time and historians are surprised by how
much access Keckley had to the Lincolns. It was unusual
to them, like the contemporary people at the time, because
Keckley was an employee, she was black, and also no
(26:29):
other DC Society lady ever received that much access. And
I do want to point out that, yes, Elizabeth Keckley
and Mary Todd Lincoln were for sure friends. Keckley was
also an employee. Mary Todd was the first lady, so
(26:49):
obviously there was a bit of a power and balance
in their relationship. And not only that, Mary Todd asked
a lot of Keckley. You know, she had these episodes
where she was really emotional, and whenever she would have those,
she would say, send someone to get Keckley so she
could comfort her.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
This was whether or.
Speaker 2 (27:11):
Not Elizabeth Keckley had to be working on other people's dresses.
Speaker 1 (27:15):
Mary Todd was very.
Speaker 2 (27:16):
Demanding of her time, of her emotional labor. And this
is especially crazy because in eighteen sixty one, Elizabeth Keckley's
son George died.
Speaker 1 (27:32):
When the war broke out.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
George wanted to fight for the Union, but black men
at the time weren't allowed to conscript. George, though, was
light skinned and could pass his white so he doctored
his papers and got into the army, but then in
eighteen sixty one, during his first battle, he died fighting.
(27:57):
So it is crazy to think that Mary Todd was
relying so much on Keckley during this time when Elizabeth
Keckley herself was going.
Speaker 1 (28:05):
Through her own grief. But I'm not trying to.
Speaker 2 (28:09):
Talk for her and say that you know she resented
this or anything, because Elizabeth Keckley was ready to defend
Mary Todd at any moment. In fact, she wrote this
whole book, her autobiography, in defense of Mary Todd, even
though Mary Todd would not take it that way.
Speaker 1 (28:24):
But again more on that later.
Speaker 2 (28:30):
Like on numerous occasions she had people solicit her dress making,
but only because they wanted to use her to get
closer to the first lady. Like one time Elizabeth had
a client who insisted on paying for a dress up front.
She was trying to be friendly, trying to win Elizabeth over,
and then this woman came by every day to see
(28:52):
how the dress.
Speaker 1 (28:53):
Was coming along.
Speaker 2 (28:54):
She was nice at first, but then started asking more
and more personal questions about Mary Todd Lincoln. And then
this woman was very upfront about what she was doing
She was like, don't you think you'd have some influence
with her? And then this woman made a proposition. She
was like, I really want to get in with the
White House and be friends with her and the President.
(29:17):
You know, I want to be a notable influencer. And
if you can't get me an introduction with them, I
would be fine, just like having a job as a chambermaid.
And if you help me out, If you help me
either meet them or get a job at the White House,
I'll give you a big reward. Keckley was totally taken aback.
She was like, Madam, you are mistaken in regard to
(29:39):
my character. Sooner than betray the trust of a friend,
I would throw myself in the Potomac River. I am
not so base as that. Pardon me, but there is
a door and I trust that you will never enter
my room again. That yeah, Keckley just got her ass.
(29:59):
But anyway, Mary Todd's codependence on Elizabeth Keckley got even
worse because in February eighteen sixty two, Mary Todd's young
son Willie died, and throughout his illness, Keckley was there
at the Lincolns. She was at the White House initially
to help her fit into a dress, but ended up
(30:20):
sitting with the boy much of his last night alive,
and then when he passed, Mary Todd called for Elizabeth
to wash and dress the body before the funeral, and
Elizabeth was there when Abraham Lincoln came into the room
and wept. Mary Todd was quote inconsolable. The pale face
(30:43):
of her dead boy threw her into convulsions. In one
of the days after their son died, Keckley observed President
Lincoln take Mary Todd over to a window and say,
do you see that large white building on the hill Yonder,
Try and control your grief or it will drive you
(31:04):
mad and we may have to sit you there.
Speaker 1 (31:09):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (31:09):
He was pointing to an insane asylum and saying, if
you don't get your shit together, Mary Todd, we're gonna
have to put you in there. And honestly, if my freakin'
husband told me that if I didn't get my grieving
under control, he'd have to institutionalize me, I'd turn gay immediately,
like what the hell, that's so rude. After her son died,
(31:33):
Missus Lincoln was on the move. She went to New
York and then to Boston, and each place she went
she requested Elizabeth come along. Now this took Elizabeth away
from her job, you know, the job she needed to
make money, but it.
Speaker 1 (31:52):
Did have one advantage.
Speaker 2 (31:54):
In eighteen sixty two, a lot of new freed Black
Americans were entering Washington, d c. She wrote in her book,
many of the newly freedmen came to the capital looking
for liberty, and many of them not knowing it when
they found it, isn't that bleak. It's like, hey, you're
a freed person and you're coming to the Capitol. But
(32:16):
then there's like nothing for you. So Elizabeth was like, hey,
they need money, they need support. So she created this
group called the Contraband Relief Association, and as she was
traveling around with Mary Todd, she solicited a lot of
black churches and other groups for money for these newly
(32:37):
freed people. Mary Todd immediately donated to the fund, but
she was still inconsolable. During this trip. She was prone
to even more fits. She wrote to her husband, it's
been a day or two since I had one of
my severe attacks. If it had not been for Lizzie Keckley,
(32:58):
I do not know what I should have done. And
then Mary Todd became even more inconsolable because after the war,
you guys know it, her husband was assassinated. I mean,
I sometimes become inconsolable under much less dramatic stakes and events.
(33:22):
So you know, Mary Todd, she's been through the war,
she lost her husband, she lost her son. Kind of
makes sense that she's inconsolable. And Elizabeth Keckley she's been
through even more. She was enslaved for forty years, had
also lost her son, and was having to deal with
the various challenges of being a black woman and business
(33:44):
owner in post Civil War America. But Mary Todd she
was gonna make it all about herself. After she exited
the White House, she didn't have any money.
Speaker 1 (33:58):
She was broke, she was in debt.
Speaker 2 (34:01):
She asked Congress for money, and all they gave her
was her husband in salary because obviously.
Speaker 1 (34:07):
He wasn't going to be using it because it was bad. Sorry,
that was vapid.
Speaker 2 (34:13):
And then she left Washington, d C. And Elizabeth Keckley behind.
She fled to Chicago. But a couple of years later,
Mary Todd had an idea. She was like, I still
don't have any money, but I have all these beautiful
clothes that Elizabeth Keckley made, So what if I try
(34:36):
to sell them?
Speaker 1 (34:37):
That's going to be embarrassing for me. But I'll try
to be subtle.
Speaker 2 (34:43):
And so she reached out to Elizabeth and said, Hey,
I got an idea, come and meet me in New
York City. Unfortunately, this scheme isn't going to work at all,
and as Mary Todd ruined her reputation, Elizabeth Keckley got
(35:04):
caught in the crossfire. And we'll hear all about that
what's known as the Old Clothes Scandal, next week.
Speaker 1 (35:15):
And as always, we learn a lesson on American filth.
Speaker 2 (35:17):
And I think the lesson we learned today is that
Elizabeth and Mary Todd weren't necessarily gay. But in her book,
Keckley does include some spicy letters that we'll look at
next time.
Speaker 1 (35:30):
Wow, a cliffhanger.
Speaker 2 (35:32):
I mean, it's not really a cliffhanger, because you know,
you can just like look at history like it already happened,
and you know it's been out for a while. But
I'll talk to you guys about it next time. Que
the credits. The American Field is a production of School
of Humans and iHeart Podcast This episode was written, hosted,
produced by me Gabby Wats. Our theme song is by
(35:54):
Jesse Niswanger. Our executive producers are Virginia Pressott, Elsie Crowley,
and Brandon Barr. You can follow along with the show
on the oligarchical application Instagram at American filth Pod and
also leave a review.
Speaker 1 (36:10):
Leave some stars, share the pod.
Speaker 2 (36:12):
With a friend so that we can continue to feed
the algorithm. And I'll talk to you guys next time
about the old clothe the scandal. Bye, School of Humans.
Host
Gabbie Watts
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