In modern parlance, Mary Todd Lincoln would no doubt be referred to as “a handful.” Invariably described as moody, sharp-tongued, depressed and with the dubious distinction of having been perhaps America’s first documented shopaholic, the strength and fortitude of her close friend, Elizabeth Keckley, in dealing with Mary, is well worth noting.

Indeed, history seems to have perhaps forgotten Mary’s cherished confidante and co-conspirator in her rabid buying frenzies. Of course, it also hurt Mary’s ever-widening wardrobe not a bit that the brilliant Lizzie, as she was called, also happened to be a strikingly accomplished seamstress.

Lizzie was born into slavery in 1818 and, although she received no real education, her mother taught her to sew. It was this cultivated talent that enabled her to save the money necessary — $1200 — to secure her freedom and that of her son. In 1860, she had established herself as a seamstress to the wealthy and prominent, with clients Mrs. Robert E. Lee, Mrs. Varina Davis (Mrs. Jefferson Davis) and, most importantly, First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln. In truth, Mrs. Keckley was much more than just Mrs. Lincoln’s dressmaker. She traveled with her, was privy to her innermost thoughts and emotions and was, in Mrs. Lincoln’s own words, her “best friend."

Many years later, Lizzie founded a finishing school in Baltimore to instruct African American girls in sewing and the finer points of etiquette. She then founded the First Black Contraband Relief Association, serving as its president.

But the clever, dynamic Lizzie Keckley’s life was not to be without scandal. When she wrote a highly controversial book in 1868, Behind the Scenes, recounting in pitiless detail the life of Mary Todd Lincoln, both public and private (including all the behind-the-scenes White House goings on during Lincoln’s presidency), Mary’s eldest son moved swiftly, removing it from publication.

Eventually, Lizzie retired to the Home of Destitute Women and Children in Washington, D.C., where she died in 1907.