Elizabeth Keckley

Elizabeth Keckley was born a slave in Dinwiddie Court-House, in Virginia.

But she was skilled at making relationships with the right people and for being business savvy, and the time came that Elizabeth was able to secure a loan to buy her freedom and the freedom of her son.

As a free woman, life would take her to Washington DC, where she became a dressmaker. The dressmaker of the city. For “her garments had extraordinary fit” and were worn by many notable women, including Varina Davis, the wife of Jefferson Davis, and Mary Todd Lincoln, the wife of Abraham Lincoln.

Sources: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/…/the-story-of-elizabeth-ke…/…, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Keckley