THE LIFE AND TIMES OF ELIZABETH KECKLY Elizabeth Keckly is one woman whose unique creative artistry can be likened to our very own Deola Sagoe. Keckly went down in history as the undisputed Black Queen of haute couture in mid-1800s United States who repeatedly overcame racial discrimination and other challenges with her peculiar brand of sheer tenacity. Filmmaker Tim Ried is the director of a documentary about the former slave from Dinwiddie County who went on to become a confidante of Mary Todd Lincoln, writing the first White House “exposé” book in 1868. As a slave, Keckly used her earnings as a seamstress to support herself and her only son George. After she bought her freedom, she worked part-time as a designer and dressmaker for the family of Jefferson Davis, then a U.S. senator, where she overheard discussions about the prospect of war. Eventually she gained Mrs. Lincoln as a client and confidante which of course was pivotal during the years of Abraham Lincoln’s presidency, or so the documentary would have us believe. With this 42 minute short film, Director Tim Reid wants to shape viewers’ perspective of Elizabeth Keckly, who up until now, has only been presented in terms of how she served white people. The documentary seems to tell us that Lincoln wasn’t that pro-black, but through [interactions with] Ms.Keckly he learned about black people, strongly implying that Keckly highly influenced President Abraham Lincoln’s views on slavery. Ried’s attempt to make us see Keckly through a different set of eyes,—Designer not Dressmaker/ Innovative style creator / Businesswoman / Bosslady/ College educator of Vocational training/ Founder of several civil rights organizations Mother/Feminist / Author/ — and indeed…a true Renaissance woman of the modern era, was somewhat (in my opinion) successful. Reid’s New Millennium Studios, includes appropriate re-enactments of several important (sometimes painful) moments in her history as well as interviews of a good number of regional, state and national experts to breathe life into her story. The Life and Times of Elizabeth Keckly, made it’s premiere in 2015 on Lagos-Nigerian soil at the 5th edition of iREP, a Documentary film festival that leads the pack in recognizing cultural diversity and sensitivity in film.

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