Dickinson Law's Inside Entrepreneurship Law Blog

By: Adrianna Dunn

In 1738, Mary Katherine Goddard was born in New London, Connecticut, into a family of printers and postmasters. Growing up, Goddard was educated some by her mother, Sarah, and some by attending public school. At the time, girls were only allowed to attend public school for lessons after the boys were done with their schooling for the day. In 1757, Goddard’s father passed away and Sarah sent her 15-year-old son, William, to Providence, Rhode Island to be a printer’s apprentice. In 1762, Goddard and her mother joined William in Rhode Island, where Sarah would lend her son the money to open up the first print shop in the colony.

William was listed as the publisher of the Providence Gazette but he would travel a great deal, creating newspapers where he went and leaving them behind for his mother and sister to handle. He eventually sold the Providence paper and had his mother and sister move to Philadelphia to help run the Pennsylvania Chronicle. Sarah passed away not long after moving, and William would once again leave his business in his sister’s hands.

Publisher and Postmaster

When the Philadelphia shop closed, Goddard moved again, this time to Baltimore, Maryland to take over her brother’s newest paper, the Maryland Journal. Not surprisingly, the paper thrived under Goddard’s direction. After just one year she would finally, officially, be named publisher of the newspaper.  In 1774, she published reports about the British Blockade of the Boston Harbor and would later cover the Revolution’s first battles. In 1775, she endorsed the women-led homespun movement, which encouraged women to create their own homespun cloth in order to disturb the British monopoly on the textile market. Meanwhile, her brother was working on creating a private postal service, free of British control, which would become the U.S. Post Office. In July of 1775, the Continental Congress adopted William’s postal system and made Mary Katherine Goddard Baltimore’s postmaster that October. This most likely made Goddard the United States’ first and only female employee when the nation was born in July of 1776.

The next year, Congress asked her to take part in a historical moment, printing the first copies of the Declaration of Independence, revealing the identities of the signers. Before this, copies of the Declaration of Independence were being passed around but without the signer’s names on them. Goddard would typically sign her newspaper “M.K. Goddard,” but this time she recognized her part in history and signed her full name on the document.

Pushed Out By Misogyny

In 1784, after years of hard work and many accomplishments with the Maryland Journal, William would force his sister out and take the title of publisher for himself. That year, the two published competing Almanacs and after that, would supposedly never speak again. In 1789, Goddard’s bad fortune would continue when she lost her job as postmaster of Baltimore on sexist grounds. Added to the job description was the supervision of nearby post offices, which would apparently be more travel than a woman could handle. This was not a popular decision, however, as two hundred prominent residents of Baltimore signed a letter demanding that Goddard be reinstated. Goddard also appealed to President George Washington and the Senate to get her job back. Neither would give her the relief she sought.

“These are but poor rewards indeed for fourteen Years faithful Service, performed in the worst of times.”

Of course, Goddard’s entrepreneurial instinct would not allow her to give up completely. After losing both her position as publisher and as postmaster, for the next twenty years, until she retired, she would continue to run her bookstore that she had opened as an adjunct of the printing business. Mary Katherine Goddard passed away in 1816 at the age of 78.

Adrianna Dunn, at the time of this post, is a second-year law student at Penn State Dickinson Law. She is from Wheeling, West Virginia, and is a graduate of West Virginia University. Adrianna is the current President of the Animal Legal Defense Fund, Treasurer of the Women’s Law Caucus, and a Research Assistant for Professor Prince.

Sources

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/mary-katharine-goddard-woman-who-signed-declaration-independence-180970816/

https://www.womenhistoryblog.com/2016/06/first-women-in-business.html

https://msa.maryland.gov/msa/educ/exhibits/womenshall/html/goddard.html

https://hudsonvalley.org/article/spinning-patriotic-sentiment-in-colonial-america/

https://www.womenhistoryblog.com/2008/10/mary-katherine-goddard.html

Photo Sources

https://images.app.goo.gl/e488idvEkyMe7fGa9

https://images.app.goo.gl/1G6ZfYC3ekp2G6Mm7

By: Zoe Matherne

On March 7, 2017, State Street Global Advisors (SSGA) installed a statue, Fearless Girl, across the street from the New York Stock Exchange. The statute, a mere four feet tall, depicts a girl promoting female empowerment. Very rarely does a work of art speak to people as this one did: Fearless Girl facing down Raging Bull represented women and other underrepresented groups on Wall Street in their plight for equal opportunities. SSGA specifically intended to encourage companies to put women on the boards of publicly-traded companies. But who was the original fearless girl? Who was the first woman on Wall Street?

The first woman to be a member of the New York Stock Exchange was Muriel Siebert in 1967—half a century prior to Fearless Girl’s installment. She is often hailed the “First Woman of Finance.” She also pioneered the reverse merger, or a “blank check” company acquiring a private company to take the company public. This method of taking a company public was viewed with skepticism for many years but recently has skyrocketed in use and popularity. But before getting into Siebert’s past, a history of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) itself will demonstrate just how remarkable her accomplishment was.

Wall Street: a man’s world

What began as 24 stockbrokers under a tree in 1792 is now the largest stock exchange in the world. The NYSE has a market cap of over $28 trillion and is nearly one-third of the entire global stock market value and is over double the size of the next exchange, NASDAQ. For most of the NYSE’s history, the exchange has been controlled by members. Only members could sit on the trade floor of the stock market, either as an agent for someone else or for their own personal account. The number of members was fixed in 1953 at 1,366. Until 2006 when the NYSE itself became a public company, the only way to acquire a seat to trade on the NYSE was to buy a seat from an existing member. From the beginning, women were excluded from the stock exchange and trading. In fact, women were not allowed inside the stock exchange until 1943.

As Muriel Siebert discovered in her application process, it was not enough to be able to afford to buy a seat on the exchange. Prospective members needed to go through a stringent review process. Her application was rejected nine times.

Siebert was born in 1928 in Cleveland, Ohio. She later attended Case Western Reserve University (then just Western Reserve University) but did not graduate due to her father developing cancer during her senior year. That did not stop her from going to New York with “$500 and a dream.” In 1954, she found a job as a researcher at Bache & Company but was frustrated because she made less money than her male peers for doing the same job. She applied to different jobs, first under the name Muriel Siebert. She received few responses. Once she changed the name on her resume to M.F. Siebert, the results were different.

Wherever she worked, she made less money than her male counterparts.

Frustrated she was making less money, in 1965, she decided she would open her own brokerage firm. At the time, becoming a member of the NYSE required sponsorship; the first nine men rejected her request. The tenth man agreed. The NYSE told her the seat would cost $445,000; however, $300,000 of that needed to come from a bank. The NYSE never made that request before. This was a catch-22 for Siebert: she could not become a member without the loan and no bank would loan money to her without her membership to the NYSE. After two years, Chase agreed to loan her the money. On December 28, 1967, she was the first woman to become a member of the NYSE. There was no woman’s bathroom, another battle Siebert would fight on the road to equality.

In 1969, she founded Muriel Siebert & Company, which became the first woman-owned brokerage to trade on the NYSE.  She was also the first woman to be the state superintended of banking and served other civic functions.

Notably, in 1996, she took her firm public through a reverse merger with J. Michaels, a defunct furniture company. A reverse merger is when a private company merges into a pre-existing public shell company in order to become a public company. At the time, these were considered very unorthodox; Siebert’s reverse merger was one of the first and most high-profile. The fact that Siebert & Company went public through a reverse merger is particularly noteworthy because of their meteoric rise in popularity in 2021. In 2021, reverse mergers—often called SPACs (special purpose acquisition company) have accounted for 43 IPOs, already more than all of 2019 and significantly outpacing 2020. Siebert was an early advocate of this method of taking a company public because the process avoids the burdensome costs and time associated with traditional initial public offerings (IPOs). Today, celebrities like Shaquille O’Neal and Serena Williams are starting SPACs.

In 1992, Siebert warned that it was too soon for women to declare victory for equality on Wall Street. In 2019, 20.0% of corporate directors were women, which reflects a generally increasing trend. However, among the 3,000 largest publicly traded companies, nearly one in ten of those companies have zero women on the board. NASDAQ, the world’s second-largest stock exchange, is seeking a board diversity rule that would require at least one female board member, one LGBT member, and one racial minority. The NYSE has not followed suit with a similar proposal. Similarly, women represent 20% of executive leadership at major financial institutions, which is an increase from previous years. Of the Fortune 500 CEOs, women represent just 5%.

These statistics only show a snapshot as they are massive increases from previous years and decades. But to quote the First Lady of Finance:

“When a door is hard to open, and if nothing else works, sometimes you just have to rear back and kick it open.”

Zoe Matherne, at the time of this post, is a 3L at Penn State Dickinson School of Law and a comments editor of the Dickinson Law Review. After graduation, she will start her career in corporate litigation in Wilmington, Delaware. She is a graduate of College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts. In her free time, Zoe is an avid runner and volunteers at numerous races and running-related organizations.

Sources:

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/m/member.asp#:~:text=A%20member%20is%20a%20brokerage,that%20was%20set%20in%201953.

https://www.visualcapitalist.com/the-worlds-10-largest-stock-markets/

https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/04/031204.asp#:~:text=Key%20Takeaways,that%20had%20to%20be%20purchased.&text=In%202006%2C%20seat%20holders%20were,become%20public%20and%20for%2Dprofit.

https://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/26/business/muriel-siebert-first-woman-to-own-a-seat-on-wall-st-dies-at-80.html

https://timeequitygroup.com/going-public/reverse-mergers/

https://www.intercontinentalexchange.com/about/corporate-responsibility/diverse-leadership/women-on-wall-street

https://www.benzinga.com/news/21/02/19562249/5-celebrity-spacs-to-consider-shaq-serena-steph-a-rod-and-ciara

https://www.catalyst.org/research/women-on-corporate-boards/

https://www.catalyst.org/research/women-in-financial-services/

Photo Sources:

https://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/26/business/muriel-siebert-first-woman-to-own-a-seat-on-wall-st-dies-at-80.html

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/nov/28/new-york-fearless-girl-charging-bull-wall-street

By: Adrianna Dunn

Sarah Breedlove (later Madam C.J. Walker) was born on December 23, 1867, on a plantation in Delta, Louisiana where she lived and worked as a farm laborer and laundress. Orphaned at seven years old when her parents passed away, she lived and worked with her sister in the cotton fields until age fourteen. She would then marry Moses McWilliams in order to escape her abusive brother-in-law. Moses McWilliams passed away in 1887, leaving Walker a single mother of their two-year-old daughter, Lelia (later A’Lelia). In 1889, Walker and A’Lelia moved to St. Louis, Missouri where her brothers worked as barbers.

unfortunate circumstances that led to the start of something great

In the 1890s, Walker began losing her hair due to a scalp ailment and started experimenting with different home remedies, along with a product made by a fellow-entrepreneur, Annie Malone. Walker began working for Malone as a sales agent until she moved to Denver a year later. She then married Charles Joseph Walker and changed her name to “Madam C.J. Walker,” although the pair would later divorce. After marrying and changing her name, she launched her own line of hair care products, known as, “Madam Walker’s Wonderful Hair Grower.”

the business takes off

Madam Walker traveled throughout the South and Southeast for a year and a half, advertising her products and expanding her customer base. In 1908, she moved to Pittsburgh where she built a beauty school and factory. In 1910, she left the management of the Pittsburgh branch to her daughter and moved the headquarters to Indianapolis, where there was access to railroads and more African-American customers.

“I am a woman who came from the cotton fields of the South. From there I was promoted to the washtub. From there I was promoted to the cook kitchen. And from there I promoted myself into the business of manufacturing hair goods and preparations….I have built my own factory on my own ground.”

In Indianapolis, she built a factory, training school, and salon. Her hair care products would become known as the “Walker System.” In 1916, walker moved to Harlem to work from her New York office and left the Indianapolis branch to her factory forelady and former school teacher, Ransom and Alice Kelly.

giving back to the black community

“This is the greatest country under the sun,” she told them. “But we must not let our love of country, our patriotic loyalty cause us to abate one whit in our protest against wrong and injustice. We should protest until the American sense of justice is so aroused that such affairs as the East St. Louis riot be forever impossible.”

Once Walker moved to New York she became involved in the NAACP’s anti-lynching movement, encouraging those who worked for her to do the same. Walker traveled to the White House in 1917 with a group of Harlem leaders, advocating for anti-lynching legislation after a white mob killed over 36 blacks in St. Louis.

Walker founded the National Negro Cosmetics Manufacturers Association in order to empower those she employed and give them a sense of belonging. She also contributed to the YMCA, made generous donations to educational causes and black charities, along with many other organizations.

Madam C.j. walker’s legacy

“There is no royal flower-strewn path to success, and if there is, I have not found it for if I have accomplished anything in life it is because I have been willing to work hard.”

In Walker’s last year, her sales surpassed $500,000 and her total worth topped $1 million, including her New York mansion, Villa Lewaro. Walker passed away in 1919 at the age of 51, leaving behind a legacy of black female entrepreneurship and perseverance.

Adrianna Dunn, at the time of this post, is a second-year law student at Penn State Dickinson Law. She is from Wheeling, West Virginia, and is a graduate of West Virginia University. Adrianna is the current President of the Animal Legal Defense Fund, Treasurer of the Women’s Law Caucus, and a Research Assistant for Professor Prince.

Sources

https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/madame-c-j-walker

https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/madam-cj-walker

https://madamcjwalker.com/about/

https://www.oneunited.com/innovators-in-our-space-madame-cj-walker/#:~:text=She%20organized%20the%20National%20Negro,of%20Black%20excellence%20and%20refinement.

Photo Sources

https://images.app.goo.gl/NeY1MGPexje9aJMZ9

https://images.app.goo.gl/GgWBuKCQcW43s8PK8

https://images.app.goo.gl/pJbcFpzZgaQ1Y97M6

https://images.app.goo.gl/ZRUBwRs2vNUH3MFu5

By: Elikem Tsikata

Dr. John Stewart Rock was a proficient public speaker, divergent entrepreneur, and a pioneer of various fields for Black Americans. A true master of professions, he would serve as a teacher, dentist, physician, attorney, and abolitionist. Dr. Rock was one of the first Black Americans to receive a medical license, one of the first Black attorneys in the United States, and in 1865 became the first Black attorney admitted to the U.S. Supreme Court.

John S. Rock was born in Salem, New Jersey in 1825 to free Black parents John and Maria Rock. Shortly after excelling in his own secondary education, he became a grammar teacher in Salem public high schools. At a time when many states made it illegal for Black Americans to attempt to learn how to read, Rock’s dedication and leadership in the classroom gained him the respect of his colleagues. From 1844 to 1848, he supplemented his teaching by studying medicine during the evenings. Rock became an apprentice to two white doctors, learning about their treatment methods and working up to 8 hours after a full day of teaching. It was Rock’s goal to become a physician that could treat Black patients in his community. Despite his devotion as a student, no medical school would accept him due to the color of his skin.

His rejection from medical school led Rock to pivot to the study of dentistry. By 1850, the 24-year-old had opened his own dentistry practice in Philadelphia. Rock saw fast success in his craft, but the sustainability of his business was threatened because of the low-income status of his clients. Unwilling to give up on his dream to be a physician, he persevered for admission into medical schools. He was eventually admitted into American Medical College, graduating in 1852. Following Rock’s marriage to Catherine Bowers the same year, the newlyweds moved to Boston. Dr. Rock simultaneously opened a medical practice and dentistry practice. The doctor would use his newfound license to provide free medical care for runaway slaves.

Dr. Rock established himself in Boston not only as a great medical professional but as a gifted speechmaker. He rose to become a revered abolitionist’s leader, with a public speaking style described as robust and persuasive. Dr. Rock vigorously advocated for the abolition of slavery, as well as voting rights for Black Americans. His lectures quickly gained him national recognition, putting him in the company of great abolitionists like Frederick Douglass.

Dr. Rock began having health issues in the mid-1850s. By 1858, his condition forced him to give up both his medical and dentist practices. Rock sought treatment for his illness in Paris, but his application for a passport was denied. The government determined that a passport was evidence of citizenship, which, as decided in the Dred Scott case, was not a status that Black Americans received at this time. Rock’s support in Massachusetts allowed him to receive a state-provided passport, and he received medical treatment in France from 1858-1859. During his time in Europe, he would become nearly fluent in French and German.

Upon his return to the U.S., Dr. Rock continued his abolition lectures. Rested and unflappable, Rock channeled his passion for racial justice and pivoted once again, this time to pursue a legal career. Rock would pass the Massachusetts bar in 1861, become one of the nation’s first Black attorneys. Shortly after, Governor John Andrew appointed him to become a Justice of the Peace for Boston and Suffolk County. The pioneering doctor would dedicate his legal practice to challenging laws that took away from equality and Black freedom.  Additionally, he became a Union facilitator and recruiter of Black soldiers during the ongoing Civil War.

Shortly after the conclusion of the Civil War, Dr. Rock would once again stamp his mark on history. On February 1, 1865, the day after the 13^th Amendment became law, Senator Charles Sumner introduced a motion to admit John S. Rock to the U.S. Supreme Court. The motion succeeded, and Rock became the first Black attorney admitted to our countries highest court of law. Days later, Dr. Rock was received by the U.S. House of Representatives, again experiencing a first for a Black person in our country. After battling illness for over 10 years, Dr. Rock died of tuberculosis in 1866.

Dr. John S. Rock embodied a titanic entrepreneurial spirit in his 41 years of life. At a time where racial equality was regularly denied, Rock persisted, endured, and excelled in every endeavor he took on. As an orator he was ferocious; as a scholar, he was devoted; and as a professional he was masterful. Dr. Rock’s legacy is that of someone who devoted his life to the betterment of his fellow man, and a fighter for equality during the hardest period in our nation’s history.

Elikem Tsikata, at the time of this post, is a third-year law student at Penn State Dickinson Law. He is a Ghanaian-American from McLean, Virginia, and a graduate of Miami University (OH). Elikem is pursuing a certificate in Entrepreneurship Law with a Transactional concentration. Elikem serves as President of Dickinson Law’s Student Bar Association. He is also a Research Assistant to Professor Samantha Prince.

Sources

https://loc.gov/exhibits/civil-war-in-america/biographies/john-s-rock.html

https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/1858-john-s-rock-i-will-sink-or-swim-my-race/

https://nwculaw.edu/john-rock-biography

https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/rock-john-s-1825-1866/

https://bestofnj.com/features/monthly-observances/black-history-month/black-history-nj-john-s-rock/

Photo Sources

https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/rock-john-s-1825-1866/

https://www.thehistorylist.com/events/proclaim-liberty-throughout-all-the-land-boston-abolitionists-1831-1865-boston-massachusetts

https://www.wikitree.com/photo/jpg/Inventors_of_African_Descent-27

By: Christopher Gazzio

The year was 1844, 16 years before the start of the Civil War. The fastest method of communication was a telegram and slavery was running rampant throughout the United States. That same year Macon Bolling Allen would become the first African American to receive his license to practice law in the United States. He would then go on to be the first African American to hold a judicial position as well as the first African American entrepreneur to open his own law practice. Post-Civil War Allen would go down to South Carolina where he would play a vital role in the reintegration of the Confederacy with the United States during the Reconstruction Period. Allen’s life can be used to demonstrate how individuals can alter the path of history at the grassroots level long before Congress or even the President have the desire or courage to do so.

Passing the bar

Macon Bolling Allen whose birth name was actually Allen Macon Bolling, was born in Indiana on August 4th, 1816. Although Indiana was a free state, they were not welcoming to African American individuals. In 1831, the state required the registration of all African Americans and required them to post bond asserting that they would not cause any mischief. In 1844 Allen made his way to Maine where he befriended a local abolitionist and attorney by the name of General Samuel Fessenden. Impressed with his intelligence, General Fessenden took Allen under his wing as an apprentice. Within four years Allen had become so proficient that General Fessenden praised Allen before the District Court and proposed that Allen be admitted to the Maine bar. Hopes were high because supposedly Maine law allowed anyone “of good moral character” to be admitted to the bar. Despite this, Allen was harshly rejected because as an African American, he was not considered a citizen of Maine. This didn’t deter him from pursuing his dreams and he requested to be admitted by examination. After he passed the exam, and alongside a glowing recommendation from his mentor, he was declared a citizen of Maine and admitted to practice law on July 3rd, 1844 at the age of 27.

With Allen’s admission to the Maine bar, African Americans were finally able to receive representation in court. Being able to assert claims on behalf of African Americans helped reform society in ways that would have likely been delayed without adequate representation. Although he was making a difference, Allen was still struggling financially. This is because many white Americans were unwilling to have an African American man represent them in court.

Life in Boston

This caused him to walk over 50 miles from Maine to Worcester, Massachusetts in order to take the Massachusetts bar exam. Once he was admitted to the bar in May of 1845. Allen settled in Boston where he attempted to procure enough legal work to sustain a living. While there, Allen partnered with Robert Morris Jr. and opened up the first African American law firm in the United States. During this process, he came to the realization that the community in Boston, Massachusetts was not all that different from the community in Portland, Maine.

Striving for more, Allen completed yet another strenuous exam and eventually was appointed Justice of the Peace in Middlesex County. During his tenure as a Justice of the Peace, he was in charge of simple court cases and managing local administrative applications within the county. Now he was not only the first African American Attorney in the United States, but he was also the first African American judicial official. In 1847, Allen was considered to serve as the first Attorney General of Liberia. Although he kindly stated that he was not interested, he vowed to do whatever was necessary to find an adequate candidate. Allen was passionate about his cause and believed he would have a greater impact in the United States.

taking a stand

In 1868, after the end of the Civil War, Allen moved to Charleston, South Carolina alongside fellow attorneys William J. Whipper and Robert Brown Elliot. Here the men established the first known African American Law Firm called Whipper, Elliot, & Allen. In 1872 Allen ran for Secretary of the State. Although he was unsuccessful, his campaign inspired many African Americans across the country to pursue a career in politics. While in Charleston, Allen was elected Judge of Charleston County Criminal Court in 1873 and later was elected as the Probate Judge in Charleston County in 1876. During this period in his life, the Confederacy was being reintegrated into the Union and they were struggling to establish the legal status of African Americans. Allen played a key role by taking a stand against corruption and heavily advocating for reform during the Reconstruction Period.

After the Reconstruction Period, Allen moved to Washington, D.C. where he began working for the Land and Improvement Association. He worked in this position for the remainder of his natural life until he passed on October 10th, 1894 at the age of 78. After his death, the National Bar Association honored him for his groundbreaking work as both the first African American attorney and the first African American to hold a judicial position as well.

conclusion/contributions

Macon Bolling Allen kick-started the movement for diversity within the legal community. Despite facing a plethora of racial prejudice early on in his career, he persevered and kept finding ways to prove himself in the field. Not only was he a devoted lawyer, but he was also extremely active in politics as well. With his skillset, Allen was able to aid in the abolition of slavery and was a key player advocating for reform during the Reconstruction Period following the Civil War. Allen noticed the social injustices, which were regular practice during the time, and forged his own path for a better future.

Chris Gazzio, at the time of this post, is a second-year JD/MBA student at Penn State Dickinson Law. He is from Hershey, Pennsylvania, and is a graduate of Wingate University (NC). Chris is interested in pursuing a career in tax and estate planning. He is also a Research Assistant to Professor Samantha Prince.

Sources

https://www.phillytrib.com/commentary/michaelcoard/coard-black-lawyers-matter-past-present-future/article_96b6c9f9-2382-5203-973f-8b8985976799.html

https://heinonline-org.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/HOL/Page?lname=&handle=hein.barjournals/mainebarj0015&collection=&page=234&collection=barjournals

https://www.theadventboston.org/ABOUT-US/ADVENT-175/MACON-BOLLING-ALLEN-1816-1894/

https://www.encyclopedia.com/AFRICAN-AMERICAN-FOCUS/NEWS-WIRES-WHITE-PAPERS-AND-BOOKS/ALLEN-MACON-BOLLING

Photo Sources

https://www.theadventboston.org/about-us/advent-175/macon-bolling-allen-1816-1894/

https://aaregistry.org/story/americas-first-black-lawyer-macon-b-allen/

https://blackartblog.blackartdepot.com/african-american-history/9-facts-macon-bolling-allen.html

https://www.mainememory.net/artifact/4153

By: Shaivya Singh

Elizabeth Hobbs Keckley was born in 1818 as the child of a forced relationship between her enslaved mother, Agnes, and her mother’s owner, Colonel Burwell. Although Elizabeth’s father was white, she was treated as a slave like her mother. She worked as a slave for the Burwell family, and was forced to learn how to care for a newborn baby at the tender age of four. Her owners punished her and the other slaves for minor mistakes, beating her for errors, leaving her scarred throughout her childhood.

At fourteen, her owner sent her to live with his eldest son who was equally as cruel. When the son eventually sent her to work for a white neighbor, Elizabeth, like her mother, became pregnant with her new owner’s child, giving birth to a son named George in 1839.

In 1847, Elizabeth, George, and Agnes moved to St. Louis, Missouri with their new owners. Out of fear of her mother working at such an old age, Elizabeth convinced her owners to let her find another way of making money for the family.

One of the skills Elizabeth learned from her mother was sewing. Elizabeth soon began using this skill to make dresses for wealthy white women and free black women. It did not take long for her to earn a reputation as one of the best dressmakers in the city and was soon taking orders from St. Louis’s wealthiest women. She used the money she earned to support her owner’s family of eighteen people.

In the early 1850s, Elizabeth asked her owners what it would cost to buy her freedom.  In 1852, they set a price of $1,200, which would be about $40,000 today. Elizabeth was fortunate to have many of her loyal clientele loan her the $1200 she needed to buy her freedom. She worked as a dressmaker in St. Louis for the next five years in order to pay back every person who loaned her money and then moved to Washington, D.C.

the first lady’s seamstress

With the help of her St. Louis network and connections of wealthy and powerful clients, Elizabeth quickly built a reputation in Washington, D.C. One of her clients introduced her to a senator’s wife who eventually hired her as a personal stylist and dressmaker. During her time there, she met the wives of some of the most powerful and wealthy men in the country. When the Lincoln family entered the White House, another one of Elizabeth’s clients recommended her to the First Lady who was very impressed with her work. Keckley was hired by the First Lady to design most of Mary Lincoln’s gowns during her time in the White House. The dress Ms. Lincoln wore at the second inauguration is now on display at the Smithsonian.

With the First Lady’s support, Elizabeth’s business thrived. She was able to open her own dress shop and hired twenty assistants to help her with her work. Elizabeth used her success to start a charity that helped recently freed people begin a new life.

Elizabeth Keckley is best known as one of the most talented seamstresses of her time, a good friend of Mary Lincoln, and one of few, if not the first, female African American entrepreneur(s) of the time.

Shaivya Singh, at the time of this post, is a third-year law student at Penn State Dickinson Law. She is from Hillsborough, New Jersey and is a graduate of Rutgers University. Shaivya is the current Recruitment Chair of Dickinson Law’s Moot Court Board and a LexisNexis Representative. Upon graduation, Shaivya will be working for an insurance defense litigation firm in Harrisburg. 

Sources

https://wams.nyhistory.org/a-nation-divided/reconstruction/elizabeth-keckley/

https://americacomesalive.com/elizabeth-keckley-ca-1818-1907-slave-turned-entrepreneur-confidante-to-mary-lincoln/

https://americanhistory.si.edu/blog/elizabeth-keckley-businesswoman-and-philanthropist

http://scrc.blogs.wm.edu/2014/11/24/from-slavery-to-freedom-via-entrepreneurship/