They Call Me Lizzy...From Slavery to the White House with Actress Stephanie Jackson

LITCHFIELD, Conn. - Sept. 24, 2013 - PRLog -- In this performance actress Stephanie Jackson will bring the remarkable history of Elizabeth (Lizzy) Keckly to life with her dramatic and moving narrative of one woman’s rise from slavery to entrepreneurial freedom then scandal and decline.  Born into slavery in 1818, Lizzy eventually purchased her freedom and made her way to Washington D.C., where her dressmaking skills and entrepreneurial savvy brought her to the attention of many political families including the Lincoln’s.  When Mary Lincoln hired Madame Keckly the two women launched a relationship unlike any Lizzy had ever envisioned for herself.  She was often there in the room with President and Mrs. Lincoln during some of their most private and difficult moments.  While she is best known for her talents as Mary Todd Lincoln’s dressmaker and ‘stylist,’ the story before and beyond her connection to the White House is equally compelling. Performed in retrospect, this dramatic recounting of Lizzy’s experiences is much more than a slave narrative it is a human story, at times tragic, at times triumphant, and full of remarkable resilience.

Stephanie Jackson is a graduate of the University of Connecticut.  She originated the role of Elizabeth Keckly for the East Haddam Stage Company in 2006.  Stephanie has previously created roles in such diverse productions as Tiwanna Lewis’s social issues theatre piece “Slice of Life” and portrayed the ancient African leader Yaa Asantewaa for UCONN.  During the past 15 years she has been an assistant special education teacher with Connecticut’s Oak Hill School for the Blind.

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