Elizabeth Keckley

Virginia Hall wanted to be a diplomat, but the State Department kept shutting doors in her face …and then she lost her leg in a hunting accident, which seemed like she’d reached a dead end. Never one to accept defeat, she learned how to walk again on a wooden leg nicknamed “Cuthb ...  Show more

Rosa Bonheur was a wild, animal‑obsessed kid who drew before she could read, and knew she was meant for the world of art from an extremely young age. She didn’t set out to shock anyone; she simply refused to be anything but herself, and the world eventually had to adjust to her. ...  Show more

This week we explore the incredible story of Elizabeth Keckly, an enslaved woman who bought her freedom and went on to become the premiere dressmaker in Washington D.C. during the Civil War era. Her best friend and client? Mary Todd Lincoln.  Learn more about your ad-choices a ...  Show more

This 2011 episode from previous hosts Sarah and Deblina covers the life of Mary-Elizabeth Bowser, who was released from enslavement by Elizabeth Van Lew, then went on to become an agent in Van Lew's "Richmond Ring" of Civil War spies.

We're revisiting this 2013 topic in honor of Juneteenth. Most people are familiar with Tubman's involvement with the Underground Railroad, but she was also a spy for the Union during the Civil War, among many other things. Untangling the truth from the myth is the trickiest part ...  Show more

Born into slavery during the early 1800s in Maryland, she survived a tragic, violent childhood before ultimately escaping and gaining her own freedom. Unsatisfied, Harriet Tubman embarked on a mission of liberation, freeing slaves and shepherding them to the North via the Undergr ...  Show more