Teenage Years
In 1832, at age fourteen, Keckley was sent to live "on generous loan" with the eldest Burwell son Robert when he married Margaret Anna Robertson, in Chesterfield County, Virginia, near Petersburg. Burwell's wife expressed contempt for Elizabeth, and made home life for the next four years uncomfortable for her. They moved to Hillsborough, North Carolina, where Robert was a minister and teacher at the Burwell School. Keckley mentioned that Mrs. Burwell seemed 'desirous to wreak vengeance' upon her. Keckley still wrote letters to her mother during her time there.
Margaret Burwell enlisted a neighbor, William J. Bingham, to help subdue the girl's "stubborn pride". When Keckley was eighteen, Bingham called her to his quarters and ordered her to undress so that he could beat her. Keckley refused, saying she was fully grown, and you "shall not whip me unless you prove the stronger. Nobody has a right to whip me but my own master, and nobody shall do so if I can prevent it." Bingham bound her hands and beat her, and Elizabeth was sent back to her master with bleeding welts upon her back. A week later, Bingham flogged her again until he was exhausted. During these beatings, Elizabeth suppressed her tears and cries. The following week, after yet another attempt to "break her", Bingham had a change of heart, "burst into tears, and declar that it would be a sin" to beat her anymore. He asked for her forgiveness and said that he would not beat her again. Keckley claims that he kept his word.
In Hillsborough, for four years, Alexander M. Kirkland, a prominent white man of the community, forced a sexual relationship on Elizabeth, which she said caused "suffering and deep mortification." She bore a son by Kirkland, naming the child George after her stepfather. After the boy was born in 1839, Keckley was returned to Virginia, where she served Ann Burwell Garland and her husband.
Read more about this topic: Elizabeth Keckley
Famous quotes related to teenage years:
“The long discussions and painful arguments of adolescence and the fierce loyalties to teachers, heroes, and gurus during the teenage years are simply our children’s struggles to ensure that the lifestyles and values they adopt are worthy of their allegiance.”
—Neil Kurshan (20th century)
“Toddlerhood resembles adolescence because of the rapidity of physical growth and because of the impulse to break loose of parental boundaries. At both ages, the struggle for independence exists hand in hand with the often hidden wish to be contained and protected while striving to move forward in the world. How parents and toddlers negotiate their differences sets the stage for their ability to remain partners during childhood and through the rebellions of the teenage years.”
—Alicia F. Lieberman (20th century)