Theres no better time to celebrate being a pretty chick than Women’s History Month!!! And what better way for a pretty chick to celebrate than honoring the pretty chicks that shined before us?

Elizabeth Keckley was born a slave in Dinwiddie, Virginia in Feburary 1818. She used her gift for creative design and detailed sewing to earn money from wealthy clients, and eventually was able to borrow $1200 from a client to buy her freedom, as well as her son’s. In 1860, Keckley moved to Washington, DC where she designed couture and ready-to-wear dresses for prominent wives of political figures including Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee. Her work soon caught the interest of First Lady, Mary Todd Lincoln who commissioned Keckley to design her dress for the Inaugural Ball. The Lincolns were so impressed with the dress, they hired Keckley to be the First Lady’s personal seamstress.