An interesting sidelight was that a Confederate apologist falsely claimed Elizabeth Keckley did not write the book. From:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/hist...americans-who-knew-abraham-lincoln-180968215/
David Rankin Barbee, a Washington, D.C., gadfly who regularly sought to explicate and defend the white South to outsiders told up-and-coming Washington journalist Bess Furman that Jane Grey Swisshelm, a Civil War–era correspondent from Minnesota was the real author of
Behind the Scenes. Furman believed him and filed her story on this supposed new discovery in the
Washington Star on Saturday, November 11. Four days later the paper published John E. Washington’s refutation. Keckly (also spelled Keckley) had indeed lived and that, while others might have helped her write the book, Keckly had taken “full responsibility” for it.
Barbee quickly countered with his own letter to the editor a few days later, claiming he had never denied Keckly’s existence but, instead, had argued that “no such person” had written
Behind the Scenes. He maintained that position, reiterating that Swisshelm was the real author and that
Behind the Sceneswas a work of fiction. No one, he told a friend in private correspondence, could “find in all the United States of 1869 [sic] one negro He also claimed (incorrectly) that Mrs. Lincoln bought all her dresses in New York and Paris and had no need of a fine seamstress in Washington.
On learning of black Washingtonians’ strong objections to Barbee’s claims, Furman decided to investigate further. “Someone who knew Madame Keckly turned up,” she recorded in her calendar a few days after the initial story ran. She headed to the home of Francis Grimké, Keckly’s former pastor, who had a photo of Keckly and talked extensively about having known her and preaching at her 1907 funeral service. Soon Furman was at Washington’s home, interviewing him about Keckly and taking down the names and addresses of other black Washingtonians who could attest to her existence. Furman’s new story, which she privately called a “correction,” went over the AP wire and appeared in the
Washington Star on December 1. Barbee’s assertions had “brought Negro leaders forward in spirited defense of Elizabeth Keckly as an author,” Furman wrote. “In old albums they found photographs of her to prove her a decidedly dressy and intelligent person.”