Fabric of Our Nation: The Life & Labor of Elizabeth Keckly

She stitched dresses for the First Lady of a fractured nation — and sewed herself into the seams of American history. Fabric of Our Nation is a soul-stirring new musical that weaves together gospel, blues, historical testimony, and contemporary spoken word to tell the story of Elizabeth Keckly: formerly enslaved, fiercely dignified, brilliantly talented dressmaker to Mary Todd Lincoln.

Through the threads of fashion and friendship of fragile conditions, Keckly and Lincoln form a bond shaped by the violence of grief, power, race, and impossible expectation — revealing the often invisible labor of Black women whose artistry and strength have upheld empires.

This is not just a story of “then.” By moving between past and present, we reveal how the racial divide — between Black and white, power and powerlessness, seen and unseen — still cuts deep today. It’s about the threads that tie us together as Americans, and what happens when they start to unravel...

Come sit with us. There’s plenty good room.

Commissioned by CAAPA and co-written and performed by Shana Oshiro, Erin Ridge, Edmond Charles, and Terri Allen.

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