Cokie Roberts on how one former slave became a First Family confidante

Gwen Ifill recently sat down with journalist and political commentator Cokie Roberts on the NewsHour to discuss her new book “Capital Dames: The Civil War and the Women of Washington, 1848-1868” about the untold stories of the women involved in Civil War politics.

One woman Roberts focused on was Elizabeth Keckley, a former slave who bought her freedom and eventually became the dressmaker of prominent Washington women, including Mary Todd Lincoln. Keckley later used her inside status of the First Family to publish a tell-all of the Lincolns.