Summarize in 10 words:
Born into slavery in February 1818, NAME_1 was the daughter of her owner, NAME_2, and his house slave, NAME_3. NAME_4 began working as a nursemaid when she was four years old, and endured years of beatings and rape, the latter of which resulted in a pregnancy. However, one part of her childhood would eventually save her: from her mother, NAME_4 had learned how to sew.

Not only did NAME_5’s sewing skills eventually allow her to purchase her freedom—her patrons loaned her the money to buy herself and her son—they also enabled her to start her own dressmaking business and become the seamstress and friend of then-First Lady, NAME_6. 