Ann-Elizabeth Fossett Isaacs (c. 1812-1902)[1] was an African American woman who was born into slavery at Monticello, the plantation owned by then former president Thomas Jefferson.

[1] She lived there until she was around the age of fifteen with her mother, a cook, and her father, a blacksmith, along with their other nine children.

[3] Edith was a chef at Monticello, who also worked at the White House while Jefferson held office.

[2] Joseph acted as the plantation’s chief blacksmith for twenty years, and was able to keep one sixth of the profits that were generated at his shop, a rarity for enslaved people at Monticello.

[7] At the time of her emancipation, Fossett had married a man from Charlottesville of African and Jewish descent by the name of Tucker Issacs.