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Contribution #296 of 365
Catherine “Kitty” Foster
Laundress, Seamstress and Early Virginia Property Owner
1820s–1863
The contribution
How this work helped shape America
Born enslaved in Albemarle County, Virginia, around 1790, Catherine “Kitty” Foster gained her freedom and established an independent economic life near the University of Virginia. She earned income as a laundress and seamstress serving the university community and in 1833 purchased 2⅛ acres of land immediately south of the university. Foster became the first free Black woman documented as a property owner in the nearby community that became known as Canada. Her combination of paid service work and landownership created an intergenerational family property that remained in Foster family hands until 1906.