The presidential kitchen employed a number of free African Americans who worked side-by-side with enslaved people and indentured servants. After Emancipation, African Americans dominated the White House kitchen staff, and upon several occasions, the entire culinary workforce. These cooks come to the White House due to professional merit they possess, not the happenstance of being enslaved by the incumbent president. Still, these cooks faced a number of challenges and barriers, inside and outside of the White House, due to racial prejudice. The chapter chronologically profiles James Wormley, Lucy Fowler, Laura "Dollie" Johnson, Alice Howard, John Moaney and Zephyr Wright. These profiles indicate how they overcame various racial challenges. This chapter includes recipes for Pedernales River Chili, and President Eisenhower's Old-Fashioned Beef Stew.