Elise Forrest Harleston (February 8, 1891- 1970) is known as South Carolina’s first female African-American photographer. She was also one of the first Black female photographers in the United States. Elise Beatrice Forrest was born in Charleston, South Carolina, on February 8, 1891, to Elvira Moorer and Augustus Forrest, who worked as an accountant. Elise’s paternal grandmother had been a “free person of color.” Elise Beatrice Forrest became Elise Forrest Harleston after she married successful African-American painter Edwin Augustus Harleston, who was nine years her senior.