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Over the years, The judge described his narrow escape to Rev. Benjamin Chase in an interview for the abolitionist newspaper The Liberator. Judge told Chase, “I had friends among the colored people in Philadelphia, had my goods there first, and left the house in Washington while they dined.”
Before her escape, Judge served as a chambermaid at the President’s House. He spent years taking care of Martha Washington’s every need: bathing and dressing her, fixing her hair, washing her clothes, organizing her personal belongings, and even from time to time taking care of her children and grandchildren.
Being a chambermaid too involves heavy daily tasks such as maintaining fires, removing pots from the room and cleaning the floors.
Although he shared this hard work as the property of the Washingtons, living in Philadelphia gave the Judge a glimpse of what freedom would be like at last for him. Historians estimate that 5% to 9% of the city’s population at that time blacks were free. Before he escapes, Judge befriends some of them.
In the spring of 1796, the Washingtons prepared to return to Virginia to resume private life. President Washington issued his farewell address in the fall of 1796, but he had told family and close confidants of his plans earlier in the year.
During that time, Martha Washington made arrangements for their pending return to Mount Vernon. His plans included giving Ona Judge his granddaughter, Elizabeth Parke Custis, as a wedding present. Knowing this, Judge made his own plans.
on his interview with Chase he explained, “While they were packing to go to Virginia, I was packing to go, I didn’t know where; for I knew that if I went back to Virginia, I would never have my freedom.”
As a civil rights attorney and professor in the department of Africology and African American Studies at Temple University in Philadelphia, I study the intersection of race, racism and the law in the United States. I believe Judge’s story is important to the telling of American history.
Breaking history
Erica Armstrong Dunbar, a professor of African American Studies at Emory University, tells Judge’s fascinating story in his book “Uncaught: The Washingtons’ Relentless Pursuit of their Fugitive Slave Ona Judge.”
Before January 2026, those who want to learn about Judge can literally stand on the same sidewalk in Philadelphia where Judge stood when he chose to flee. Many footprints, shaped like a woman’s shoe and inserted into the entrance where the House of the President stands, commemorates the beginning of the Judge’s journey. These footprints form part of an exhibit that examines the paradox between slavery, freedom and nation building.
The exhibit, “Freedom and Slavery in the Making of a New Nation,” also includes 34 explanatory panels mounted on the brick walls along that sidewalk. They provide biographical details about nine people the Washingtons owned while living in the presidential mansion. The exhibit shows the sobering fact that the first president of our country enslaved people while he held the highest office in the country.
That changed in late January when the National Park Service dismantled the slavery exhibit in Philadelphia Independence National Historic Park. the the removal flashed badly, instant anger from people across the country who were disillusioned with the attempt to suppress the negative aspects of American history. Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker was quick to respond. “Let me confirm, on behalf of the residents of the city of Philadelphia, that there is a cooperative agreement between the city and the federal government that began in 2006,” he said in a public statement. “That agreement requires the parties to meet and communicate when any changes are made to an exhibit.” the the city of Philadelphia later sued Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and National Park Service acting Director Jessica Bowron. Pennsylvania subsequently submitted a amicus brief in support of the city’s lawsuit. After inspecting the exhibit panels, US District Judge Cynthia Rufe, who presided over the case, ruled that the the government should minimize any potential harm to them while it is stored. Civil rights activist and Philadelphia-based attorney Michael Coard recently had the opportunity to visit and check out the exhibits to save. Coard led the fight to create and preserve the exhibit and is now at the center of the fight to restore it. As the court deliberates the future of the exhibits, critics continue to raise valid concerns about the exhibit’s removal. Many argued that the National Park Service’s dismantling of the exhibit was an attempt to “whitewashed history” and delete stories like Ona Judge’s. This is especially the case considering the Trump administration restored and reinstalled two Confederate monuments by Albert Pike in Washington, DC, and Arlington National Cemetery, while removing the slavery exhibit in Philadelphia. Moreover, in the first week of his second term, Trump signed many executive orders to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion policies. Similarly, in the first Trump administration, the federal government was involved different efforts to balance the 1619 Projecta project led by Pulitzer-winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones that commemorates the 400th anniversary of the beginning of slavery in America. The 1619 Project was born years of backlash. Among these are Commission of 1776made during the first Trump administration, which tried to undermine the conclusions of the 1619 project. This is all part of a wider pattern across the country in limit how public institutions broach subjects about race and racism. This pattern is heightened as the United States prepares to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the framers signing the Declaration of Independence. As the country celebrates its history, it must decide how much of it to explore. Read more of our stories about Philadelphia and Pennsylvaniaor sign up for our Philadelphia Substack newsletter. Timothy WelbeckDirector of the Center for Anti-Racism, Temple University This article was reprinted from The Conversation under Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Limiting the discussion of race
