Martha Washington’s enslaved servant Oona Judge made a daring escape to freedom — but the National Park Service erased her story from a Philadelphia exhibit

On the evening of May 21, 1796, Ona Judge made the bold decision to free herself.

Given the status of its owner, Laws of that time and The dangerous journey To New Hampshire, a place where she could live freely and discreetly, this act carried great risk. However, she sneaked out of the President’s house undetected while the First Family was having dinner.

The house is located at the intersection of 6th Street and Market Street Philadelphiaas First Executive Palace. He was standing just feet away Independence HallWhere the nation adopted its sublime language of freedom.

Years later, The judge described her escape as narrow By Rev. Benjamin Chase in an interview with the Abolitionist Newspaper Editor. “I had colored friends in Philadelphia, and my effects had been conveyed there beforehand, and I left the Washington house while they were at dinner,” the judge told Chase.

Before her escape, the judge worked as a maid in the president’s house. She spent years Taking care of Martha Washington’s every need: Bathing her, dressing her, styling her hair, washing her clothes, organizing her personal belongings, and even taking care of her children and grandchildren on a regular basis.

Being a chambermaid too Exhausting daily tasks included Such as making fires, emptying room utensils, and washing floors.

Although she engaged in this hard work as a property of the Washington family, living in Philadelphia offered the judge a glimpse of what freedom could finally look like for her. Historians appreciate this 5% to 9% of the city’s population At that time blacks were free. Before her escape, the judge befriended several of them.

In the spring of 1796, the Washington family prepared to return to Virginia to resume their private lives. President Washington issued his decision Farewell address in the fall of 1796, but he had told his family and those close to him of his plans earlier in the year.

During this period, Martha Washington made arrangements for their anticipated return to Mount Vernon. Her plans included bequeathing Una Judge to her granddaughter, Elizabeth Parke Custis, as a wedding gift. When the judge found out, she made plans of her own.

in Meet her She explained with Chase, “While they were packing to go to Virginia, I was packing to go, and I didn’t know where, because I knew if I went back to Virginia, I would never have my freedom.”

As a civil rights attorney and professor in the Department of Africanism and African American Studies at Temple University in Philadelphia, I study the intersection between Race, racism and the law In the United States. I believe the judge’s story is vital to telling America’s history.

Deconstructing history

erica Armstrong Dunbar, Professor of African American Studies at Emory University, tells Judge’s remarkable story in her book “Never Caught: The Washingtons’ relentless pursuit of their escaped slave judge, Ona“.

Before January 2026, those who wished to recognize the judge could literally stand on the same aisle in Philadelphia where the judge once stood when she chose to flee. several footprints, In the shape of a women’s shoe And embedded in the path outside where the president’s house once stood, to commemorate the beginning of the judge’s journey. These footprints form part of an exhibition examining The contradiction between slavery, freedom, and the founding of the nation.

The exhibition, titled “Freedom and Slavery in the Making of a New Nation,” also included 34 explanatory panels nailed to the brick walls along this sidewalk. They provide biographical details of the nine persons the Washington family owned while living at the presidential mansion. The exhibit presented the painful truth that our nation’s first president enslaved people while holding the highest office in the land.

This changed in late January when the National Park Service Dismantling the Slavery Exhibition Independence National Historical Park is located in Philadelphia. the Provoked intense removal, Instant anger From people across the country who are appalled by the attempt to suppress unfavorable aspects of American history.

Philadelphia Mayor Cheryl Parker responded quickly. “Let me assure the residents of the City of Philadelphia that there is a cooperative agreement between the city and the federal government dating back to 2006,” she said in a public statement. “This agreement requires the parties to meet and consult if there are any changes to be made to the exhibit.”

the The city of Philadelphia later sued Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and National Park Service Acting Director Jessica Burron. Pennsylvania then filed an application Friend brief To support the city’s lawsuit.

After inspecting the exhibition’s paintings, US District Judge Cynthia Roof, who is overseeing the case, ruled that… The government must mitigate any potential harm to them While it is stored.

Philadelphia-based civil rights activist and attorney Michael Cord recently had the opportunity to visit and Examine the exhibits In storage. Coard has led the fight to create and preserve the gallery and is now at the heart of the battle to restore it.

Limit discussion of race

As the court deliberates on the future of the exhibits, critics continue to raise major concerns about the exhibits’ removal. Many argue that the National Park Service’s dismantling of the exhibit is an attempt to “Whitening history“And erasing stories like Una Judge’s.

This is especially the case given what the Trump administration has done Restore and reinstall it Two Confederate monuments to Albert Pike in Washington, D.C., and Arlington National Cemetery, during the removal of a slavery exhibit in Philadelphia.

Moreover, during the first week of his second term, Trump signed Multiple executive orders To eliminate
Diversity, equity and inclusion Policies.

Likewise, during the first Trump administration, the federal government engaged in… Various efforts To balance Project 1619a project led by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones that discussed the 400th anniversary of the beginnings of slavery in America. The 1619 Project was born Backlash for years. This included 1776 commissioncreated during the first Trump administration, which attempted to discredit the 1619 Project’s conclusions.

That’s it Part of a broader pattern All over the country to How to limit public institutions Bring up topics Related to race and racism.

This pattern has intensified as the United States prepares to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the framers of the Declaration of Independence. As the nation celebrates its history, it must decide how much to explore.

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