She captured my attention two years ago, piquing my curiosity, encouraging me to learn more, extending an invitation across time and space to discover who she was, to examine her motives, to delve into her story.
And oh, what a story it is!
At 22 years old, I was a recent college graduate taking the first steps away from a university campus, and onto a corporate career path.
At 22 years old, Ona Maria Judge successfully planned and executed her escape from the most powerful couple in the nation—President and Mrs George Washington. This would’ve been a momentous event, an embarrassing scandal, a prominent newspaper story.
And yet—I had never learned of her, never read of her, never heard of her….until I mistakenly discovered a book about her life, while searching for information on something completely unrelated.
Ona Maria Who? I read the description, downloaded the ebook, and read it cover to cover at one sitting. I set it down thoroughly amazed by what I learned.
Never Caught.
It’s the title of the book about her life, and the outcome of her escape.
She didn’t just flee enslavement. She remained free until death. Despite their prestige, power, and financial resources—the Washingtons were unsuccessful in recapturing her. And it was NOT for lack of trying.
But she defied their efforts. She was the runaway slave who outwitted the Washington’s. The runaway slave who was never caught!
During Washington’s first term, the nation's capitol moved from New York to Philadelphia. This proved problematic for the slave owning president because Philadelphia was a hot bed of abolitionist activity. The law stated that any enslaved individual residing there for more than six months could petition for freedom!
When the Washington’s learned of this threat to ownership of their human “property”, they orchestrated a plan to ensure that the hands of the clock of bondage were routinely reset BEFORE the 6 month deadline expired.
They were quite sly about this deception. The President who is mythologized for his honesty and valor, concocted excuses to justify rotating their slaves OUT of Philadelphia every 6 months. Excuses intentionally created to maintain secrecy.
It was essential to keep the slaves they’d brought with them, ignorant of local laws that dangled the lure of freedom within their reach.
Ona’s story is intriguing because she was the personal maidservant and seamstress of Martha Washington. She was highly skilled. She lived in luxury. She never worked as a field hand.
Serving the first lady of the nation, Ona was exposed to elite living that would’ve been foreign to most citizens regardless of race, and certainly unimaginable for the enslaved. She dressed in finery befitting a skilled servant of the first lady. She accompanied her mistress to the theater, balls, formal dinners, and high society events.
But the sweet aroma of liberty that permeated the Philadelphia air eventually wafted its way to Ona’s nostrils. Over her seven years of service in the Capitol, she grew increasingly intoxicated with the smell of freedom.
Most Black Philadelphians were not enslaved!
Ona had transitioned from life at Mt Vernon, a plantation with close to 300 slaves, to a city where enslaved Black people were the MINORITY. At the time of Washington’s presidency, there were fewer than 100 slaves in Philadelphia.
The song of freedom that called to her soul reached a sharp crescendo, as Washington's 2nd term drew to a close. Ona learned she was to be gifted to Martha Washington’s temperamental granddaughter as a wedding present. It was the catalyst that solidified her resolve to break free.
The discovery was a harsh reminder to Ona of a sobering truth, that was the reality for every slave. No matter how privileged their status, no matter how faithful their service, they were property; as easily sold, gifted, or transferred as any inanimate object.
Ona knew escape would be near impossible once she returned to Virginia, so she seized the opportunity afforded by her geographic location. Aided by free black friends, she fled one May evening as the Washington’s ate dinner, ultimately settling in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
She met and married a free black man, learned to read, had three children, and built a life for herself as a domestic worker. The Washington’s offered substantial rewards for her capture and made multiple failed attempts to find her.
They were incensed and embarrassed by her “disloyalty”, and failed to understand why a slave exposed to the elite life Ona experienced, would risk escape to an uncertain future. Their confusion (as evidenced in their OWN words, by letters they wrote about the matter) speaks volumes about the blinders of racism.
They did not deem her worthy of the freedom they enjoyed, “freedom” upon which the country was ostensibly founded. In their mind, she should’ve remained loyally enslaved, and appreciative of the niceties to which they exposed her while serving them.
When interviewed, near the end of her life, about the choice to subject herself to domestic toil in freedom, rather than enslavement in luxury, Ona made it clear that freedom is a choice she never regretted.
I learned her story as a part of my quest to learn history to which I’d not been previously exposed. I’m grateful to know the story of her valiant effort to alter her destiny, change her story, and write a new ending!
“The more you know of your history, the more liberated you are.”—Maya Angelou
Resources To Learn More
"Never Caught: The Washingtons' Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave" by Erica Armstrong Dunbar, 2017, Simon & Schuster.
Our country was founded on the backs of those enslaved. Ona’s story is a vital part true American history. Thank you Olivia!
Thank you for this well crafted and important story. It is essential for us to view this country’s beginnings with light shining upon the whole truth.