Caption:
Ona Judge was born into slavery at Mount Vernon, George Washington’s estate in Virginia. When George Washington was elected president of the United States, Judge and seven other enslaved people traveled to Philadelphia, the first capital of the country, to work for the Washington family there. Judge was determined to seek her freedom. On a May evening in 1796 she left the president’s home in Philadelphia and made her way on board a ship that sailed for Portsmouth, NH. Judge lived in Portsmouth for a while, but someone recognized her and contacted the Washingtons. She moved to Greenland, NH, where it was a little safer for her. The Washingtons kept trying to get her back, but she was never recaptured. Judge married a free black man, John Staines, and had three children. She lived the rest of her life in New Hampshire, though she never became legally free. There are no portraits of Ona Judge, or of most enslaved people of that time.