Ona Judge Escaped From Slavery While George Washington Was Busy Eating Dinner Inside. Now, a New Mural Honors Her Legacy

Meilan Solly, Smithsonian Magazine

The artwork in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, shows Judge arriving in the city after her journey from Philadelphia in May 1796. She remained a free woman until her death in 1848

On May 21, 1796, George Washington and his family sat down for dinner at the President’s House in Philadelphia, enjoying one of their last meals in the city before returning to Mount Vernon for the summer. As the Washingtons dined, an enslaved woman named Ona Judge made her escape, slipping out of the mansion to freedom.

“Whilst they were packing up to go to Virginia, I was packing to go, I didn’t know where,” Judge recalled in an 1845 interview. “For I knew that if I went back to Virginia, I never should get my liberty.”

After Judge fled, she made her way north, securing passage on a ship bound for Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Despite Washington’s unyielding efforts to track her down, Judge evaded capture, dying in 1848 as a free woman. Two centuries later, Judge’s harrowing account of her escape offers a rare glimpse into the challenges faced by fugitives from slavery in the nascent United States. Her story is also of note for its connection to the nation’s first commander in chief, a man who privately questioned the institution of slavery yet still owned 123 men, women and children.

Last week, just over 230 years after Judge’s self-emancipation from slavery, the nonprofit Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire unveiled a mural in Portsmouth that honors her memory. Created by artist Manuel Ramirez, the work shows Judge soon after her arrival on the city’s waterfront, clad in a green dress and a straw bonnet.

Learn more about the art and the woman who inspired it.

Discover more people who made Black history in our online galleries.

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