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Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio.

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Speaker 1: Hello and welcome to This Day in History Class, a

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Speaker 1: show that pays tribute to people of the past by

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Speaker 1: telling their stories. Today I'm Gabe Lucier, and today we're

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Speaker 1: talking about the time when the first US president offered

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Speaker 1: a cash prize in exchange for a woman's freedom, a

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Speaker 1: reward that thankfully went unclaimed. The day was May twenty third,

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Speaker 1: seventeen ninety six. George and Martha Washington offered a ten

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Speaker 1: dollars reward for the capture of an escaped enslaved woman

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Speaker 1: named Ona Judge Oa, whom the Washingtons called Onie, had

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Speaker 1: been enslaved as Martha Washington's personal attendant since she was

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Speaker 1: ten years old. After learning of Martha's intention to gift

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Speaker 1: her to a family member, Ona fled from the President's

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Speaker 1: home in Philadelphia on the night of May twenty first.

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Speaker 1: When the Washingtons realized she was missing, they sent an

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Speaker 1: aid to post ads in all the local newspapers. The

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Speaker 1: notice read, in part, absconded from the household of the

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Speaker 1: President of the United States on Saturday afternoon. One judge

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Speaker 1: a light mulatto girl, much freckled with very black eyes

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Speaker 1: and bushy black hair. She is of middle stature, but

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Speaker 1: slender and delicately made. About twenty years of age. The

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Speaker 1: first family offered a reward for Ona's return to bondage

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Speaker 1: ten dollars, about the same price as a barrel of flour.

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Speaker 1: Ona was born at the Washington's Mount Vernon estate sometime

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Speaker 1: between the summer of seventeen seventy three and the spring

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Speaker 1: of seventeen seventy four. She was the daughter of one

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Speaker 1: of Martha's enslaved housemaids, Betty, and an Englandish born indentured

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Speaker 1: servant named Andrew Judge. As a young girl, Oa is

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Speaker 1: believed to have lived with her mother in a small

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Speaker 1: cabin on the Washington's property, where she likely had at

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Speaker 1: least some level of interaction with her father. However, after

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Speaker 1: fulfilling his work contract at Mount Vernon, Andrew Judge eventually

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Speaker 1: moved away to start his own farm. Ona was left

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Speaker 1: behind to be enslaved, as according to Virginia law, any

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Speaker 1: child born to an enslaved woman was considered the property

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Speaker 1: of the enslaver. Not long after her father's departure, Ona

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Speaker 1: was moved into the mansion house to begin her training

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Speaker 1: as a housemaid. She continued in that role until seventeen

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Speaker 1: eighty nine, when she was chosen to accompany Martha to

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Speaker 1: the President's House in New York City. Ona's duties as

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Speaker 1: the First Lady's personal attendant included helping her dress and groom,

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Speaker 1: as well as joining her on social calls. In seventeen ninety,

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Speaker 1: the nation's capital was moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and the

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Speaker 1: presidential household, including Ona, moved with it. Life in New

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Speaker 1: York and then Philadelphia was different in many ways from

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Speaker 1: what Oa had known back in Virginia. She delighted in

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Speaker 1: sampling new foods and taking in new forms of entertainment,

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Speaker 1: including live theater and a traveling circus. But the biggest

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Speaker 1: shakeup by far was Ona's introduction to Philadelphia's free black community.

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Speaker 1: At the time, New York was still upholding the status

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Speaker 1: quo of slavery, but in Pennsylvania, lawmakers had spent the

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Speaker 1: last decade gradually abolishing the practice. By the time Ona arrived,

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Speaker 1: she was actually in the minority as an enslaved woman.

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Speaker 1: In Philadelphia, there were roughly six thousand free black men

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Speaker 1: and women living within city limits, but there were fewer

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Speaker 1: than one hundred enslaved black people. The state even had

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Speaker 1: a law that said any enslaved person brought into Pennsylvania

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Speaker 1: would be granted their freedom after six months of residence.

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Speaker 1: During her own lengthy stay in Philadelphia, Ona caught glimpses

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Speaker 1: of the city's free black community, and in her private moments,

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Speaker 1: I'm sure she longed to be a part of it.

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Speaker 1: She would have had the chance too, if not for

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Speaker 1: some devious maneuvering on the part of President Washington. Once

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Speaker 1: he was made aware of the state's six month emancipation law,

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Speaker 1: he immediately had to plan to subvert it. He began

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Speaker 1: secretly rotating his enslaved house servants between Philadelphia and Mount Vernon.

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Speaker 1: Whenever they neared the six month threshold that would allow

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Speaker 1: them to legally claim their freedom, Washington would send them

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Speaker 1: back to Virginia, thus resetting the clock. He was well

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Speaker 1: aware of just how callous and underhanded this action was.

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Speaker 1: In fact, he instructed his secretary to lie to the

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Speaker 1: enslaved workers about why they were being moved, or, as

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Speaker 1: he put it, arranged the transfers quote under pretext that

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Speaker 1: may deceive both them and the public. Washington's scheme served

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Speaker 1: him well for seven years, but in the spring of

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Speaker 1: seventeen ninety six, one of his victims claimed her freedom

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Speaker 1: through her own actions. Ona Judge was twenty two years

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Speaker 1: old at the time and preparing for her latest rotation

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Speaker 1: back to Virginia when she overheard some troubling news. The

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Speaker 1: Washington's eldest granddaughter, the notoriously temperamental Eliza Custis, had recently

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Speaker 1: gotten married, and Martha was planning to give her ownA

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Speaker 1: as a wedding present. Rather than take her chances under

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Speaker 1: a new, potentially more volatile enslaver Oa resolved to make

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Speaker 1: her escape just ahead of the summer trip back to

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Speaker 1: Mount Vernon. Decades later, Ona reflected on her escape in

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Speaker 1: an eighteen forty five abolitionist newspaper. Recalling that fateful night,

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Speaker 1: she said, quote, whilst they were packing up to go

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Speaker 1: to Virginia, I was packing to go. I didn't know where,

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Speaker 1: for I knew that if I went back to Virginia,

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Speaker 1: I should never get my liberty. I had friends among

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Speaker 1: the colored people of Philadelphia, had my things carried there beforehand,

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Speaker 1: and left Washington's house while they were eating dinner. She

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Speaker 1: secured passage aboard the Nancy, a ship commanded by Captain

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Speaker 1: John Bowles and bound for Portsmouth, New Hampshire. After a

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Speaker 1: five day voyage, Ona disembarked and began living her new

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Speaker 1: life as a free woman. Meanwhile, back in Philadelphia, the

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Speaker 1: First family was baffled by Ona's escape. They just couldn't

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Speaker 1: figure out why she would want to leave them. According

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Speaker 1: to their ad quote, there was no suspicion of her

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Speaker 1: going off, nor no provocation to do so. It is

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Speaker 1: not easy to conjecture whither she has gone, or fully

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Speaker 1: what her design is. The couple's ad went unanswered, but

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Speaker 1: a few months later, Ona was recognized on the street

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Speaker 1: by a relative of a family friend in New Hampshire.

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Speaker 1: George Washington was informed of her whereabouts and quickly made

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Speaker 1: arrangements for Ona to be apprehended by a customs officer

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Speaker 1: in Portsmouth. His name was Thomas Whipple, and he was

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Speaker 1: tasked with capturing Oa and putting her on a boat

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Speaker 1: back to Washington. He managed to lure her out of

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Speaker 1: hiding by posting a phony job offer, and Oa eventually

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Speaker 1: agreed to be transported back south without a fight. However,

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Speaker 1: on the day she was supposed to make the trip,

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Speaker 1: she simply never showed up at the dock. Three years later,

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Speaker 1: the Washingtons tried yet again to recapture Oa Judge, this

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Speaker 1: time sending one of Martha's nephews to search for her

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Speaker 1: in Portsmouth. Luckily, Ona was able to evade him by

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Speaker 1: hiding out in a neighboring town. By the end of

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Speaker 1: the year, George Washington was dead, and according to Oa,

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Speaker 1: the family quote never troubled me any more. That said,

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Speaker 1: Oa Judge was still technically a fugitive. Although Washington had

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Speaker 1: made provisions in his will to free those he had enslaved,

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Speaker 1: that decision didn't apply to Ona, who had been gifted

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Speaker 1: to the Custus family. At any moment, someone from their

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Speaker 1: estate could legally recapture her and force her back into bondage.

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Speaker 1: Despite that looming threat, Ona Judge did her best to

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Speaker 1: enjoy her freedom. She married a black sailor named Jack

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Speaker 1: Stains and started a family with him. She also taught

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Speaker 1: herself how to read and write, and became an active

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Speaker 1: member of her local church. Ona's life still wasn't easy.

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Speaker 1: She lived in poverty, and her husband died just six

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Speaker 1: years under their marriage, leaving her to raise three small

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Speaker 1: children on her own. Those hardships led one reporter to

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Speaker 1: ask whether she ever regretted her escape to freedom, After all,

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Speaker 1: she had left behind the relative comfort of the president's

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Speaker 1: household for a life of hard work and worry. Ona's

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Speaker 1: reply was brief and resolute. No, she said, I am

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Speaker 1: free and have I trust been made a child of

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Speaker 1: God by the means own a judge. Staines lived for

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Speaker 1: more than fifty years as a free woman in New Hampshire.

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Speaker 1: She died there on February twenty fifth, eighteen forty eight,

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Speaker 1: still free. I'm Gabe Lucier and hopefully you now know

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Speaker 1: a little more about history today than you did yesterday.

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Speaker 1: If you enjoyed today's show, consider keeping up with us

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Speaker 1: or you can get in touch directly by writing to

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Speaker 1: This Day at iHeartMedia dot com. Thanks to Chandler Mays

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Speaker 1: and Ben Hackett for producing the show, and thank you

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Speaker 1: for listening. I'll see you back here again tomorrow for

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Speaker 1: another day in History class. The picture put in the

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Speaker 1: p