Ona Judge- George Washington's Slave...Who Got Away

In this gripping episode of Storyteller, we uncover the incredible true story of Ona Judge, the enslaved woman who made a daring escape from none other than George Washington and his household in 1796.

Born into slavery at Mount Vernon, Ona Judge was raised to serve Martha Washington as a personal maid—living in close proximity to power, wealth, and the founding of a nation built on “freedom.” But behind the image of America’s first family was a calculated system of control, exploitation, and legal manipulation designed to keep people like Ona enslaved.

When Ona learned she was to be “gifted” as property to a volatile granddaughter, she made a life-altering decision: run.

With the help of Philadelphia’s free Black community, Ona escaped—triggering a relentless manhunt led by the sitting president of the United States. What followed was a high-stakes pursuit involving deception, political pressure, and attempted capture under the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793.

But Ona refused to be reclaimed.

This episode dives deep into:

• The hidden realities of slavery inside the presidential household
• How Washington circumvented Pennsylvania abolition laws
• The bravery of enslaved women resisting sexual and physical exploitation
• And the extraordinary life Ona built after choosing freedom—at any cost

This is not just American history—this is the story they didn’t teach you.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:41

Trying to record the story. It doesn't work. It doesn't. We're rehearsed.

SPEAKER_01 0:46

It is a great story. Like, just let us talk about it. So, anyways, welcome back, Ho. We made you.

SPEAKER_00 0:52

Thank you for filling in for me. You're incredible. On such short notice.

SPEAKER_01 0:57

I don't plan ahead, and you know that.

SPEAKER_00 0:59

And I'm surprised you're knew on Wednesday that I was sick and that doesn't probably need to fill in. And you call her on Sunday. I thought you were faking it.

SPEAKER_01 1:08

You brought me soon. She couldn't even talk. I knew she wasn't faking it. But Des is incredible at podcasting. Like, I'm kind of surprised she doesn't have her own podcast because she's just confident and I am still not confident. I'm always like nervous every time we do this. And Des is like, what's up, bitches? She's so good at it.

SPEAKER_00 1:31

So Des doesn't have to do the whole recording part of it. That is what gives me. I'm just like, I don't care.

SPEAKER_01 1:39

She doesn't even yell at me when it breaks all the time. So which is really nice of you, and I appreciate that.

SPEAKER_00 1:46

Just to keep you coming back.

SPEAKER_01 1:49

I yell you might leave. Well, today we are going way back to the 1700s to talk about a historical baddie. Today's story about is about Ona Judge, George Washington's slave that escaped. Good for her. I know, Queen. Um, we're going to start this remarkable tale in the middle. So I'm gonna give you a little bit of background first, um, just to kind of set up how just wild this was. Um, alright, so to get started, Martha Washington or Martha Dandridge Custis Washington. She had every name there was.

SPEAKER_00 2:27

So Dandridge is her name.

SPEAKER_01 2:28

Maiden name Custis is her married name.

SPEAKER_00 2:31

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 2:32

Not Curtis. So if you hear me say Curtis, because I always want to say Curtis, Google Docs always corrects it. So it's Custis, though, Washington. She had been married and widowed prior to marrying George Washington. Okay. Um, not only did she suffer the loss of her first husband, um, by the time the Revolutionary War ended, she had lost all of her children. You know, some died when they were young, some died after they were adults. Um, she lost all of her children by before she passed away um from her first marriage. So how many children was that? I think there were I think she had four. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 3:08

Um they normally have like 19.

SPEAKER_01 3:11

Probably would have been her husband, yeah. So um, everyone's dying on Martha though. That's the yeah. Um then when she marries George, they were unable to have children of their own. As a result of this, um, Martha and also George were they were obsessed with Martha's grandchildren from her first marriage. And essentially they were pseudo-parents for a lot of these grandkids because Martha's children had died, so they didn't have their parents. So um, on to our story. On March 21st, 1796, Eliza Custis, Martha Washington's granddaughter, had just shocked her grandparents by announcing her intention to marry Thomas Law. A decision that gave dear grandmama and papa a bit of pause. They were anxious over Eliza's announcement. Um, and Martha announced that she planned to give Ona, Martha's personal enslaved maid, to Eliza as a wedding present.

SPEAKER_00 4:06

Blessing says congratulations like the gift of a human.

SPEAKER_01 4:11

What the fuck? But gifting of one human to another to celebrate a life event is not the only horrific piece of this puzzle. As Eliza had earned a reputation among the enslaved women and everyone apparently for being an enraging sea cow, possessing quite a violent disposition.

SPEAKER_00 4:31

Oh, so she didn't give her Ona so Ona could watch over her and kind of protect her from this Thomas Law.

SPEAKER_01 4:39

She just because I I guess she was like, it must have would make Martha feel better, but for what reason? Like, so or Ona can watch over Eliza's even more deteriorating and violent personality? And who do you think she's gonna take that out of? What the fuck?

SPEAKER_00 5:03

Yeah, so she's not like another some like dimier, like, oh, damsel's distress, and Ona needs to be there to help her. Eliza's scary.

SPEAKER_01 5:11

Yeah. She's just a so a whole nother layer of just horribleness, yeah, in this whole situation. So no matter how you choose to describe her, Eliza was highly volatile and erratic, dangerous qualities in a slave owner. And then there was the groom and his questionable reputation. Thomas Law's reputation did not carry whispers of violence like Eliza. Well, he's a rake. He's he sucks. Um he rather he got up to what he got up to when he was living in India, as Law had fathered three sons from an Indian mistress. And this part of Thomas Law's lore is what people had a problem with. The fact that he had three illegitimate children, probably not with a white woman. Um, not the fact that it was unknown that this woman was consenting. They weren't like, oh, he's a rapist. They were like, Oh, he's not a rape, he's a raper. Uh-huh. Yeah. Um, it was the consent, or rather lack of consent, that Ona was very worried about, though. Like she picked up on that. Everyone else was like, Oh, he has illegitimate children. Like, oh no. And Ona's like, because he raped a woman three times at least. No, probably way more. Um, so that was what she was worried about when she was faced with the prospect of joining this new household.

SPEAKER_00 6:27

A handsy rapist master and a violent, yes, crazy. So when she gets raped by Thomas, she's gonna get blamed.

SPEAKER_01 6:38

And beaten some more by Eliza. It's probably just beating people for the shits and giggles. So, yeah, given an Ona's enslaved status, any white man could sexually assault her without punishment. There were no rules against that. And it was, you know, that was a very real possibility that she was worried about, as it was commonplace at this time. Even Martha Washington herself is rumored to have illegitimate half-siblings that her father had with one of their slaves. So just happening all the time. Um, so facing a future in a home with an unhinged lady of the house and a handsy master, Ona, during the spring of 1796, made contact with the members of a free black community and they would help facilitate her escape. There are no records of how she was introduced to this community or who helped her because ain't Ona ain't no snitch. But on the afternoon of Saturday, May 21st, 1796, while the Washingtons ate their supper, Ona slipped from the house and on to freedom. Good for her. Incredible. Yeah. 15 miles, okay, we're going back to the beginning now. 15 miles south of DC sits the former residence and plantation of George Washington. And it was this estate where Martha Washington brought the 85 slaves she inherited after her first husband died, including one named Betty. Betty came with Martha after Martha wed George to um in 1759. This episode isn't about Martha, but just a side note, Martha was hella rich after her first husband died. Um, she was made now one of the wealthiest widows in the region and old George, then just a young plantation owner and a commander of the Virginia forces in the French and Indian War. Like he wasn't George Washington yet, essentially, but she's very wealthy.

SPEAKER_00 8:23

And so her well enabled him to be the politician. Probably. Yeah. Eventually the first president of all that stuff. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 8:34

Uh yeah. Washington was like, Sup, Martha? I ain't no gold digger, but I mean How are you doing? Apparently, Washington really later resented these suggestions, but they were undoubtedly true that his wife's considerable property had eased his life in the early years of their marriage. Anyways, back to Betty. Betty was born in 1738, and by the time she was pre-adolescent, so around 11 to 14 years old, she was trained to be a seamstress. And it that was a skilled occupation that gave her higher status among the enslaved workforce in Martha Washington's various households. Um, as an enslaved domestic worker, Betty worked closely with Martha Custis, eventually Washington, both at the White House plantation, not to be confused with the White House. Um the White House plantation was where Martha lived with her first husband. Okay. And then when they moved to Mount Vernon. Betty was Martha one of Martha's favorites while working at the White House plantation. And Betty watched as Martha survived the sudden loss of her first husband and then two of her four children. And she also saw her meet and marry George Washington. So Betty was a constant in Martha's adult life. Um, but she had some anxiety about moving to Mount Vernon. She was likely nervous about the sexual vulnerability she had faced with a new owner. At 21, Betty was the perfect age for childbearing. And she was Washington known to dabble with sexual. There isn't any records of that. Thomas Jefferson never slept with a white woman, I don't think. He like had, I think her name is Sally, and they were like, I mean, people sometimes will put it that they were lifelong companions. And I'm like, did she have a choice? Yeah. Nerd. Did she want to be? So yeah. Um, but there's no record that George Washington ever got up to any funny business with any of his slaves. So um, and but Betty was worried. She didn't know that, and she didn't know how Washington would treat her. Um and so even if George Washington wasn't a worry, all the other men at Mount Vernon could, because if you were white, again, like I said, there's no law against you doing whatever the fuck you want with an enslaved woman. So gross. Um, so she was worried about it. But she went to Mount Vernon because she didn't have a choice, and she brought along her then infant son named Austin, incredible name. Um, under the legal principle of partis sequitur ventrum. Anyways, don't worry about it. That was amazing. Yeah, that's because you don't know. You're not saying it. You don't know. Incorporated. I don't know why. And I don't know if you did it right or not.

SPEAKER_00 11:11

That was great. It was sounded good.

SPEAKER_01 11:13

Thank you. Yeah, because I've said it 54 times because this episode won't record.

SPEAKER_00 11:21

If it doesn't record this time, I'm done. Put it all together.

SPEAKER_01 11:27

Okay, but you'll come back like next week, maybe.

SPEAKER_00 11:33

Yeah. Uh so bullshitting is kind of funny though. We're incredible bullshitters.

SPEAKER_01 11:39

So yeah, it this law, Virginia colonial law, um, put into place in 1662 because Betty was enslaved, so were any of the children that she bore. Um, 14 years after coming to Mount Vernon in April of 1774, Betty gave birth to a daughter, Ona, sometimes referred to as Oni. Umna was later described as a light mulatto girl, much freckled and almost white. Like many other slaves of mixed race descent, she received a post in the household at age 10. She became Martha Washington's personal maid.

SPEAKER_00 12:16

Crazy thing. Can you imagine? What did a 10-year-old do for you? That you are daughters. Like, they're capable, incredible, like a girl kettle at 10 o'clock or 10 years old cooking me dinner or whatever, or drawing my bath. Really? I'm like, oh my god.

SPEAKER_01 12:38

LP was sticky from the time she was like eight to twelve. She couldn't have taken care of an adult. And that is why children should be children, and sleeves shouldn't be a thing. So yeah, just 10 years old. Just put them that per in perspective. So she's like, Oh. The pail of water would be the size of them. I was like, oh, so um, yeah, so she became Martha Washington's personal maid. At 10. Andrew Judge, the father of Betty's daughter Ona, came to the colonies in 1772 from England as an indentured white servant. Washington bought Judge's labor and Judge worked as a tailor at Mount Vernon. Betty would have been about 34 years old when Judge arrived to work at Mount Vernon, and she likely met him due to the work that they both did with textiles and tailoring. Um, Andrew Judge's service ended in 1776, but worked for the Washington until 1781. So So was this a relationship? As with all of her relationships, it is unknown if Betty was consenting. Okay. Yeah. We don't know anything about Austin. Not of Austin. No, uh-uh, yeah. Okay. But she'd go on to have five children, Betty would, and I don't know other than well, I don't even know Austin's real father. But and she had Austin when they were still at the first the White House plantation. Okay. So we don't know who his father is. I don't know if her and Andrew Judge had other children together. No idea. And I have no idea if Betty consented to any of these encounters that resulted in children. So Betty also had little control of the lives of her children once they were born. Again, because of that law, they were Martha's property.

SPEAKER_00 14:22

So they were born into slavery.

SPEAKER_01 14:25

Yeah. Um Betty Ona's mother would never escape slavery and worked at Mount Vernon until she died in 1795, around 57 years old. Um, which sounds young, but she undoubtedly, you know, from the life as her life as a slave purported constant backbreaking work. And she had just recently learned that her son Austin had drowned the year before.

SPEAKER_00 14:45

So I think a broken heart. But also 57 through that time. It almost Yeah, that's true.

SPEAKER_01 14:52

Yeah, I didn't think about that, the time period.

SPEAKER_00 14:54

So um I think Betty was that seems I don't know, I'd have to look it up, but that would seem to be like average like Yeah, it probably wasn't Yeah, out of the norm, I guess.

SPEAKER_01 15:03

So as a young child, Ona assisted her mother and did small jobs around the plantation. Like many other slaves of mixed race descent, she received a post in the house, as I had said, um, around 10 and she started training inside the big house, and it was an improvement in status, but the work was still very difficult. Like her mother, she became She's 10.

SPEAKER_00 15:23

Yeah, it's gonna be difficult no matter what. It doesn't matter what you're doing.

SPEAKER_01 15:26

Yeah, she's little, yeah. So um she became a talented and highly valued seamstress and was later promoted to Martha Washington's personal maid. So being talented and highly valued, it did not come as a surprise that in 1789, when George Washington became president and um the time came to move the presidential household, which was then in New York, Martha decided that Ona would be one of the small group that would accompany them to New York. The trouble was Ona was 16. And not only would Ona be going, but her half-brother Austin would be going as well. And there was nothing Betty could do about this.

SPEAKER_00 16:09

Martha's property.

SPEAKER_01 16:10

Yes. Um Betty, yeah, and I don't know I So Austin wasn't even around when he drowned. Like Betty like I don't think Ona or Austin saw him ever again. So yeah, saw Betty ever again. So yeah. Um, yeah, due to the legal principles of the time, they were Martha Washington's property and she could do whatever the fuck she wanted with them. Betty was left to labor at Mount Vernon. Um, they were in New York for only Yeah. Oh, that's okay. I'm gonna dig the top everything. You go ahead and pop away, girl.

SPEAKER_00 16:56

Poor thing. Oh, I've been taking music next and out more getting it all out crap out. Fun times.

SPEAKER_01 17:09

Yeah. Your voice does sound better today though, even from yesterday. So Okay. Are you sure? I think I'm right. Okay, okay. Okay, good. Yay! Um, yeah, they were only in New York for one year, and then around um 1790, the presidential home was relocated to Philadelphia. When they moved from New York to Philadelphia, slavery for the most part was relatively gone there. Ona entered a city where she saw black freedom on display in a way that she literally never had seen in her entire life.

SPEAKER_00 17:47

Owning their own shops and just walking about on the street, going to restaurant.

SPEAKER_01 17:53

Absolutely. Yeah. So when she walked the streets of Philadelphia, she saw free black women men and women selling their fruits and vegetables, their pepper pot soup, and she witnessed the building of a the Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Episcopalian Church.

SPEAKER_00 18:10

That's a mouthful.

SPEAKER_01 18:11

Yeah. Just around the corner, and it was just for you know, free black people. So I think it is astronomically different from what she saw, especially at Mount Vernon.

SPEAKER_00 18:24

And even how old by now? Like she's 16 at this point, yeah. So you gotta be 16 and see that. Oh my god. Oh my god, yeah, I can't I just mean Starstruck, right?

SPEAKER_01 18:33

Yeah, right. Yeah. So for example, in June 1792, she got to attend the theater in 1793. She saw tumbling feet, which are acrobats. I had to look it up. Fuck is a tumbling feet? Um, in 1793, she went to see a traveling circus. So she was just so different than especially in Mount Verdon. I can't even imagine. Oh, okay. Well, I'm not sure.

SPEAKER_00 18:58

I was wondering if Martha like allowed her that freedom to go out and do that.

SPEAKER_01 19:01

You know, those things I'm not sure. She might have been able to do those things on her own. Okay. Yeah. So, but I don't know exactly for sure. So Ona accompanied Martha constantly on social visits and attended to the first lady's needs at home. Ona's status says Martha's preferred ladies' maid meant that she received a fancier wardrobe than most of the inslaved people because she had visited homes and buildings normally off-limits to enslaved people. Um she had to have this, you know, her clothing was an extension of Martha's status.

SPEAKER_00 19:32

So she really had a nice clothes and clean and presentable and everything.

SPEAKER_01 19:39

Yeah, and even um, you know, that there is still the household manager documented regular purchases of textiles for dresses, bonnets, stockings, and shoes for Ona. Um, which is did Ona have to make her own clothes? Probably. Oh God, yeah. So um Didn't go to the Moodist? No, no, no. I don't think Ona was new. Um yeah, and I think the shoe purchases are especially telling. Um, like Martha had to have new shoes so much more frequently than is um you know recorded for say the enslaved nanny for Martha's grandchildren, um, who never really left the house. And Ona was walking around a lot with Martha and going to these places and needed to look nice, but also she's 16 and still growing. So it's just like I had to put that in there because I was like, Ona's doing so much for Martha and living such this crazy life that you forget she's 16, and then when you see how many times they have to buy her her shoes, you're like, Oh, because she's fucking outgrowing them.

SPEAKER_00 20:43

Yeah, not because she's wearing throws, because she's outgrowing them.

SPEAKER_01 20:47

Yeah, so it's just oh yeah. Um, she was doing so much and essentially in the full care of Martha, um, it's just easy to forget that she's a child, so um that's so crazy to me though, that she's you know, Martha's preferred lady maid and like doing all this stuff for her that Martha would just that easily just like here, I'm gonna gift you to somebody. I know that's so weird. Yeah, and I'm sure in Martha's eyes.

SPEAKER_00 21:14

Well, they said it wasn't there to like, I need you to keep an eye on her, I need you to make sure she's okay. I need you to protect her. You know, that's one thing. To give her to like someone so insidious that would like her and you know, treat her so shitty.

SPEAKER_01 21:30

Yeah, and I really think, I really think after going through the research in this, I feel like Martha was like, I am doing such this admirable thing by giving Ona to Eliza because I trust her so much. Like, I'm going to, I just think in her mind, it was like, I'm doing the right thing. I'm doing such a good thing. So weird. So weird. Like I do. Yeah, there's yeah, I I confide in her and I really like her. She's not going anywhere. So yeah. Um, yeah, so Philly was a definite shock for Ona and opened up a whole new world to her, probably in a very positive way. It was also very different for the Washingtons, but in a way that induced some anxiety, as they were committed to maintaining human bondage. They came to the city of Philadelphia where slavery was over, but refused to leave behind the enslaved. The problem was, however, that the law made it difficult for them. In fact, the attorney general had to come to visit um the Washingtons to inform them, just Martha, she was the only one there. George was on a southern tour, that the laws in Pennsylvania state um said that if you're an out-of-state resident and you bring your slaves to Pennsylvania, you can only keep them there for six months. And if you overstay that six months, the enslaved have the right to be set free. Nice. Martha and George knew that law. They had them fully well known, but they were there on official business, and they for sure fucking thought that because George was there being the president of the country, that the law didn't apply to him. That's how it works, right? Apparently. Okay. Anyways, Tobias Lear, the president secretary, sends a note to George in the South that says, What would you have us do with the blacks in the family? That's what he wrote. I'm not, I didn't say that. His phrasing, not mine. Um George Washington responded quickly and said, I am paraphrasing here, we're going to create a slave rotation plan. Yuck. Um, every six months we're going to rotate our slaves out of the state, back home to Virginia. And if that's too much of an inconvenience, just a quick trip across the river to New Jersey will do. He's like, just have them touch the bank, get them back.

SPEAKER_00 23:47

Okay, so that's what. So as long as you leave the state of Pennsylvania.

SPEAKER_01 23:52

Yeah, you don't have to be gone for any certain period of time.

SPEAKER_00 23:55

And a whole six months resets. So you can just go Yep. Like I said, across the river for like an hour? Have a picnic. Who knows?

SPEAKER_01 24:05

Yeah. Honestly, it sounded like seriously they could be like set foot off the boat, get back on the boat, six months is restarting. Reset the clock on slavery. Super gross.

SPEAKER_00 24:20

Who's keeping track of this stuff? I know. Are they like kind of like a couple of things? Attorney General, man. We love the state.

SPEAKER_01 24:26

We have back now. Exactly. Like, who's do you just trust their word? When they're like, we boated them across the river. Fuck. Ask now. This is okay. So it was during this time period that Ona was entering her early adult years. An additional turmoil was brewing in the Washington house. The Washingtons received a letter from their 19-year-old granddaughter, Eliza Park Custis. As I said earlier, George Washington had no biological children that we know of, and the grandchildren were of utmost significance to Martha, as she'd lost half of her own children by this time. Eliza hits them with the astonishing news that she is getting married to some British goober twice her age with three illegitimate sons.

SPEAKER_00 25:14

I don't know that word enough.

SPEAKER_01 25:15

The Washington's are like, we just got rid of the British. What the fuck are you doing, Elias?

SPEAKER_00 25:21

Especially with a goober one.

SPEAKER_01 25:24

Um, and because you know, another thing about Thomas Law, he didn't just have three illegitimate sons with his Indian mistress, he also took those sons when he beboked back to England and then to America.

SPEAKER_00 25:35

Oh, so he claims them.

SPEAKER_01 25:36

Yes, uh-huh. So he's not hiding them. Okay. Everyone knows he's got these three sons. He's got them in tow, in fact. So they're like, the fuck away.

SPEAKER_00 25:44

But the mom's gone. The mom's not in the picture. He took them from the mom.

SPEAKER_01 25:47

Oh, of course. Yeah. Like I have in here.

SPEAKER_00 25:49

She it's like, it would have been the same that they would have been daughters? No.

SPEAKER_01 25:53

I do not.

SPEAKER_00 25:54

That is such a good point.

SPEAKER_01 25:55

I'm sure he'd be like, What kids? Yeah. Yeah, like I don't need you to carry on my name. Okay. And he was probably like, two of these three are gonna die, so I'm just gonna keep one of them. Yeah, so uh yeah. Anyways, Martha and old George were flabbergasted, but Eliza asked for their support. And as grandchildren are all Martha has left, or her own children who are mostly gone by this point, they give their support. They're like, Yes, we support you and your weird decision, but they don't attend the wedding, which is kind of telling. So, but they again they assure her he's the president, he's very busy, so busy making slave rotation plans.

SPEAKER_00 26:37

Yeah, he has to set up his making schedule and he's busy.

SPEAKER_01 26:43

That didn't mean that they didn't worry about her and fret about how to support this granddaughter who is in Virginia when they're in Philly, and who's known to be a bit really fucking crazy, unhinged and difficult. So Martha decides to give Eliza the br best present she can think of. Ona Judge. A human. It's at this crossroads in Ona's life where she makes one hell of a decision to heed the advice of her freed black associates in Philly. Skidaddle. Fuck out of Dodge. Yeah. Ona knew going back to Virginia, where the law was very different, would cement her future as an enslaved woman until her death. And not only that, but an enslaved woman to a woman who is explosive and abusive and predatory new husband, Thomas Law. So she's she's essentially a caged animal and she sees a way out, a sliver of hope. Not seen by most women or any people of color in her situation. And this baddie goes for it. Like well, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:43

I mean, like Yes. So if you were a slave in Virginia and that's all you knew, like that's all you saw, you know, was just slavery and slavery. But then you go to like there, and like you said, like their wares and this and that. Like, I mean, Virginia would be like the whole damn household thing take off.

SPEAKER_01 28:04

Yes, that's a very good point. I mean, yeah, in Virginia, you wouldn't even have this idea that this was possible, and then there you're just looking, viewing out every day of the hope around you. I mean, go for it. So, but still, it's a crazy thing to do. She still ran away as a slave to the president of the United States. Like, that is a crazy thing to wrap your head around. That is incredible.

SPEAKER_00 28:35

He was the president. He was like, they're like, How much is it? Are we gonna keep doing the president thing? Like, yeah, so the only one. Yeah, there's not even Secret Service. Is this a system we're gonna stick to?

SPEAKER_01 28:50

I mean, like No, she's still a baby. Ona later says in an interview, I was determined to never be her as an Eliza slave. And I'm incredible. Yeah. Her decision.

SPEAKER_00 29:04

If Martha had never made that decision, do you think Ona would have stayed?

SPEAKER_01 29:08

I don't know. I think eventually, but I think it may have been a more drawn-out thing and maybe something she might have even talked to Martha about. I don't know for sure, but um, and she never speaks to that, but I don't know. I wonder how long if they stayed forever in Philly, or maybe when it was time to just go back to Virginia at by that point, if Ona would have been like, I'm not going back there.

SPEAKER_00 29:31

I know how different those laws are now, you know. So maybe I thought I'm curious, like if Martha had taken if Martha herself would have been like, Okay, we're going to Virginia. Yeah. We should have been like, okay, and she would have went. I don't know. Or is it still just the the the fact of going back to Virginia in that lifestyle? Is that what scared her?

SPEAKER_01 29:48

Or was it getting beat by I think both things, but um I think that the real driving force with this was Eliza. But knowing that she's got this streak in her, this like rebellious, like I've seen how the other half lives now. I wonder just when it came time to go back to Virginia if Ona wouldn't have been like, yeah, I'm not gonna do that. So yeah, very good. I don't know. So um her decision was made and she would risk everything to avoid the clutches of the miss you know new Mrs. Law. Ona was well informed and she knew that her decision to flee was more than risky, but she was willing to face the dog-sniffing kidnappers and bounty hunters for the rest of her life if it meant that she was free. So she slipped through the house while the Washingtons dined on May 21st, 1796, and her friends in the free black community had already carried her belongings to the port and they were waiting for her when she arrived at the docks. She boarded a vessel that carried her to Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

SPEAKER_02 30:48

Oh, nailed it.

SPEAKER_01 30:51

Once in New Ham. Um, Owner found lodging. I'm not silly enough to think I can do it twice. Owner found lodging with a free African-American family and became a domestic servant. It sounds like the scope of work was much different from her time serving Martha, where she primarily did needlework and tended to Martha's needs, powdering her wigs or whatever. Um, and this was much more physical labor. But as we learned from a later interview with Ona, it was completely worth it. Back in Philly, the Washingtons were stunned by Ona's betrayal. Clutching the Pearl I cannot believe she loved us.

SPEAKER_00 31:28

Ona didn't even though we were gonna gift her away anyway to an abusive, horrible woman.

SPEAKER_01 31:34

But like, why why would she leave? So they thought they really truly believed that they had treated Ona as a daughter. Apparently, never went seeing the difference between how one treats a child of their own. So many shoes. The other ones didn't get shoes. God, Ona. Yeah, anyways, yeah. Ona's quote unquote betrayal stung the Washingtons. So, George Washington, apparently not being satisfied with being the nation's first president, also tried out for the role of bounty hunter twice to get Ona back.

SPEAKER_00 32:09

That's just so crazy to me how obsessed they get. Yes, and the lengths they were willing to go to get their slaves back. I mean, there are people that search like never stop searching. Yeah. I mean years 10, 15, 20 years later, they're still Yes.

SPEAKER_01 32:29

Because I think people really viewed my property. It was taken away from me. Because the human left, you know, but these people are like, my property was taken, I have been stolen from. And I think that really just It's just such a crazy, insane drive to me.

SPEAKER_00 32:47

Absolutely. And especially like the ones that are, you know, 20, 25 years later. It's like, these people. How much money did you spend? Yeah. Like, first of all, the money that you spent, but then also, like, they're like they're gonna be in their 40s or really. What are you doing? What are you gonna do? Do you just want to bring them back just so you can beat an assholing shit out of them? And like, don't do it again.

SPEAKER_01 33:12

Yeah, it's a very good point because it is mind-boggling by the world.

SPEAKER_00 33:17

Obsessive.

SPEAKER_01 33:18

Yes, it's so crazy to me. There's a really good show on Amazon Prime right now, and it's about um right before the Civil War and through the Civil War, but um, it really showcases how they would hunt people who would escape down, and it was insane. Just the amount of resources they put in there, the violence, the in lengths they would go. I mean physical lengths and just how much effort they put into it. And it's insane.

SPEAKER_00 33:43

So by the way, side note, I still have eight minutes left with Black Rabbit.

SPEAKER_01 33:48

You're getting that of the first episode? Oh, first episode. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_00 33:54

So hard to watch, and I'm just trusting you on Casey.

SPEAKER_01 33:58

I I probably wouldn't have watched it except for like I think I was doing podcast stuff, and Casey just had it on, and he has the biggest man crush on Jason Bateman. He just loves him, and so he's like, whoo, that's not a Ryan Reynolds. Really? I didn't know that. That's so funny. Like a bluff rate. Yes, good. Casey's is Jason Bateman. And honestly, if it wouldn't have been on, like I didn't, I wasn't really paying attention, but I got, you know, by the second episode, I was like, fuck, I gotta work.

SPEAKER_00 34:24

Yeah, I just keep, I don't know, like I might just zone out. I'm like I'm like, wait, what the fuck is going on? Yeah. So I have to rewind it. And then like, still don't know what's going on.

unknown 34:37

Huh? God damn it.

SPEAKER_00 34:41

Four now, so eight minutes left for an hour-long episode. You're doing amazing, sweetie.

SPEAKER_01 34:47

Anyway, sorry, a little tad. We're trying to get right at branch out here and it's not going well. So, yeah, so George Washington is like, Ona, the fuck? So he how dare you have the ask audacity to, you know, free yourself. So round one, Washington enlists a man named Joseph Whipple, Portsmouth, where Ona had fled to,'s custom collector who owed his job to George. Whipple, forced by George handing, um hanging his livelihood over his head, pretended he was just looking for a maid for his wife and sought out Ona, you know, for the job. He's like, hey, heard good things.

SPEAKER_00 35:23

I'm sure immediately she was like so. Whipple was just kind of an unknown accomplice. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 35:28

Like he wasn't George was like, you have to help me because I got you that job and I can take it away. So yeah, so Whipple's like, fine. Um, so he pretends he's looking for a maid for his wife and he saw Ona out. But when the job interview questions got suspiciously personal, Ona was like, get fucked, Whipple. Uh so Ono, she knew something was up, and Whipple eventually spilled the beans. He's like, You're right, I didn't even really want to do that. He's like, Oh, I don't even really want to help, but he's he's mean. Um, so the Washingtons, he tells her, the Washingtons Want You Back meant to have her back. They were like, she's he's like, they um, they're pretty pissed. So um, yeah, George Washington was just back in Philly stewing. Martha may have wanted her back as she really did feel like she had brought her up as one of her own children because she started working for her when she was fucking 10. Um, but I think Washington was like um he was actually more thinking along the lines of financially, because the young woman was owned by the estate of Martha Washington's first husband. Still, it was her inheritance, but technically she was owned under the Custis estate, not Washington. Georgeton, you know. This meant that George would be responsible, though, for reimbursing the Custis estate if Ono wasn't recovered. Like, are you hard up for cash? You married the richest bitch in Virginia, George. Who's gonna enforce that?

SPEAKER_00 37:04

I don't know to the president, very good point. But also, Martha is the Custis estate. Yes, she's the only one that inherited. Yeah. So she's the only one that could really petition for it and enforce it, right? That's what I'm saying. So would she be like to her husband, you owe me money?

SPEAKER_01 37:24

I don't think she was. So I don't know how, but this is his reasoning. He's like, I am not paying those $14 to work those estate. Absolutely not. So nothing makes sense at this time period. I was like, you guys are what the fuck? So George Judge replied, Ona Judge replied to Wibble that she would readily atturn, but only if the Washingtons promised to free her after their deaths. Like, okay, yeah, living with you, but when you're I'm not going to live with Eliza. I'm not going to live with anyone.

SPEAKER_00 37:56

She would have stayed with Martha then.

SPEAKER_01 37:58

Yeah, good point. Yeah. So um, when Washington learned of Judge Request, he was furious. He was like, That's not dead. Oh my god. So his response to her proposed deal reveals the tension between his stated anti-slavery principles. George Washington to the public was like slavery bad. The reality, he was very much You fucking belong to me. Yes. So he oh my god. Dirty bird. He fumed to whip all.

SPEAKER_00 38:36

I feel like that is very, very, like, very such a good compromise. Like, I don't go back. Like, number one, you cannot gift me to anybody and granddaughter. Yeah. And when you die, which who tomorrow? Yeah. 20 years? Who knows? I'm free. Yeah. You will literally be dead. What do you care? You can stop spending the money, the time, the resources. You won't have to buy any more shoes, George.

SPEAKER_01 39:06

He fumed to whipple. To enter into such a compromise with her, as she suggested to you, is totally inadmissible. Oh my god. He's like, how dare a woman tell you what she wants to do? A black woman. Like. Because of the federal fugitive slave law, which Washington had signed in 1793, slave owners who retained or slave owners retained the legal right to recapture enslaved people who escaped across state lines, if necessary, with force. As president, Washington knew that using violent measures to seize an enslaved woman who had run away could anger the antislavery residents of northern states. Because you're hunting humans, that's why. So weird. So weird. He asked Whipple to continue efforts to recapture Judge, but only if it would not excite a mob or riot in Portsmouth, where the abolitionist sediments ran high, hence why I don't went there. If Whipple had made further attempts to capture her, Judge evaded them. There's no evidence. I think Whipple was like, I just got super busy. Sorry. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 40:12

Just like, oh, I want to go look for her and couldn't find her. She moonwalked out of here. Dear diary. Sorry, George. Once again, I could not find her. Look, I have proof. Well at the same time, I was like, hey, Ona.

SPEAKER_01 40:32

So round two, because George isn't done. George Washington sent the family muscle, Martha's nephew, Burwell Bassett Jr. He showed up in Portsmouth, cozyd up at just Senator John Langdon's mansion, where, and then went to fetch Ona personally. He was like, I'm not asking. Burwell? Burwell Bassett. I kind of like that. You like Burwell? Yeah. We have a Bassett town. Sounds like he'd be handsome. He's mean. Probably adds to it for some people. Sounds like he'd be handsome.

SPEAKER_00 41:06

She was trying to talk to him. I'm just trying to look at him. Were you reading a book about some stalker? That's cute. Read uh actually, don't.

SPEAKER_01 41:15

I'm not gonna give a little hate for that. I'm not suggesting that book. So, yeah, so Brewwell is like, I'll just go get her. I'm not gonna ask her. I'm not gonna But I'm gonna do it handsomely. Hey Ona. I'm not asking you, but do you like my partner wig? Nona was like, Gros. So Anna Ona answers the door and listens very politely as Bassett insisted she return to Virginia. And then she hit him with the most epic mic drop of the 18th century. I am free now and I choose to remain. So slams the door. Bassett, unused to black women or women probably ever refusing him. Because he made himself. Look at what he looks like. He's just so stunned that he retreated back to John Langdon's mansion for a snack and a regroup. He's like, in all my days. So the problem for him was Langdon wasn't on board.

SPEAKER_00 42:22

He was like, What did you expect? Okay.

SPEAKER_01 42:27

So instead of helping Bassett in Washington, Langdon secretly like warned Ona to skip town before midnight. He's like, he's gonna wake up from his snack nap and you've got to get out of here, girl. So she did. She caught a ride to Greenland, New Hampshire.

unknown 42:42

Oh yes.

SPEAKER_01 42:45

And that was the last time that anyone from Al Vernon tried to drag her back. So she got the hell out of there. And we love Langdon. Way to go, man. He's like, I fed him so many incrustibles, and he's sleeping, girl. There's a lot of turkey in that sandwich. So much turkey. Ona, get the fuck out. So yeah, so she escaped, and that was the last time George tried to find her, mostly because he died soon after this. Second attempt, George. Finally, yeah. And Ona got the final word freedom that stuck. So Ona went on to marry a freedman and sailor, Jack Staines, and they moved into their own home. Staines was a sailor, and although the pay was decent, it was sporadic and seasonal. To help make ends meet, Ona continued her domestic work and they took in a border in one of their extra rooms. They had three children. This pisses me off. The first one's name is Eliza. They had other names. Like, why did you name it after the bitch? Anyways, it's your child, you do what you want, girl. You're free. So, um, so Eliza, Will, and Nancy. Ona and her Jack had fewer than seven years together, though, and he died in 1803. But I have to say, I think one of the most and just incredible parts of Ona's story is that as far as I could tell in my research, she did not have to suffer the extreme sexual vulnerability that enslaved women faced ever in her life, including you know, your mom Betty had five children. We don't know if any of those were a consensual relationship. And I don't think Ona, from what I saw, ever had to deal with that. So do you know if Ona ever had any like relationship with her dad? I I never saw anything that they had a relationship, so which is kind of weird. Like you live there, you know, and stuff, whatever. Yeah, Betty had given birth to five children, four different fathers, and it is unknown if any of those relationships were consensual on Betty's part. And it makes me want to cry thinking about what Betty went through and so many women.

SPEAKER_00 44:47

So then having her children taken away and then having one die.

SPEAKER_01 44:51

Ugh, yeah. Um, and just what overall enslaved women and men went through during this time period up until now. I mean, it's just uh yeah, beyond what I can comprehend. So it's sustain, and I need a more powerful word than that to describe it, but it's vile and disgusting, and shame on you, Washingtons and everyone else. In late 1845 and early 1846, Ona gave two interviews to an abolitionist paper, a newspaper in New Hampshire, and our girl was spilling the tea. Yes. Ona took the opportunity to share her thoughts on the institution of slavery and living with the Washingtons, proclaiming that she never received the least mental or moral instruction of any kind while she remained in the Washington family. So she's like, we weren't even like taught anything, and especially not the moral instruction. She went on to say, um criticized the Washingtons' piety, saying she never saw or heard any indication of piety in prayers while she was enslaved. She's like, There he is in so many ways. And so she said card playing and wine drinking were such business at his parties, and he had more of such company on Sundays than any other day.

SPEAKER_00 46:10

The day of rest?

SPEAKER_01 46:11

Yes. She's like, he was card playing and drinking wine on Sundays, that son of a bitch. So she also alleged that the Washingtons administered brutal punishments to rebellious slaves and told of how the Washingtons tried to circumvent Pennsylvania's 1780 gradual abolition law by the moving the slaves and to and from the state every six months. I just love that. She was like, you know, George Washington? Mmm, I got some news for you. She spilled the tea. Umna did face some hardships in her life after freedom. After her husband's death, she was forced to move in with another family for the rest of her life. Um, Ona's son, William, was believed to have left home in the 1820s to become a sailor like his father. Her two daughters, Eliza and Nancy, were sadly forced into indentured servitude and both died before Ona did. Um despite all the hardships. I don't think it's an indentured servitude. I have no idea. I don't know how it works, so no idea. Like, do you just get room and bored and then are forced to do the thing with that is that's what I understand is it generally happened because people were trying to come to America.

SPEAKER_00 47:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 47:24

I have no idea.

SPEAKER_00 47:25

They didn't have like especially poor families. Because you know it's a land of opportunity and everything. They want to come to America, so somebody would basically sponsor them and pay for them to come over and you would work for them. Yeah. You know, it's supposed to be for four to like four to seven years or whatever. But and you'd be paying off your debt, but at the same time you're incurring debt because they'd be like, Well, we feed you, we room and board, so it ends up being like Yeah. Like generally like kind of like lifelong things, and they treated them like shit. Yeah. So like they a lot and they're Irish, so a lot a lot of them were considered the Irish slaves. Yes. Because even though they came over willingly and everything, like just how they were treated and like the the how their contract worked. Because okay, well you're paying off X amount and like and then like any kids born where automatically they weren't. And that was the thing about their kids though, is that they were still they became property, but it was apprenticeship property. Oh, like if someone like you know, like a I don't know, like the blacksmith sponsored you and you had a kid, okay. They become property the blacksmith, but they would apprentice them. So they would learn a skill. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, so I don't know how they are. So like where were how do they become indentured servants? When they were pretty in America.

SPEAKER_01 48:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 48:42

How do they become indentured servants?

SPEAKER_01 48:44

Because that's that is a good point. I'm gonna have to look into it because I'm like, what was going on with this?

SPEAKER_00 48:49

That's generally how indentured servants would work.

SPEAKER_01 48:52

Yeah, I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 48:53

So maybe there's other people.

SPEAKER_01 48:54

There must be something, yeah, that they're yeah, I don't know. Um, despite all the hardships, Ona enjoyed the benefits of a life of freedom. She taught herself to read and write, she embraced Christianity and roostered better regularly at a church of her choice. And when a reporter from the Granite Freeman um asked her if she regretted leaving the relatively, you know, luxurious household of the Washingtons, as she had worked much harder after her escape, Ona Judge memorably replied, Nope, I am free, and I have and I trust been made a child of God by the means. So she was like, worth it. Everything was worth it. So not so incredible story. Um, yeah, and that is the story of Ona Judge, the baddie who at age 22 defied the first president, the most important man in the nation, heralded with winning the American Revolution, but he could not reclaim his enslaved woman who fled.

SPEAKER_00 49:53

Yay, Ona.

SPEAKER_01 49:55

We did it.

SPEAKER_00 49:57

We did do it. Maybe. We'll see. If this one didn't record, you're just gonna get us madly out about one rabbit.

SPEAKER_01 50:09

Well, not really, because you haven't watched it.

unknown 50:12

That's true.

SPEAKER_01 50:14

Very true. As always, thank you so much for listening to Storyteller. Oh, I don't know what I did with your little card. You're off the hook. You're off the hook today. I'll do it. Yeah. Thank you so much for listening to Storyteller. Tell your own.

SPEAKER_00 50:27

Let's see if I can remember.

SPEAKER_01 50:28

All right, we'll try it out. And join us on Instagram. That's storyteller.pod. TikTok. Storyteller podcast. Storyteller pod. And Facebook.

SPEAKER_00 50:45

Uh storyteller podcast. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 50:49

And be sure to like, follow, comment, and download the podcast on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcast. It really helps the show. Um, and stay tuned because we will be having some exciting news that we'll be sharing very soon.

SPEAKER_00 51:01

So I don't even know what it is. I'm excited. Is it because you're moving? No. Is it the news that she's moving? No. If our podcasts get janky, it's because she moved. That's right. And I hate using the computer.

SPEAKER_01 51:15

She barely has to use she has to sit down in front of it. Anyways, thank you for listening.