Philadelphia marked the 230th anniversary of Ona Judge’s escape from enslavement with a rally at the President’s House site as panels tied to her story—removed last winter—were put back up after legal action.
On May 21. 1796. Ona Judge slipped away from the president’s official residence in Philadelphia and disappeared into a life she chose. Two centuries later. her footsteps still lead people to the same place—now marked by bronze footprints in the sidewalk and a set of exhibit panels that had been taken down. then returned.
Judge was born into slavery on George Washington’s plantation. She was 22 when she escaped from the President’s House site, hiding on a boat that carried her to New Hampshire. There, she later married and had three children.
Philadelphia officially declared May 21 Ona Judge Day. On Thursday, advocates gathered at the President’s House site for a rally, chanting “Tell the truth! Restore our history!” They spoke while asking that the exhibits—and the names and lives behind them—remain visible.
The renewed attention comes as federal efforts to manage how history is presented have collided with legal challenges. The panels tied to Judge and other people enslaved at the site were removed in January after an executive order from President Donald Trump. Some exhibits were restored following a judge’s order, but the work has been paused while the administration appeals.
Among the panels rehung is one featuring Judge. She is also memorialized beyond the exhibit space: a series of bronze footprints embedded in the sidewalk symbolize how she escaped to freedom.
Cindy Bass, a member of the Philadelphia City Council, described Judge’s legacy in terms of memory and responsibility. “We remember her courage. her passion. her determination. that we make sure that in no way. shape or form she is ever forgotten. ” Bass said. “Each one, teach one. Everyone, tell someone.”.
Dawn Chavous. a volunteer for the Avenging the Ancestors Coalition. pressed the message in plain language: American history can’t be loved selectively. “You can’t love America without knowing the good, the bad and the ugly,” Chavous said. “Slavery was part of our American story, and that is not something that we should hide or run away from.”.
The stakes of that argument are playing out far beyond Philadelphia. In Portsmouth. New Hampshire. a 13-by-25-foot mural depicting Judge is being unveiled Saturday on the side of a building owned by the Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire. The organization said it has featured her story for years through tours and other educational programs.
In announcing the mural project, the organization framed its work as a direct response to erasure. “At a time when stories of struggle and freedom are being erased. New Hampshire is choosing something different: to make the quest for freedom visible. permanent. and undeniable. ” it said in the announcement.
The timing of Thursday’s rally—on the anniversary itself, with panels back up and other exhibit work still tied up in an appeal—underscored what many advocates say they’re fighting to preserve: a full record of what happened, and who survived it.
Ona Judge Philadelphia President’s House slavery exhibits George Washington Ona Judge Day Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire mural bronze footprints