Martha Washington’s enslaved maid Ona Judge made a daring escape to freedom – but the National Park Service has erased her story from Philadelphia exhibit

The National Park Service removed an exhibit on slavery at the President's House site in Philadelphia on Jan. 22, 2026. The city of Philadelphia has sued the Trump administration in response. AP Photo/Matt Rourke

On the evening of May 21, 1796, Ona Judge made the daring decision to free herself.

Considering the prominence of her owner, the laws of the time and the dangerous trek to New Hampshire, a place where she could discreetly live freely, the act carried remarkable risk. Nevertheless, she slipped out of the President’s House undetected while the first family dined.