Have You Ever Heard of Ona Judge?

 

The Woman Who Chose Freedom

This morning I read a PBS article about a woman named Ona Judge.

Have you ever heard of her?

I hadn't.

Yet her story has stayed with me all day.

Most of us know the name George Washington. We learn he was the first President of the United States and one of the country's Founding Fathers.

But very few of us learn about Ona Judge.

She was born into slavery around 1773 at Mount Vernon, the Washington estate in Virginia. As a young woman, she became Martha Washington's personal servant.

When George Washington became President, Ona was taken to Philadelphia to work in the presidential household.

Pennsylvania had a law that gave enslaved people a chance to become free after living there for six months.

The Washington household found a way around that law. Before six months passed, they quietly sent the people they enslaved out of the state, then brought them back later. This prevented them from claiming their freedom.

Think about that for a moment.

One of the men remembered for fighting for liberty was also making sure the people in his own household could not become free.

History is often more complicated than we are taught.

Then Ona learned something that changed her life forever.

She was going to be given away as a wedding gift.

Imagine hearing that another person had decided where you would live, who you would serve, and what your future would be.

She made a choice.

In 1796, while the Washington family was having dinner, Ona quietly left the house. Friends in Philadelphia helped her board a ship bound for New Hampshire.

She escaped.

George Washington spent years trying to bring her back.

He never succeeded.

Ona married a free Black sailor named Jack Staines. Together they had three children.

Life was not easy.

The family struggled with poverty. Her husband died before she did. Two of her children died young, and historians do not know what became of her son.

It is a heartbreaking story.

Yet Ona never said she wished she had gone back.

She chose freedom.

That made me stop and think.

Freedom does not guarantee happiness.

Freedom does not guarantee money.

Freedom does not guarantee safety.

Freedom does not guarantee an easy life.

But freedom gives us something precious.

The chance to choose our own path.

Throughout history, people have left countries, jobs, controlling relationships, and dangerous situations because they wanted to live freely. Many paid a heavy price.

Some lost everything.

Some found peace.

Some found both joy and sorrow.

But they made their own choices.

Not everyone has that choice.

Some people are trapped by violence, poverty, illness, discrimination, or fear. We should never judge people who cannot leave. Every person's situation is different.

Still, Ona's story reminds us that the desire to be free is deeply human.

Reading about her also made me think about Canada.

Growing up, I learned very little about the lives of enslaved people. I learned about presidents, explorers, pioneers and wars.

I watched Roots on television.

I remember Sesame Street and The Electric Company introducing children to a more diverse world.

But stories like Ona Judge's were never part of my education.

Canada has its own history.

Thousands of freedom seekers escaped here through the Underground Railroad.

Black communities have been part of this country for centuries.

Canada also has painful chapters of its own, including slavery, racism, the Chinese Head Tax, the Komagata Maru, the internment of Japanese Canadians, and the tragedy of Residential Schools.

Some stories were ignored.

Some were forgotten.

Some were never taught.

That doesn't mean we should feel guilty for not knowing them.

It means we should keep learning.

History is not about making heroes into villains or villains into heroes.

It is about understanding people honestly.

The more voices we hear, the more complete the story becomes.

Democracy depends on informed citizens.

That means asking questions.

Reading widely.

Listening to different voices.

Being willing to discover that history is more complicated than we first believed.

Today I learned about Ona Judge.

I wish I had learned about her years ago.

Maybe someone reading this has never heard her name either.

If so, perhaps today we both learned something worth remembering.

Because freedom may not promise happiness.

But the freedom to choose our own lives is something many people have risked everything to protect.

And perhaps that is one of the greatest lessons history can teach us.

***Note

As I read Ona's story, I found myself wondering how she slept at night. Did she always worry someone would come for her? Did she ever truly feel safe? I don't know. But I do know she never gave up the freedom she fought so hard to gain.

**

Reflective Questions

What does freedom mean to you, and what things in life do you value enough to protect?

Would you choose a difficult life with freedom over a comfortable life where someone else controls your choices? Why or why not?

Why do you think some important stories, like Ona Judge's, are not always included in the history we are taught?

What parts of Canada's history do you think we still need to learn more about, discuss openly, and teach future generations?

How can understanding the experiences of people from the past help us build a more thoughtful and fair democracy today?

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