Presented by the Free Library of Philadelphia Foundation and The Ona Judge Coalition in partnership with The African American Museum in Philadelphia and The School District of Philadelphia
Moderated by Tamala Edwards
Join us for a powerful evening of history, remembrance, and community as we gather to honor the woman who risked it all to claim her own freedom in the heart of Philadelphia.
In 1796, from the President’s House just steps from Independence Hall, a woman named Ona Judge walked out of the most powerful household in the new nation and never went back.
Ona Judge’s story unfolded on the ground many of us walk every day. Bringing it forward is the work of remembering fully, and of recognizing the people whose lives were written out of the founding narrative.
Whether you’re a history lover, an educator, a lifelong Philadelphian, or someone encountering Ona Judge’s name for the first time, we invite you to join this conversation. Come to listen, to learn, and to sit together with a story that belongs to all of us.
About the book:
When George Washington was elected president, he reluctantly left behind his beloved Mount Vernon to serve in Philadelphia, the temporary seat of the nation’s capital. In setting up his household he brought along nine slaves, including Ona Judge. As the President grew accustomed to Northern ways, there was one change he couldn’t abide: Pennsylvania law required enslaved people be set free after six months of residency in the state. Rather than comply, Washington decided to circumvent the law. Every six months he sent the slaves back down south just as the clock was about to expire.
Though Ona Judge lived a life of relative comfort, she was denied freedom. So, when the opportunity presented itself one clear and pleasant spring day in Philadelphia, Judge left everything she knew to escape to New England. Yet freedom would not come without its costs. At just twenty-two-years-old, Ona became the subject of an intense manhunt led by George Washington, who used his political and personal contacts to recapture his property.
“A crisp and compulsively readable feat of research and storytelling” (USA TODAY), historian and National Book Award finalist Erica Armstrong Dunbar weaves a powerful tale and offers fascinating new scholarship on how one young woman risked everything to gain freedom from the famous founding father and most powerful man in the United States at the time.
Erica Armstrong Dunbar is a historian, professor at Emory University, Black and Women’s history speaker, and main historical consultant and co-executive producer for HBO’s The Gilded Age. Her work shines a light on racial injustice, slavery, and gender inequality. She is the author of Never Caught: The Washingtons’ Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave, Ona Judge, which was a finalist for the 2017 National Book Award for Nonfiction and received the 2018 Frederick Douglass Book Award. An accomplished scholar, Erica Armstrong Dunbar was named the National Director of the Association of Black Women Historians (ABWH) in 2019, an organization dedicated to continuing the advancement for the study of black women’s history. In 2011, she became the Inaugural Director of the Program in African American History at the Library Company of Philadelphia, a position she held until 2018. An in-demand speaker on U.S., Black, and Women’s history, Dunbar gives audiences an intimate look at the often-overlooked stories that make our country’s history so richly diverse.
Dr. Ashley Jordan joined the African American Museum in Philadelphia as President & CEO in September 2021. In this role, she leads the institution’s strategic vision, advancing its mission to preserve, interpret, and celebrate the African American experience. Dr. Jordan was appointed by Joseph R. Biden to serve on the National Museum and Library Services Board in Washington, D.C., reflecting her national leadership in the museum field. She holds a Doctorate in United States History and a Master of Arts in Public History from Howard University, as well as a Bachelor of Arts in History from Kent State University. Dr. Jordan is the recipient of numerous professional, academic, and civic honors, including the Pace Setter Award from the Association of African American Museums and the Black Excellence Award from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), as well as multiple doctoral fellowships.
Tamala Edwards joined 6abc in January of 2005. She is the weekday co-anchor of Action News Mornings from 4 a.m to 7 a.m. and is a regular co-host of Inside Story, conducting probing interviews with newsmakers like Governor Tom Corbett, Senator Bob Casey, Mayor Michael Nutter and others, as well as moderating many election debates. Prior to joining 6abc, Tamala Edwards was the anchor of ABC’s World News Now, and World News This Morning.
Books will be available for purchase courtesy of Uncle Bobbie’s Coffee and Books.
The views expressed by the authors and moderators are strictly their own and do not represent the opinions of the Free Library of Philadelphia or its employees.
