The Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire unveiled a new mural honoring Ona Judge this weekend honoring her bravery on the 230th anniversary of her escape from slavery.
Judge was born into enslavement in the Mount Vernon estate of George and Martha Washington. She escaped one evening in 1796, as the nation’s first president and his family were having dinner. At the time, Judge had learned Martha Washington was going to give her as a gift to her eldest granddaughter, who was known to be abusive.
Judge hid on a ship traveling from Philadelphia to Portsmouth. The Black Heritage Trail says the Washingtons went to great lengths to capture her, but they never succeeded. Judge went on to marry Jack Staines and had a family, living the rest of her life as a free woman on New Hampshire’s Seacoast.
“I think this is one of the ugly truths we don’t want to acknowledge," said Manny Ramirez, the artist who created the mural. “It’s very important for us to be able to learn and become better people in general. It's not about pointing fingers; it's about learning from our past.”
For Ramirez, the mural is “a sign that Portsmouth once again is, speaking on behalf of Ona like they did back in the late 1800s, wanting to put her in a public light and making sure that justice is served on her behalf.”
