Born in 1774, Oney Judge was only about 16 years old when she arrived at the President's House in Philadelphia. She was a seamstress and personal servant to the lady of the house, Martha Washington, and she was an enslaved African. Oney slept in the room over the kitchen with Mrs. Washington's granddaughter Nelly.

When Mrs. Washington mentioned that she intended to give Oney to one of her granddaughters when she died, Oney put plans into motion for her escape. In 1796, she escaped into the night to join 5,000 other free Africans in Philadelphia. George Washington viewed her escape as an act of "disloyalty" and "unfaithfulness". He could not understand her need for her personal freedom.

The Washingtons believed that someone had convinced her to run away, and that she would not have tried to escape otherwise. Oney, however, had made her own decision to run away and live as a free person, not as someone else's property. Oney Judge sailed to New Hampshire where she married a free black man in 1797, and became Oney Judge Staines.

Back to the President's Household