In an era when books are being banned, classrooms are being sanitized, and public conversations about race are increasingly treated as political liabilities rather than historical necessities, the fight over Black history is ultimately a fight over American identity itself.
Whose stories are worthy of remembrance? Whose sacrifices count as foundational to this nation? And perhaps most importantly: who gets to be called “American”?
The story of Ona Judge Staines answers those questions more powerfully than most.
Born into slavery at Mount Vernon, Ona Judge Staines was enslaved by George and Martha Washington. She lived within the household of the nation’s founding family, serving the very people who spoke eloquently about liberty while denying it to others. In 1796, while the Washingtons resided in Philadelphia, she made a decision that would define her legacy and expose one of America’s deepest contradictions: she escaped.
She fled not for wealth or power, but for the same reason countless Americans throughout history have risked everything — freedom.
Too often, Black history is framed as separate from American history, as if it exists in a parallel narrative rather than at the center of the nation’s development. But Ona Judge Staines’ life demonstrates the opposite. Her pursuit of liberty was not outside the American ideal; it was the purest expression of it.
When Americans celebrate the spirit of independence, resilience, and self-determination, they are celebrating values Staines embodied. She believed that freedom belonged to her even when the law said otherwise. She believed that liberty was worth risking her life. As stated in an 1845 interview, she valued liberty more than the comforts of the Washington household. Staines believed that no human being was meant to live in bondage, even when some of the most powerful men in the country insisted slavery and freedom could coexist.
That belief, and her dedication to claim that freedom for herself, is profoundly American.
And yet, stories like hers are still too often marginalized, softened, or omitted entirely.
Across the country, we are witnessing growing attempts to narrow how history is taught and discussed. The language may differ by using “divisive concepts,” “patriotic education,” “curriculum transparency”, but the result is frequently the same: a version of history stripped of complexity, contradiction, and uncomfortable truth.
But erasing Black history does not make America stronger. It makes our understanding of America weaker.
A nation mature enough to celebrate the Declaration of Independence should also be mature enough to confront the reality that many who helped build the country were excluded from its promises. The point of telling these stories is not to induce guilt. It is to deepen understanding.
Ona Judge’s story does not diminish the American experiment. It reveals its unfinished nature.
In fact, her life forces us to ask one of the most essential questions in American history: who has fought hardest to make the nation live up to its ideals?
Again and again, the answer is Black Americans.
From enslaved people escaping bondage, to abolitionists demanding emancipation, to civil rights activists confronting segregation, Black Americans have consistently pushed this country closer to the principles it proclaimed at its founding. They did not reject the ideals of liberty and equality; they demanded those ideals apply to everyone.
That is patriotism.
There is a tendency in some corners of public discourse to treat conversations about slavery and racism as inherently anti-American. But the opposite is true. Honest engagement with history is one of the most patriotic acts possible because it reflects faith that our country is capable of growth. To mythologize the Founding Fathers, or anyone, rather than to view them as complex individuals is to make our own national story weaker. Re-writing the past does not make us a stronger nation, but confronting hard truths and moving forward together will.
To tell Ona Judge’s story is not to attack America. It is to recognize the courage of a woman who believed in freedom so deeply that she claimed it for herself before the nation was willing to grant it to her.
It is also to recognize how much Black history shapes the places we think we already know.
Philadelphia is remembered as the birthplace of American democracy, yet it was also the city where Ona Judge seized her own independence. Mount Vernon is celebrated as the home of a founding father, but it was also a plantation sustained by enslaved labor. Portsmouth, New Hampshire, a port city in one of the whitest states in the nation, was the place where a young Black woman enslaved by our first president claimed her freedom.
These are not side stories to American history. They are American history.
Public memory matters because it shapes who feels seen within the national narrative. When communities invest in preserving Black history — through murals, museums, tours, archives, and education — they are not rewriting the past. They are restoring missing chapters.
Ona Judge’s story is being brought to light in one such case. While nationwide Black history is being erased, the Black Heritage Trail of NH seeks to make Ona Judge larger than life with a towering mural at their office in Portsmouth, NH. The Unveiling Ceremony, set for May 23, will be a citywide celebration of Ona Judge’s life, of the heroic choices she made and of the complicated history that we all must reckon with.
That work is especially urgent now.
At a moment when historical erasure is increasingly normalized, preserving stories like Ona Judge’s becomes an act of civic responsibility. If we lose these histories, we lose part of our understanding of freedom itself. We lose the opportunity to see how ordinary individuals shaped the nation through acts of courage that often went unrecognized in their own lifetimes.
Earlier this year, the Trump administration ordered the removal of Ona Judge’s name (among other enslaved people’s) from the President’s House in Philadelphia. The stated goal? To remove exhibits that “reflect negatively on the country”.
What part of the story of a woman choosing freedom at any cost reflects negatively? Depicting the Washingtons as they truly were, rather than mythologizing them, does nothing but acknowledge the truth of our shared history, and to set a level ground from which we can build better futures.
Ona Judge never held public office. She did not command armies or draft founding documents. Yet her decision to claim ownership over her own life stands as one of the clearest declarations of American freedom ever made.
She understood something fundamental, six decades before the rest of the nation would: liberty is not meaningful if it belongs only to some people. That truth remains as relevant today as it was in 1796.
Black history is not an addendum to the American story. It is one of the forces that defines it. And if we are serious about protecting American ideals, then we must also be serious about protecting the histories of those who fought hardest to make those ideals real.
Ona Judge Staines deserves remembrance not despite her challenge to America’s contradictions, but because of it. She believed in freedom enough to demand it for herself.
There may be nothing more American than that.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jake Webb is the Marketing Specialist for the Black Heritage Trail of NH. When he isn't working on uplifting the hidden Black history of his home state, Jake can be found watching wuxia flicks, playing a decade-long D&D game, or hanging out with his cat.
Visit the Ona Judge Mural Unveiling on May 23, 2026. Learn more at www.bhtnh.org/ona-judge-mural.