We, the undersigned, join Philadelphia Magazine and The Ona Judge Coalition  in petitioning the City of Philadelphia to officially designate May 21st as Ona Judge Day, an annual recognition of American truth, courage, and freedom. 

The background:

Ona Judge was enslaved by President George Washington at the President’s House in Philadelphia, a residence that - in staggering hypocrisy - was located mere steps from the Liberty Bell, our country’s symbol of freedom.

In a free city, she lived in bondage. 

Until, at age 22, she didn’t.

On the evening of May 21, 1796, Judge made the daring decision to flee from the most powerful man in the country. While Washington and his wife ate dinner, she silently slipped out the front door and, with the help of the city’s free Black community, fled to New Hampshire. 

Washington was humiliated and outraged. For years, he doggedly hunted Judge, determined to kidnap her back into service. She outwitted him at every turn. She married a free Black sailor, had three children, and lived to an old age, her life defined by dignity, grace, and autonomy.  

 

Here is why the city of Philadelphia must honor her annually - and why the need is urgent.

Since 2015, Judge’s story - and the stories of the eight other men and women who had been enslaved with her in Philadelphia - have been told at a dignified, outdoor exhibit at the site of the President’s House from which Judge fled. The memorial, championed by the Avenging the Ancestors Coalition, is and remains the only exhibit on federal property to honor enslaved people. For eleven years, the exhibits have depicted the lives of Judge and the others with elegant, wrenching simplicity. 

But on January 22nd, 2026, employees of the National Park Service, which runs the site, began dismantling it on the orders of Donald Trump, who said sites like the slave memorial promote “corrosive ideology.”

As if truth could ever be corrosive.

The City of Philadelphia has sued for the exhibit’s restoration. The case is now moving through the court. No matter the outcome, we heartily agree with U.S. District Judge Cynthia M. Rufe, who issued an injunction against the exhibit's removal until the case is decided.

She wrote; “An agency - whether the Department of the Interior, NPS or any other agency - cannot arbitrarily decide what is true, based on its own whims or the whims of the new leadership, regardless of the evidence before it.”

Still, if we’re to spare the stories of Washington’s slaves from the “whims” of America’s current or future leaders, restoring the exhibit isn’t enough. 

Not by a long shot.

That’s why it’s time for Philadelphia to meet this moment and go big, to counter Trump’s wrong with a right that’s 10 times louder.

Let’s host an annual Ona Judge Day to recognize the life and the bravery of the lone enslaved person who escaped from the President’s House. The inaugural honor should occur this May 21st, 2026, which marks the 230th anniversary of her extraordinary flight. In annually celebrating Judge, we’d also honor truth and continually recommit to Philadelphia’s privilege of telling it.

Ona Judge Day would remember and honor Judge, and, through her story, the millions of other enslaved men, women, and children held in bondage in America whose stories we will never know.

If  the Philly of 1796 inspired Judge to flee the clutches of the country’s first president, surely the Philly of 2026 can free her story from the clutches of the country’s 47th one.

We respectfully call upon Philadelphia City Council and the Mayor to declare May 21 as Ona Judge Day—every year.

To learn more, read "Why Philly Needs an Ona Judge Day" in Philadelphia Magazine, by Ronnie Polaneczky.

To learn more about Judge's backstory, watch Ona Judge - A Woman Who Escaped Slavery & the Washingtons

To hear from actor Alexandra Ford, who portrays Ona Judge in and around Philadelphia's historic sites, click here.