[inaudible conversations] welcome everybody. My name is Douglas Bradburn. And the founding director of the National Library for the George Washington and beautiful mount vernon and delighted to you all again for a wonderful evening of conversation and history and i would also like to welcome the cspan audience out there. Its great to have you back in the library. You know these evening book talks are special for a variety of reasons. We get to bring exciting new historians to an eager community here but also because it sponsored by the great donor to mt. Vernon for many many years as you all know. The association does not take any government money. Its completely private institution based on philanthropy and some people come to the estate so we depend on it in groups like the ford family and the Ford Motor Company have supported mount vernon. Henry ford did the first fire engine mt. Vernon to keep the from burning to the ground. Ongoing challenge and in fact you were welcome to the donate to our Fire Suppression efforts right now. I would like to welcome you all out here and before we begin the main event i also want to mention some Upcoming Library programs for which we still have tickets available. The great annual Martha Washington lecture featuring florida fraser and there are discussing women on both sides with lenny. Thats going to be a fantastic conversation led by her own senior curator at mt. Vernon and we have the first of three Michelle Smith lectures coming up featuring George Goodwin discussing Benjamin Franklin in london the british life of americas founding father on march 30. Thats one you definitely want to sign up for. I met george at the Benjamin Franklin house which is an extraordinary house you seem fair. He has got an extremely large personality. I think you will particularly enjoy him and his discovery of franklins life in london. Lets get to the main offense right away. We are exceptionally pleased to have with us dr. Erica Armstrong Dunbar from the university of delaware with us tonight. You have probably seen or featured in the news york times recently and many npr programs. This is where she belongs talking about a very important subject. She received her m. A. And ph. D. From Columbia University and she became the inaugural director of the program on africanamerican history at the library philadelphia. Shes the founding director. Her first book a fragile freedom, africanamerican women and emancipation published by yale extremely wellregarded in corporate studies of the understudy topic up to that point and the perfect person to take on the challenge to recover the story of ona judge. Lets give erica a big round of applause. [applause] good evening everyone. Happy black history month. Here i m. So first let me make, offer if you thank yous to Douglas Bradburn who invited me. They think there is no other place that i should be giving this talk. Can you all see me . I am vertically challenged. Lets see if this is better. I would also like to say thanks to steven emily for helping me with arrangements to arrive here. Its been a very busy week. This book just came out on tuesday of last week and so im an academic and my first book was published at Yale University press. This book is more of a crossover for a larger more general audience. So its a very different experience, one that has been rewarding but different and im a little tired so forgive me of my voice comes in and out. Ive been talking more than usual. So tonight its such a pleasure to be here, to be really cool where the story of ona judges life began in mt. Vernon. What i will do tonight is to talk a little bit. I will read a little bit to you from the book and give you a little context with some slides. There we are. Im in stereo. And to give you a little context about ona judges life and what i wanted to do with this book. About 20 years ago i was doing some research on my first book about africanamerican women in the north and i came across an advertisement for a runaway, and enslaved person who had run from the president s house in philadelphia in may of 1796. I was you know sort of caught up looking through microfilm and old newspapers and this made me pause. I said wait, who is this person who ran away . She was named ona judge in the advertisement. I thought wait a minute, i dont know this person. That was troubling to me because this is my area of expertise. Im supposed to know all of this stuff and i had no idea who this ona judge was. It was something that was very compelling about this advertisement, and it never escaped me. I said you know im going to come back to this important story that im going to try to trace this woman. I need answers so i finished the first book and here i am many years later. It was a lengthy process and attempting to recover the works in the life of anna judge. This is recover work and for those of us who view early africanamerican history doing this kind of work in archives where the evidence, the factual evidence often doesnt exist because people of color, women in particular often remain outside of the archives. What i will say is theres actually no way i could have written this book had i not written my first book so thats my plug for graduate students and people who are really doing the work of academics. I needed a grounding in order to be able to write this book about a woman who is really absolutely magnificent. When you read this book youll be blown away by her life. Many folks here in this room and of course at mt. Vernon this is no news story. We know about ona judge and you are among a small group of people who end i hope there are many more who know her. That would be the expect asian. I want her name to become one of those household names like frederick douglass, like Harriet Tubman because she runs away decades before. So the title, i will give you a quick story about the title. This is actually one of my first choices for the title of the book and i presented it to the people at the publishers and they hated it. They said youre giving away the story erica. I said gatto but so does 12 years a slave. Honestly we understand the 12 years has got to end at some point. This is really a history of how a woman who was a fugitive never found freedom. She was never free. She simply was never caught and i think its a big dissension and one that i wanted to make especially as i was trying to dismantle what we think about slavery in the south and the north at this moment where the nation is new. I think thats one of the other things i was really trying to do with this book was to allow us to see what the early days of this new country look like through the eyes of the enslaved and onas life gives us that opportunity to look at virginia, new york, pennsylvania and New Hampshire and we get to follow her life and look at how this nation is changing, how is grappling with the issue of slavery, how bees these are central issues to this new nation and this time we are doing it through a young black woman who made the choice to run away. So as i said i will read a bit. I will talk and we will look at a few slides and we will walk together on this journey. Spring rain came from the streets of philadelphia in 1796. The weather in the city of brotherly love was often fickle at this time of year vacillating between extreme cold and oppressive heat but rain the rain was almost always appreciated in the nations capital. It erased the putrid smells of rotting food, animal waste and the filth that permeated the cobblestone roads of this new nation. It reminded philadelphians that the long and punishing winter was behind them in the spring rain cleansed the streets and the souls of philadelphians. Ushered in optimism and hope and the feeling of rebirth. And in the midst of the promises of spring ona judge, a gallon black enslaved woman received devastating news. She learned that she would leave philadelphia, a city that had become her home. Judge would travel back to virginia and prepare herself to be bequeathed to her owners granddaughter. Today i will introduce one of the most understudied fugitive slaves in america. The age of 22 judge stole herself from the washingtons forcing the president to show a slave as a fugitive judge would test the president s will and his reputation. The most important man in the nation in winning the American Revolution could not read claim this enslaved woman. Ona judge did what very few others could do. Judge was never caught. Im going to show this next slide. We are here at mt. Vernon and this is one im on the road with my dog and pony show. There are of course earlier images but i always try to give this image so people have an idea of what the mansion house, where she was for such a long period of for life, for good 60 years. So of course you all work here so you dont need this. Today i will introduce what im calling, im calling her a new american hero. A slave girl raised in not burn in who once exposed the ideas of freedom and was compelled to pursue it at any cost. This was a woman who found courage to defy the president , the wit to find allies and to escape, to out negotiate, to run and to survive. Her story at this point we can tell is really the only existing lengthy account of a fugitive once held by the washingtons elites told from her mouth to interviewers. It is perhaps the only fugitive account from any slave and 18th century virginia. Her life exposes the sting of slavery come the drive of defiance. She guarded what would become sort of freedom for her every day of her life, never regretting her decision to fight for what she believed to be her right and that was freedom. In 1789 we know that washington was elected first president of the United States, traveled to new york, the nations First Capital and he and Martha Washington would take with them seven slaves for mt. Vernon. This is a sketch of federal hall where president washington would take the oath of office in new york. He would take eventually martha would make her way up to new york. She was unhappy about the move. She made that known to everyone but she went and they took seven the enslaved people with them from mt. Vernon and ona judge was one of them. She would be taken from her mother betty and her other siblings and im going to read a bit from the book. It will give you an idea of what that moment must have been like. The young ona judge was far from an experienced traveler. The teenager knew only mt. Vernon and its surroundings and it never traveled far from her family, her loved ones. For judge, the move must have been similar to the dreaded auction block. Although she was not to be sold to a different owner she was forced to leave her family for an unfamiliar destination hundreds of miles away. Judge would have no choice but to stifle the terror that she felt into go on about the work of preparing to move, folding linens, packing Martha Washingtons dresses and personal accessories and helping the grandchildren. These were all things that sub five was involved in. They were the tasks at hand and it wasnt her place to complain or question. Judge had to remain strong and steady, not for herself but for her mistress who appeared to be falling apart at the seams. Like judge, Martha Washington had no choice about the move to new york and life was at the direction of her husband who was now the most powerful man in the country. Mrs. Washington and ona judge may have shared similar concerns but of course only Martha Washington was allowed to express intent. Martha washington was unhappy and in every minute including her frightened slaves. Robert louis would be made aware of it when he arrived on may 14. Things were in disarray. Lewis who served as washingtons secretary between 1789 and 91 was chosen to escort his aunt and grandchildren to new york. He was a bit concerned when he arrived to find a frenzied and hectic scene. Lewis wrote quote everything appeared to to be in confusion end quote. The manifestation of mrs. Washingtons conflicting feelings. Robert lewis described the departure which finally take place on may 16, 1789 as an emotional moment for the slaves and the first lady. Quote after an early dinner and making all necessary arrangements in which we were greatly regarded it brought us to 3 00 and the action in when we left. The servants of the house and a number of them made an appearance to take leave of their mistress. Numbers of these poor ratchets seemed greatly agitated, much affected. My aunt, equally so. Betty, ona judges mother must have been one of those agitated slaves. Not only was she losing her 16yearold daughter but she was also losing her son austin who would serve as one of the washingtons leaders prayed austins wife charlotte and their children would have joined in the morning. That he watched her children leave mt. Vernon, a reminder of what little control slave mothers had over the lives of their children. If she found any comfort in that day it would have been that brother and sister were traveling together. Austin was older and male and could look out for his anger sister. Still, betty knew that her relationship with her children would never be the same. The washingtons will travel to new york and their visit their was relatively brief. They would leave philadelphia. November was a sight that it capital changed again. The washingtons relentless pursuit of their runaway slave, ona judge would go with the washingtons and she would be one of nine enslaved people who traveled to philadelphia. We are going to go head south to philadelphia. We dont have an image. Pretend that you see the president s house. [laughter] it was a lithograph, an image of a lithograph from the president s house which actually right now for those of you who are familiar with philadelphia because of the liberty bell and Constitution Hall the house is actually right there. I will tell you. This is sort of an aside when i was watching the preelection coverage and there was a speech given by former president barack obama and Hillary Clinton it was. In the middle of this courtyard at independence hall. And watching the visual with the crowds and what have you and off to the right was where the actual president s house stood. I thought wow here we are, im watching this moment and off to the right ona is still there. She would let me go. She followed me everywhere. February, 1796 brought a palpable unease to the executive mansion in philadelphia. A fixed tension prompted ona judge and heard slade companions to tread lightly around george and Martha Washington. Enslaved men and women always moved about with caution, not knowing what events could sour or sweden the owners mood. For the slaves who resided within the same walls as their owner life could be akin to walking through fields embedded with land mines. The smallest of matters such as the accidental breaking of a dish or an inconveniently time to bad weather could alter the disposition of an owner. Although the president did not earn the reputation as being a violent or physically punishing slaveowner he did on occasion lose his temper. Ona judge moved or her daily task of the persons house with his smooth watchfulness, perhaps attending to Martha Washingtons extra care as she helped her dress for the day. For seven years judge had served her mistress well up north. She became Martha Washingtons closest body slave. All though the washingtons on a personal level were familiar with judge where she often accompanied her mistress unsocial calls since moving to new york and then philadelphia the first ladys life was filled with socializing and public events. Its important to realize that this relationship between mistress and enslaved person at least in terms of ona is a very intimate relationship. Not necessarily in the best of ways but ona was around Martha Washington constantly helping her with the most intimate responsibilities, dressing, bathing, combing hair and she heard everything that went on in the executive mansion. Judge understood her mistress. She knew just how much Martha Washington loved her grandchildren. She had outlived every single one of her children fathered by her first husband. Martha washington had no choice but to look towards her grandchildren for hope and enjoyment and although she was only 27 years old when she married George Washington their marriage never yielded offspring offspring. After the death of her son john, martha and George Washington welcomed two of his small children into their home raising them up to adulthood and i think thats a really interesting thing to think about the Intergenerational Community that was actually there from the beginning of the first president. Judge must have witnessed shock and concern of her owners after they read through the mail on february 6. The president received a letter from a liza, his 19yearolds that grandchild and farming her grandparents of her intention to marry. Eliza wrote of her engagement to thomas law a british businessman who came to america only in 1794. And became involved in Land Development and around the federal city. Lott met a liza who was 20 years his junior and a romance turned to engagement. Elizas father was deceased and in some ways George Washington stood in as one of the appropriate surrogates to approve or reject the marriage proposal. The news must have sent the executive mansion into a tailspin. Although this is very personal Family Business everyone glued within the halls of the persons house knew exactly was what was happening and its interesting when we read some of the letters john adams writes about, as an interesting situation this relationship that a liza and law were entering into. There were questions about who this