The enslaved maid who escaped the Washingtons' home

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The Conversation

Welcome to the Saturday edition of The Conversation U.S.'s Daily newsletter.

Ona Judge is probably not someone you learned about in history class.

She was a chambermaid for Martha Washington, and with the help of some free Black friends she had made while living with the Washingtons in Philadelphia, Judge made a daring escape from the presidential mansion one night in 1796 while the first family ate dinner. She had recently learned she was going to be given to Martha's granddaughter as a wedding gift.

Timothy Welbeck, a civil rights lawyer and professor of African American Studies at Temple University in Philadelphia, believes Judge's story is vital to the telling of American history. It represents the "paradox of freedom and slavery" that the nation was founded upon, he writes.

Yet Judge's story now plays a smaller part in America's telling of its own story. In January, the National Park Service removed an outdoor exhibit at Independence National Historic Park that explained the role slavery played in America's founding, and included details about Ona Judge and the eight other people George and Martha Washington owned at the President's House in Philly.

As the United States prepares to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the framers signing the Declaration of Independence, Welbeck writes, it must decide how much of its history it's actually willing to explore.

This week we also liked stories on a handful of newspaper companies finding some financial success, what the FDA's rejection of a Moderna flu vaccine means, and how Egypt's uprising 15 years ago reshaped the nation.

Kate Kilpatrick

Pennsylvania Editor
The National Park Service removed an exhibit on slavery at the President's House site in Philadelphia on Jan. 22, 2026. The city of Philadelphia has sued the Trump administration in response. AP Photo/Matt Rourke

Martha Washington's enslaved maid Ona Judge made a daring escape to freedom – but the National Park Service has erased her story from Philadelphia exhibit

Timothy Welbeck, Temple University

Ona Judge was one of 9 people George Washington owned when he lived in the President's House in Philadelphia.
Bruce Springsteen and Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine perform on Jan. 30, 2026, in a concert in Minneapolis in protest of federal agents' actions in Minnesota. Alex Kormann/The Minnesota Star Tribune via Getty Images

'Which Side Are You On?': American protest songs have emboldened social movements for generations, from coal country to Minneapolis

Ted Olson, East Tennessee State University

Bruce Springsteen wrote and recorded 'Streets of Minneapolis' within days of Alex Pretti's killing, continuing a long tradition of songs as protest against violence and repression.
Leaders of Native nations and representatives of the United States have signed many treaties over the centuries, including the 1851 Treaty of Traverse des Sioux. ullstein bild via Getty Images

Green or not, US energy future depends on Native nations

Charles Prior, University of Birmingham

Native American lands contain 30% of the nation's coal, 50% of its uranium and 20% of its natural gas, as well as copper, lithium and rare earth elements.

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