GW to US: my baby done left me

This is a story about a woman who walked out on a man without saying a word. Not even “I’m just going out for milk.”

Detail view, “Tell Her Things Will Be Different” by Lisa Myers Bulmash. Copyright of this and following artwork images belong to the artist.

The man was our first president, George Washington. The woman who left him was Ona Maria “Oney” Judge, an enslaved woman who worked as Martha Washington’s ‘lady’s maid.’ I’m obsessed with the story of this self-rescuing princess who decided she’d had enough. The best part: Oney remained free for the rest of her life.

Long story short, Washington placed ads and leaned on his contacts to help recover his “property” discreetly, but failed. I’ve incorporated images of that notice and other “runaway slave” newspaper ads in my newest collage, “Tell Her Things Will Be Different.”

The first ad George Washington placed to recapture Oney Judge. Credit: Library of Congress

The ad’s phrasing just creeps me out: “there was no suspicion of her going off, nor no provocation to do so…” It sounds like an abusive person playing dumb about why their partner left. And this was all happening while he was busy fathering a nation.

Lithograph of a George Washington painting by Junius Brutus Stearns. Credit: Library of Congress

Yes, I knew Washington legally owned (more than a hundred) people; yes, I know I’m judging him by today’s standards. Must be something about the banality of evil. He might as well have been putting up flyers for a lost dog. From 2021, though, Oney’s escape looks more like a person sensibly backing away from a scorpion.

I can’t just leave the story after one collage. Two more are banging on my door trying to get out, so keep an eye out in the coming weeks for more installments of the Oney Judge saga.