The "Slavery Through USA History: Part I - Pres. Washington Was A Slave Owner!"

It was an ordinary day.  Reading an article written by Professor Benjamin Railton about our nation's painful past.  He tends to believe that to understand our current national climate, we should understand out nation's past, both good and bad.  A few months ago the New York Times Magazine's 1619 Project examined the consequences of slavery in the United States.  This study brought about another study titled the Woodson Center's 1776 Project which is a collaboration between a number of African-American journalists, entrepreneurs and academics.  The latest project is to offer alternative perspectives that celebrate the progress America has made on its promise to deliver equality and opportunity for all.  The 1776 Project strives to distinguish between criticisms of America's past and celebrations of its promise.  One striking illustration of the defining interconnection between slavery and America's origins is our nation's founding father George Washington's choice to have slaves during his Presidency.  You did know that General George Washington had slaves (plural), didn't you!  Washington was inaugurated and began serving his first term in our nation's capital of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1789.  The capital would remain in Pennsylvania until ten years later when it was moved to its present location.  As far as slavery at the time, Pennsylvania was distinct from the rest of the nation, having passed the 1780 Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery, a law which, along with a 1788 Amendment, made it illegal for a non-resident slave-owner to hold slaves for longer than six months after which time they would become free.  So, what did Washington do about his slaves?  He argued that he should not be subject to that law; but fearing that his slaves would nonetheless be freed, he devised a plan to rotate all slaves back to Virginia just before they reached that six-month time period.  That way he could keep them enslaved.  But, one of those African slaves, one Miss Betty Only "Ona" Judge Staines, decided she wasn't going to cooperate since she wanted to be free.  Her story was published in a book titled "Never Caught: The Washingtons' Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave, Ona Judge.  Story goes something like this:  

Ona Judge

As a group of slaves were packing to head back to Virginia, Ona realized that if she went back she would never get her liberty.  After she escaped, President Washington devoted considerable time and resources in trying to find his "property."  Ona even made an offer through an intermediary that she would return if she were promised freedom upon Washington's death.  No way would Washington go for that!  She remained a fugitive for the rest of her life.  Her quest for freedom reflects how thoroughly intertwined slavery and America were at the time.  But, her quest for freedom and liberty personifies America's revolutionary and founding ideals does it not?  Wasn't she endowed by her Creator with certain unalienable Rights such as "Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness."  

Crispus Attucks

This does sound familiar, doesn't it?  Her patriotic act of escaping tyranny is what our country was founded upon, is it not?  Another such slave was Crispus Attucks.  In my city of Lancaster, Pennsylvania we have an assembly area named after him.  He gained recognition and perhaps fame when he was shot and killed at the March 5, 1770 event that came to be known as the Boston Massacre.  He is often described as "the first casualty of the American Revolution."  A few days ago marked the 250th Anniversary of that Massacre and it is only right that we remember this fugitive slave on this day in history.  He too ran away from slavery at the age of 27 when's master, William Brown, placed an advertisement in the newspaper seeking his return.  He became a sailor as well as a rope maker in Boston's seaport.  Both these black heroes shared the same passion to be free and did their best to attain that wish.  Can you blame then?  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.