Gov. John Langdon House
143 Pleasant St., Portsmouth
Rain site: South Church, 292 State St.

Time: 1:00-3:00

Ona Judge ran away from a life in the White House as the enslaved body servant of Martha Washington. John Langdon helped to ensure Ona’s safe refuge within the Black community of the seacoast area.

Jukwaa Theater Company
will bring this fascinating history to life. Discussion with the audience will follow. “Thirst for Freedom,” a play by Emory Wilson

About the Cast

For this abridged production, Cyrus de Bruce, John Langdon’s major domo, will be played by Kevin Wade Mitchell of Portsmouth.

Denise Richardson of Northwood will play Dame Sally, a free black woman who takes Ona under her wings upon her arrival in Portsmouth.

Ona Marie Judge will be played by Sandi Clark, director of Jukwaa Mazoa Productions, Newington.

Stan Zabecki of Portsmouth will round out the cast in the role of Burwell Bassett, Martha Washington’s nephew who was sent to capture Ona and take her back to Mount Vernon.

The Story

As the nation celebrates freedom on Independence Day, we celebrate the personal quest for freedom of Ona Judge.
Ona Judge fled enslavement in the Washington home in 1796 and came to coastal New Hampshire. On Sunday, July 4th at 1:00 p.m. her brave story will be dramatized on the grounds of the Gov. John Langdon House.
As one of Martha Washington’s enslaved body servants, Ona was her seamstress and was responsible for dressing, bathing, and primping the First Lady. When Ona, also called “Oney,” ran away and reached Portsmouth, John Langdon lent a hand in securing her safe refuge among free Blacks in Portsmouth and Greenland.

What is Freedom?

This is the kind of history that heals - a story with simple heroes in a complex era. Not only does it tell of one woman’s determination to be free; it is about a young black slave who challenges the home of the most powerful man in North America.

Audiences can’t help but be reeled in by the emotional feast this play offers.

Following the performance by Jukwaa Mazoa Theatre Productions, a panel including scholars of African American history and literature of the eighteenth century will invite the audience to discuss the meaning of freedom and how stories like Ona’s have shaped the world we live in today.

The Sponsors

The event is presented by the Portsmouth Black Heritage Trail in celebration of their fifteenth anniversary and the one-hundredth anniversary of Historic New England. The Gov. John Langdon House will be open for tours. www.HistoricNewEngland.org

Admission is free…and open to the public thanks to a generous grant from the New Hampshire Humanities Council.

Pennsylvania Gazette and Daily Advertiser, May 24, 1796

ADVERTISEMENT.
ABSCONDED from the household of the President of the United States, ONEY JUDGE, a slight mulatto girl, much freckled, with very black eyes and bushy black hair. She is of middle stature, slender, and delicately formed; about 20 years of age.

She has many changes of good clothes, of all sorts, but they are not sufficiently recollected to be described-As there was no suspicion of her going off nor no provocation to do so, it is not easy to conjecture whither she has gone, or fully, what her design is;–but as she may attempt an escape by water, all masters of vessels are cautioned against admitting her into them, although it is probable she will attempt to pass for a free woman, and has, it is said, wherewithal to pay her passage.

Ten dollars will be paid to any person who will bring her home, if taken in the city, or on board any vessel in the harbour; –and a reasonable additional sum if apprehended at, and brought from a greater distance, and in proportion to the distance.