1776 | The Women Washington Could Never Catch | 2

Who really built American freedom — and why does the answer make so many people so uncomfortable? What happens when an enslaved woman takes the Declaration of Independence more seriously than the man who wrote it? And, when the President of the United States turns the full machinery of government against one young Black woman — why can't he catch her?

Belinda Sutton petitioned a court for fifty years of unpaid wages and won. Ona Judge walked out of the President's house while George Washington ate his dinner, and spent the rest of her life free. The founding story you were taught left both of them out entirely.

[0:00] The founding myth and its glaring blind spot

[3:00] Belinda Sutton — kidnapped at 12, enslaved for 50 years, and why she still fought back

[7:50] The petition that became one of the earliest demands for reparations in American history

[12:00] John Hancock signs off — and why the estate still refuses to pay

[17:00] How Belinda's story spread and why Ta-Nehisi Coates and Harvard both came calling

[19:30] Ona Judge — Washington's secret system for keeping his household enslaved in Pennsylvania

[24:00] The night she walked out while the President ate dinner

[27:30] Washington weaponises the federal government to hunt her down

[31:00] She negotiates with the President — and he blinks first

[34:00] "I am free" — Ona Judge's answer, fifty years later, says everything

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Stay connected with Legacy:

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Explore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com

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