![]() So, when the opportunity presented itself one spring day in Philadelphia, Judge left everything she knew to escape to New England. ![]() Though Ona Judge lived a life of relative comfort, the few pleasantries she was afforded were nothing compared to freedom, a glimpse of which she encountered first-hand in Philadelphia. ![]() Every six months he sent the slaves back down south or out of the state, just as the clock was about to expire. Rather than comply, Washington decided to circumvent the law. As he grew accustomed to Northern ways, there was one change he couldn’t get his arms around: Pennsylvania law required enslaved people be set free after six months of residency in the state. When George Washington was elected president, he reluctantly left behind his beloved Mount Vernon to serve in New York and then Philadelphia, the temporary seat of the nation’s capital. In setting up his household he took Tobias Lear, his celebrated secretary, and nine slaves, including Ona Judge, about which little has been written. She ultimately became a beacon of hope to those who saw how one of the most “visible” bondwomen in 18th-century America made a decisive stand against the institution of slavery.2017 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST For NonFictionĪ startling and eye-opening look into America’s First Family, Never Caught is the powerful narrative of Ona Judge, George and Martha Washington’s runaway slave who risked it all to escape the nation’s capital and reach freedom. Headstrong empathetic and, later in life, deeply religious, Ona overcame impossible odds and endured unspeakable tragedy. Yet Ona was also able to carve out a new family for herself, marrying a free black man named Jack Staines with whom she had three children, Eliza, Nancy, and William. In securing freedom for herself, Ona left behind many family members who were held in bondage at Mount Vernon for years to come-including her mother, Betty, who died in enslavement there and never knew freedom. As Dunbar reconstructs Ona’s story, she paints Ona as a strong-willed woman forced to make impossibly difficult decisions about what freedom truly was. In bringing Ona’s biography into being, Dunbar seeks to interrogate how notions of slavery and paternalism have echoed through the years and informed contemporary American society-and to shed light on the complicated origins of American society. Ona’s story is little-known to the public-even Dunbar, a seasoned historian, was shocked when she uncovered Ona’s tale of resistance. As the book’s title suggests, Ona was twice discovered but never caught-she valued her freedom more than anything, and each time one of Washington’s emissaries attempted to lure her back to Virginia, she outwitted and outran them. ![]() For the next several years, Ona would become the subject of several searches and attempts to recapture her. A combination of desire for freedom-and a sense of betrayal after Martha Washington attempted to “give” Ona to her granddaughter Eliza upon Eliza’s marriage-led Ona to abscond from the Washingtons’ Philadelphia Executive Mansion in 1796. Ona’s experiences up north changed her, according to Dunbar-there, Ona was exposed to communities of free Black men and women. Born into slavery at George and Martha Washington’s Mount Vernon estate in 1773, Ona was, as a teenager, assigned to a position in the Washingtons’ home, where she worked as Martha’s seamstress and personal “go-to girl.” When George Washington ascended to the presidency, bringing Martha along with him to New York and Philadelphia as he carried out his duties, Ona accompanied Martha on her travels. Ona Maria Judge Staines is the protagonist of Erica Armstrong Dunbar’s Never Caught.
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