Never Caught

December 1, 2016
The story of a favored slave of the Washingtons who had the "impudence" to flee a life of benevolent servitude.A runaway slave who happened to be among the household of the first president of the United States, Ona Judge Staines (1773-1848) shared her break for freedom nearly 50 years after the fact in an account in the May 1845 issue of the Granite Freeman. Dunbar (Black Studies and History/Univ. of Delaware; A Fragile Freedom: African American Women and Emancipation in the Antebellum City, 2008) unearthed an advertisement for the runaway slave and became determined to tell her story--and she tells it well. A "dower" slave--i.e., she was the property of Martha Washington's first husband, Daniel Parke Custis--Ona was born in Mount Vernon, the product of a favored house seamstress, Betty, and a white indentured servant, Andrew Judge. At age 15, Ona, slender, fair of complexion, and a good seamstress, was chosen among the few household slaves out of hundreds to make the trek to the temporary capital of New York City, where Washington had just been sworn in as the new president of the nascent republic. She would mingle with the free blacks of the bustling city, and, later in Philadelphia, when the capital was moved there, she was responsible for over six years for Martha's wardrobe, a role that relieved her of the drudgeries of kitchen and field work. In Philadelphia, there was a growing abolition movement, and when it was decided by the Washingtons that Ona was going to be given as a wedding present to the first lady's objectionable granddaughter, Ona had had enough. On May 21, 1796, she slipped out of the executive mansion in Philadelphia, boarded a transport to New Hampshire (probably with help from the free black community), and started a new life there--but not without being hounded by Washington's slave hunters. A startling, well-researched slave narrative that seriously questions the intentions of our first president.

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February 1, 2017
Ona Judge was born into slavery as the property of Martha Washington. She became a favorite house slave, attending to Martha at all hours of the day. When George Washington won the presidency, she joined the First Family in New York and later Philadelphia. At the time, Pennsylvania law declared that slaves must be emancipated after six months in the state. In order to skirt the law, Washington regularly sent his slaves back to Virginia to reset their six-month clocks and keep them enslaved. When Martha Washington decided to give Ona to her daughter as a wedding present, Ona escaped to New Hampshire. The Washingtons pursued her for years, refusing to accept that she wanted to be free. In this narrative history, professor Dunbar explores the horrific nature of slavery through the lives of Ona and other slaves in Washington's household. Ona's story provides critical insights into the experiences of slaves and free black people in the antebellum period. Never Caught is an important read for anyone interested in American history.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)

September 15, 2016

President George Washington's slaves were repeatedly sent home from Philadelphia to circumvent Pennsylvania law requiring that slaves be manumitted after six months of residency. One slave, 22-year-old Ona Judge, risked everything to escape to New England--and freedom. Look for major promotion at ALA.

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2017

Judge, a 22-year-old enslaved woman owned by George Washington, escaped in 1796 from the president's temporary home in Philadelphia, then the seat of the new American government, to freedom in New England. (LJ 12/16)

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November 15, 2016

As President George Washington's second term was coming to a close, one of his household slaves escaped to freedom, never to return. Oney "Ona" Judge (1773-1848) was born into slavery and worked as a dressmaker and attendant for First Lady Martha Washington. Her story is remarkable for its daring, success, and what it reveals about the personal lives and beliefs of the Washingtons. Judge fled to New Hampshire where she lived for nearly another half century as a freewoman, despite repeated attempts by an angry Washington to capture and return her to his plantation. Dunbar (history, Univ. of Delaware) has the difficult task of reconstructing a slave narrative when few facts are from Judge herself. Other than a handful of interviews given at the end of her life, Judge's experiences were never recorded, leaving Dunbar to build the account from the extensive record of the Washington family's domestic life, filling in likely details from other slave autobiographies. VERDICT This work adds new insights into the little-known story of Ona Judge and provides an important look at America's first president from the perspective of a woman he enslaved. Recommended for readers interested in U.S. history.--Nicholas Graham, Univ. of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.