#George washington runaway slave book trial#
#George washington runaway slave book free#

#George washington runaway slave book free#

In both cities, where slavery was gradually being phased out, Judge came in contact with free blacks and, Dunbar writes, likely first began to contemplate being free herself. The daughter of an enslaved black mother and a white indentured servant on the Washingtons’ estate of Mount Vernon in Virginia, Judge came north with selected other slaves when the Washingtons moved first to New York, then to Philadelphia after George Washington became president in 1789. “Never Caught” brings to life the relatively little-known figure of Ona Judge, who as a teen and a young woman was a personal attendant to Martha Washington. “Never Caught” is also the centerpiece of a community reading project, “All Hamptons Read,” in Easthampton, Northampton, Southampton and Westhampton that includes multiple events this month and next examining slavery. That’s the subject of “Never Caught,” a book by historian Erica Armstrong Dunbar that was a finalist for last year’s National Book Award for nonfiction. president, and his wife, Martha, made strenuous efforts to get back a runaway slave, Ona Judge, who escaped from the Washingtons’ presidential household in Philadelphia in a bid to win her freedom in the northern United States. One of the more noted stories about George Washington’s last years was how he reportedly wrestled with his conscience about slavery - and how, not long before he died in 1799, he freed his 123 slaves in his will.īut about three years before that, Washington, in his last year as the first U.S. With impeccable research, historian Erica Armstrong Dunbar weaves a powerful tale and offers fascinating new scholarship on how one young woman risked it all to gain freedom from the famous founding father.RELENTLESS PURSUIT OF THEIR RUNAWAY SLAVE, ONA JUDGE At just twenty-two-years-old, Ona became the subject of an intense manhunt led by George Washington, who used his political and personal contacts to recapture his property. Yet freedom would not come without its costs.

So, when the opportunity presented itself, 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 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. In setting up his household he took Tobias Lear, his celebrated secretary and eight slaves, including Ona Judge, about whom little has been written. When George Washington was elected president, he reluctantly left his beloved Mount Vernon to serve in Philadelphia, the temporary seat of the nation's capital.

#George washington runaway slave book trial#

Beautifully written and utilizing previously untapped sources it sheds new light both on the father of our country and on the intersections of slavery and freedom.' -Eric Foner, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Fiery Trial and Gateway to Freedom A 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 everything to escape the nation's capital and reach freedom. Finalist for the National Book Award for Nonfiction 'A fascinating and moving account of a courageous and resourceful woman.