Book Review: Never Caught: The Story of Ona Judge: George and Martha Washington's Courageous Slave Who Dared to Run Away / Erica Armstrong Dunbar and Kathleen Van Cleve

 

Have you ever read a book and loved the story but hated how it was written? This was that book for me.

Ona Judge was a remarkable woman - she was one of the dower slaves of Martha Washington. A dower slave is inherited and is retained by the family of someone who died, in this case, Martha Washington's first husband died without a will and Ona became the property of Martha Washington and her family. This is the story of her slavery, but woven into this story is the changing beliefs concerning slavery in revolutionary America. It seems that Martha Washington felt no qualms about owning slaves, but George Washington was stuck between some discomfort concerning the practice and a need for free labor to keep Mount Vernon running. 

When Ona learned that she was going to be gifted to Eliza Custis, a woman with a nasty temper, Ona decided that she must escape. She fled, likely with the help of people in Philadelphia, and landed in Portsmouth, NH where she lived (in poverty) until her death. 

What did I love about this book - the story. There was so much to learn here. What did I dislike about the story - There was so much conjecture and suppositions between these pages (Ona might have..., George Washington must have... - Meh) that I felt uncomfortable. 

Read more about Ona Judge here at the Mount Vernon website: https://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/ona-judge

While you are on the Mount Vernon page - "visit" this historical site. You can check out the different parts of Washington's estate and see how both the Washingtons and their slaves lived. 

I borrowed this book from the Nashua Public Library.