Booklist Review
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.--Chanoux, Laura Copyright 2017 Booklist
Library Journal Review
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 Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
