"On Saturday, May 21, 1796, Ona Judge, a twenty-two-year-old slave of President George Washington and his wife, Martha, escaped the president's Philadelphia mansion and never looked back." Never Caught is her story.
Ona Judge's story begins sometime around 1773, in Virginia. The United States was not yet in existence, but the white people in those thirteen colonies decided they no longer wanted to be ruled by the British. So they began to rebel in various ways. At this time slavery was very much accepted throughout the colonies.
Ona's mother Betty was born in 1738 into slavery in Virginia. She was originally owned by Daniel Parke Custis, who became Martha Washington's first husband. Daniel died seven years into the marriage and some of his property (including Betty) passed onto Martha. When she remarried, to George Washington, she brought a large number of slaves to his estate. Betty was what was known as a dower slave.
1773 turned out to be a momentous year for several reasons; there was an unusual snowfall in Virginia that June and another of Martha Washington's children, her daughter Patsy died from a seizure.
Sometime 1773, Betty gave birth to a baby girl fathered by Andrew Judge, a white indentured servant from England who was one of Washington's preferred tailors. She named the baby Ona Maria Judge. She was legally owned, as property by Martha Washington. Ona would grow up in Mount Vernon, George Washington's massive estate in eastern Virginia.
As a slave Ona lived in the two-story building called the Quarters, sleeping on the floor. There was little privacy but it was well made and had a fireplace to heat it. Ona did not attend school and
In 1775 George Washington became commander of the Continental Army. The relationship between the British and the American colonists had been deteriorating for some time and it soon developed into all out war. Fighting began in 1775, with Washington leading the Continental army. In 1776, the Declaration of Independence was issued while battles continued in New York, New Jersey and all along the northeast coast of the thirteen colonies. Eventually, the British surrendered and war officially ended with the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1783.
George Washington returned to Mount Vernon after eight and half years, hoping to enjoy his estate but it was short lived. He was invited to participate in the Constitutional Convention of 1787 which saw him return to Philadelphia as part of Virginia's delegation. In 1789 he was chosen to serve as the first president of the new United States of America and he left Mount Vernon for New York. Following him was Martha and a group of carefully chosen slaves including Ona Judge who would serve along with another slave named Moll as housemaids and personal attendants to Martha. These slaves were chosen for their devotion to the family and their fidelity. But as Ona travelled north through the city of Philadelphia and then on to New York, her experiences in these two cities would enlarge her perspective and ultimately change her life forever. What she saw and what she learned might be possible for her, would inform the most critical decision of her life: the decision to be free.
Discussion
Never Caught is the story of the remarkable Ona Maria Judge, black slave maid to Martha Washington, who had the courage and determination to escape bondage against formidable odds. Ona's life is set against the backdrop of the Revolutionary War and the beginnings of a new country that would come to be known as the United States of America. Her escape, from the most prominent American citizen, President George Washington, happens as the abolition movement is beginning to blossom throughout the north.
Ona's story is framed by both the prominent families she was a part of and by the historical events of the time. Ona's mother Betty, was a slave in the Parke Custis family whom Margaret married into. Betty gave birth to Ona while a slave with the Washington's. Both the Parke Custis and Washington families owned a large number of slaves and slavery was deeply entrenched in their way of life. Neither family were interested in freeing slaves and considered themselves benevolent slave owners. George Washington's wealth and lifestyle was built on slavery. To help readers understand what life might have been like for the slaves who were part of George Washington's Mount Vernon, the authors describe how slaves were treated, the attitudes of slave owners, the work they were expected to do and the living conditions they experienced.
Never Caught also presents the major political events in the colonies just before Ona's birth and during her growing up years. It's important to understand these events, because they would directly impact Ona as she grew up and even more so in her adult life. Never Caught attempts to look at life and the political and social events of the time through Ona Judge's eyes. But it also attempts to show readers how the Washington's viewed their slaves - as property they needed to protect for their own financial interests.
Dunbar and Van Cleve believe that Ona Judge's experiences in Philadelphia and New York likely changed her profoundly. In 1789 when Ona first visited the city of Philadelphia it was the largest urban center in the newly founded United States. Even more important, its citizens were leaders in the abolition of slavery. Prominent citizens of Pennsylvania were at the forefront of the abolition movement, and broadsides (large posters plastered on walls) showed people what the slave trade really was: crammed ships filled with dead, dying and terribly suffering people. It's very likely Ona Judge saw these broadsides as they were everywhere and she often accompanied Martha Washington wherever she went during those five days in the city.
In Philadelphia, Ona was exposed to many more white and black people. At Mount Vernon most of the people where black slaves. In Philadelphia, out of a population of just forty thousand, just two hundred and seventy-three were slaves with around eighteen hundred free black men and women. In Philadelphia, Ona would have seen FREE black men and women and this alone would have had a significant impact on how she viewed the world, and her own life. Where she might have once had pride in working as a slave for the president and his wife, Ona began to realize that she should be angry.. "So much was new. So much was strange. And now she was confronted with the fact that some black people in this northern state did not think the way her family did - that it was possible to live only in the way she and her family had always lived at Mount Vernon: in bondage from birth until death....In this spirit she entered Philadelphia with a locked sense of how the world was and left Philadelphia with a sense of how it could be, even for her."
In New York, things were a bit different; Ona encountered white slaves and a wider variety of people, rich and poor. She would have noticed that the white "servants" did not need to ask permission for anything. They went about much more freely than their black counterparts. There were escaped black slaves and "Many free black men and women lived proudly and publicly, even forming their own clubs and organizations that fought for the reputation and credibility of the blacks who lived in New York City." But the Washington's had also learned a few things in New York: "....not that owning humans was inhumane...but that they needed to be even more careful about which slaves would accompany them to their new home."
When the capital of the United States was moved to Philadelphia, requiring the president and his wife and slaves to move too, the Washington's also learned about something else that would affect them: Pennsylvania's Gradual Abolition Act. Under this act, a slave brought into the state and having lived there for six months would automatically become free. The Washington's had no intention of allowing this to happen to their slaves including Ona. Financially they could not afford to, and morally, their paternalistic attitude and belief that they were "benevolent" slave owners justified their keeping slaves. Ona herself learned that she would be given as a "wedding gift" to the Washington's granddaughter. It was this event, and what Ona herself had learned, seen and come to realize that motivated her to seek her freedom.
Ona's decision to run away was a courageous one. She was not only a valued slave in the home of the most important man in America, but many of the resources that existed years later to help slaves seeking freedom were not yet in place. Recapture would have also meant some form of significant punishment, as she had seen the Washington's punish other slaves for much lesser things. Her escape placed Washington in a difficult situation, at risk of disobeying the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793, which he himself had signed. Yet Ona's desire to be free was paramount. She kept her cool when confronted with those seeking to recapture her. Ona's life was difficult for many years after but she did marry and have a family. Most importantly, although she remained a fugitive, her life was her own, to make her own choices and decisions. She passed away in 1848.
Never Caught is well written, rich in history and details, informative, and engaging.The authors have included a copy and transcript of the interview Ona Judge gave to the Granite Freeman in 1845 as well as an extensive list of sources in a Selected Bibliography.
Readers may find these websites of interest:
George Washington's Mount Vernon: Ona Judge
The White House Historical Association: The Remarkable Story of Ona Judge
Book Details:
Never Caught: The Story of Ona Judge by Erica Armstrong & Kathleen Van Cleve
New York: Aladdin 2017
252 pp.
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