Never Caught Never Caught

Never Caught

The Washingtons' Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave, Ona Judge

    • 3.9 • 191 Ratings
    • $13.99

Publisher Description

A startling and eye-opening look into America’s First Family, Never Caught is the powerful story about a daring woman of “extraordinary grit” (The Philadelphia Inquirer).

When George Washington was elected president, he reluctantly left behind his beloved Mount Vernon to serve in Philadelphia, the temporary seat of the nation’s capital. In setting up his household he brought along nine slaves, including Ona Judge. As the President grew accustomed to Northern ways, there was one change he couldn’t abide: Pennsylvania law required enslaved people be set free after six months of residency in the state. Rather than comply, Washington decided to circumvent the law. Every six months he sent the slaves back down south just as the clock was about to expire.

Though Ona Judge lived a life of relative comfort, she was denied freedom. So, when the opportunity presented itself one clear and pleasant spring day in Philadelphia, Judge left everything she knew to escape to New England. Yet freedom would not come without its costs. 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.

“A crisp and compulsively readable feat of research and storytelling” (USA TODAY), historian and National Book Award finalist Erica Armstrong Dunbar weaves a powerful tale and offers fascinating new scholarship on how one young woman risked everything to gain freedom from the famous founding father and most powerful man in the United States at the time.

GENRE
Biographies & Memoirs
RELEASED
2017
February 7
LANGUAGE
EN
English
LENGTH
272
Pages
PUBLISHER
Simon & Schuster
SELLER
Simon & Schuster Digital Sales LLC
SIZE
33.4
MB

Customer Reviews

Spare Bear ,

A story I never knew

I knew that our founding fathers were slave owners but seeing our first President through the eyes of a daring slave really puts the foundation of our country under a new, darker light.

A fascinating tale of the fight for freedom that still persists to this day.

Keithwah ,

Excellent!

Brilliant read on one of George and Martha Washington’s slaves who escaped to freedom. Just read it!

Schmegster12 ,

Incredible.

Well worth the read. So important historically.

Jefferson's Daughters Jefferson's Daughters
2018
She Came to Slay She Came to Slay
2019
Women of the American Revolution Women of the American Revolution
2022
Mary Todd Lincoln: A Biography Mary Todd Lincoln: A Biography
2008
Harriet Tubman Harriet Tubman
2004
The Last Lincolns The Last Lincolns
2010
She Came to Slay She Came to Slay
2019
Never Caught, the Story of Ona Judge Never Caught, the Story of Ona Judge
2019
Reckoning with History Reckoning with History
2021
Susie King Taylor Susie King Taylor
2023
Black America Black America
2023
Ida B. Wells Ida B. Wells
2025
America's Women America's Women
2009
Barracoon Barracoon
2018
All That She Carried All That She Carried
2021
Stony the Road Stony the Road
2019
The Blood of Emmett Till The Blood of Emmett Till
2017
White Trash White Trash
2016