Never Caught, the Story of Ona Judge: George and Martha Washington's Courageous Slave Who Dared to Run Away

by Erica Armstrong Dunbar, Kathleen Van Cleve

A National Book Award Finalist for Nonfiction, Never Caught is the eye-opening narrative of Ona Judge, George and Martha Washington's runaway slave, who risked everything for a better life-now available as a young reader's edition!

In this incredible narrative, Erica Armstrong Dunbar reveals a fascinating and heartbreaking behind-the-scenes look at the Washingtons when they were the First Family-and an in-depth look at their slave, Ona Judge, who dared to escape from one of the nation's Founding Fathers.

Born into a life of slavery, Ona Judge eventually grew up to be George and Martha Washington's favored dower slave. When she was told that she was going to be given as a wedding gift to Martha Washington's granddaughter, Ona made the bold and brave decision to flee to the north, where she would be a fugitive.

From her childhood, to her time with the Washingtons and living in the slave quarters, to her escape to New Hampshire, Erica Armstrong Dunbar (along with Kathleen Van Cleve), shares an intimate glimpse into the life of a little-known, but powerful figure in history, and her brave journey as she fled the most powerful couple in the country.

Genres: Biography, History, Nonfiction, Middle Grade, Childrens, Historical, American History

1 pages, Audio CD

First published January 8, 2019

About the author

Erica Armstrong Dunbar is the Charles and Mary Beard Professor of History at Rutgers University. She also served as director of the Program in African American History at the Library Company of Philadelphia.

Dunbar attended college at the University of Pennsylvania, then earned an M.A. and Ph.D. from Columbia University.

Reviews

[Dee Dee G · Rating 5 out of 5]

My public library didn’t have the adult version of this book, so I checked this out instead. So glad I did. This should be required reading in schools. Growing up our history lessons were seriously watered down almost portraying slaves as happy. This author does a great job properly telling this story for young readers. It’s not very graphic, but is written well in getting down to the evil of slavery. Ona was a very brave woman even though she was scared. She would rather die than live in slavery for the rest of her life. Extra bonus found in the back of the book.

[Fran · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this with my 9 year old (i know, why post my kid books ... there are a million of them). Haven't read the full version yet. It was decent in capturing the core story of a side to the Washingtons and colonial America that is usually left out.
But it also had tons of passages of what Ona MIGHT have thought or MIGHT have done to the point of annoyance. I assume it was to key into a young reader's mind, but my young reader and I kept making side comments to each other about someone's mind reading.

[Richie Partington · Rating 5 out of 5]

Richie’s Picks: NEVER CAUGHT, THE STORY OF ONA JUDGE: GEORGE AND MARTHA WASHINGTON’S COURAGEOUS SLAVE WHO DARED TO RUN AWAY by Erica Armstrong Dunbar and Kathleen Van Cleve, Aladdin, January 2019, 272p., ISBN: 978-1-5344-1617-8

“There’s a river running sweat right through our land.
Driven by a man with a bullwhip in his hand.
And I’ve taken just as much as I can stand.”
-- Elton John, “Slave” (1972)

“George’s entire life had been dunked in the miserable water of slavery; he had inherited ten slaves when he was just eleven, when his father died. This number got larger as George grew older and the amount of land he owned spread farther and farther. When he married Martha, who was a widow, he increased his landholdings--and his ownership of the enslaved. By 1773 there were close to two hundred slaves living at Mount Vernon. (Slave owners, including the Washingtons, referred to their human property as ‘servants,’ not slaves. Perhaps even way back then, among people who supported slavery wholeheartedly, this choice of words implied that somewhere, deep in their conscience, they knew it was wrong.)

If George wanted to create a gravel pathway in his gardens, he used the enslaved to move the earth and crush the gravel. If he wanted fabric made from linen, he used the enslaved to cut the flax, pull it through steel-nail combs, and eventually spin it to create the thread. If he wanted wooden barrels to be made, or laundry to be washed, or vegetables to be picked, or tools to be forged, he used the enslaved. Mount Vernon became a showplace, for sure, a mansion with a fancy red roof and black iron weather vane that visitors could see from miles away. George was immensely proud of his home and his lands. But if he hadn’t owned humans and forced them to do what he wanted, he would not have been as wealthy. George owed his riches to the marginalized enslaved.”

In the days of black and white TVs, landline telephones, and vinyl LPs, authors of history books for children frequently took great liberties in their writing. They often created fictional dialogue, indulged in prejudice, marginalized women, and treated suppositions and possibilities as historic fact. As a kid in the 1960s, I read plenty of such “history” books. Back then, 99% of them were written about some famous white man who was duly placed upon a pedestal to be worshipped.

Educated people and mainstream publishers have long since upended such nonsense. In the 21st century, we’ve come to expect more honest, accurate, and diverse history writing, in the same way that we’ve replaced antiquated gadgets with laptops, iPhones, digital TVs, and streaming music.

“...may have explained…”
“...Ona would have been…”
“...Maybe she thought…”
“...Maybe she had already heard…”
“...maybe she was wondering…”
“...Ona probably tried…”
“...she would have been…”
“...Historians agree that…”

I thoroughly enjoyed NEVER CAUGHT, a captivating young reader’s edition of Dunbar and Van Cleeve’s 2017 book about Ona Judge, which was named a National Book Award finalist. In NEVER CAUGHT, the two educator-authors clearly delineate between what was and what might have been. This makes for a lot of “maybes” and “probablys” but it keeps the telling accurate and honest.

In comparison to what is known about the “father” of our country and our first First Lady, there is far less information about their slave, Ona Judge. Nevertheless, the authors deliver an engaging tale by subtly weaving in vast amounts of factual information about slavery and the political tension over slavery that steadily escalated during the late 1700s and early 1800s.

In the hands of these authors, this American history is crazy fascinating. For instance, we learn about the compromise by which it was decided that the new federal government would be located in a city to be built along the Potomac River. (It was eventually named Washington, D.C. after George’s death.) Meanwhile, the federal government was temporarily located in Philadelphia.

Edmund Randolph, a Founding Father and America’s first Attorney General, screwed up big-time by not thoroughly understanding a 1780 Pennsylvania law. The law stated, “If an enslaved person was brought to Pennsylvania by a slave owner from another state, the enslaved person would be freed if they remained in Pennsylvania for longer than six months.” It turned out that three of Edmund Randolph’s slaves learned of and understood the law better than Washington’s Attorney General! Six months in Philadelphia went by, and the trio promptly claimed their freedom. Ha! So much for that nonsense that slaves were not capable of learning!

Randolph went running to the Washingtons to warn them to avoid this trap. George and Martha then initiated a sly system under which their slaves were regularly shuttled in and out of Philadelphia, to repeatedly restart the six-month time clock and prevent them from gaining freedom.

When Ona Judge was in her twenties, having faithfully served Martha Washington for more than a decade, Martha decided to give her to the Washingtons’ granddaughter as a wedding present. The granddaughter was a brat who Ona had known most of her life. This apparently was the last straw.

“Ona had always done what was expected of her. This time she would not.”

Ona successfully escaped from the Washington household and from Philadelphia. Details about George Washington’s temper tantrum, willingness to trample on laws he had helped enact, and to plan a kidnapping in order to seek Ona’s quick return will further tarnish his reputation as a great American. Fortunately, a somewhat-hero intervened in the kidnapping scheme, Ona Judge was never caught, and she did not end up back in Mount Vernon being mercilessly punished for her escape.

This is a triumphant tale that underscores the fact that, for all his arguable greatness, George Washington was a racist slave owner. Those Confederate flag lovers are going to hate this book.

Richie Partington, MLIS
Richie's Picks http://richiespicks.pbworks.com
https://www.facebook.com/richiespicks/
richiepartington@gmail.com

[OnceUponALibrarian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Difficult to review. 4 stars for content - very interesting little known story about Ms. Judge who escaped her enslavement by the Washingtons! The style of writing this biography was so unusual and I just didn't really appreciate it - written with facts about the time and places (maybe a bit too much of the Washingtons going here and there), interspersed with what the individuals might have seen, might have heard, must have felt. Since it was a biography (presumed to be a non-fiction work) I was surprised by the author's narrative voice telling the reader how to feel about the figures - who was a "spoiled brat" and which actions were "a terrible thing for George and Martha Washington to do", rather than letting the facts speak for themselves. I also found the explanatory writing a bit repetitive, multiple times reiterating they ways in which Ona's daily schedule was not of her own making. And yet sometimes, I thought it was a creative way to structure the story. Just a bit much I guess. I wonder if they shouldn't have just written a historical fiction novel and created the character with all the thoughts and actions they were imagining for her.

Elementary Librarian disclosure and trigger warning: In the very first chapter, when discussing Ona's mother, the text reads "The truth is that Andrew Judge could have raped Betty...just as the white male owners who commonly raped the women they owned." I take issue with Simon and Schuster publishing this book for "kids" and calling this "middle grade" rather than middle-school/YA. I am not a proponent of censorship and I do believe that kids can and should be exposed to and taught some hard truths, but using the word rape in an elementary level book crosses my line- it brings up a level of sexual violence that I don't feel is appropriate for the age of students that I work with. This is a topic that would be very uncomfortable to have to explain if students did not already know the definition and if I were a teacher thinking about reading this aloud I would definitely want to know this was going to come up in Chapter 1. I wish, for elementary students, the authors had left it just with the previous sentence referring to a "non-consensual encounter where a man uses his strength and privilege to overpower" a woman. That would have been enough for older readers to "get it" and younger readers to get the gist of the power structure without a more detailed explanation of sexual violence. I am not sure if I will put this book on my elementary library shelf for this reason. But I won't decide until reading more professional reviews and discussing with professional colleagues.

[Monica Edinger · Rating 5 out of 5]

So impressed with this. The authors do a fantastic job providing just the right context when necessary for their young audience. Highly recommend. (My only quibble is that I would have liked endnotes.)

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am amazed that the authors are able to tell this as a story of suspense when we know from the beginning the end of the story. Because of the suspense, this is a page-turner where the reader is compelled to learn what happens next. That is why I so appreciated the pauses in the narrative, where the reader is asked to imagine what Ona Judge was feeling at various times in her life and journeys. This will allow middle-school readers to better identify with Ona and understand her motivation.

[Lindsey · Rating 3 out of 5]

My daughter and I both read this book after she brought it home from school. We agree that it was a very interesting story and are glad that we were able to learn about this woman who escaped slavery from George and Martha Washington’s home, but we both also found the writing slightly boring and filled with a lot of speculation (Ona might have thought this, and Martha may have said that, etc.). It was another great book to prompt discussion with my young readers.

[Deb (Readerbuzz) Nance · Rating 4 out of 5]

How do you tell the story of the life of a person who lived long before cameras and television and social media, a person who left few records of her life? And how do you share the story of that person in a captivating way with children of today who may be bewildered and confused by the events of the past?

Erica Armstrong Dunbar and Kathleen Van Cleve have done this well in Never Caught, the Story of Ona Judge.

Dunbar and Van Cleve carefully draw upon the written records from the time---letters, court documents, census records, and others---to create a story of the life of a slave who ran away. It's a story that often speaks directly to the reader, explaining events and activities of the past that might seem confusing to a young person of today's time, adding speculations about the things Ona Judge might have been doing and saying and thinking based on records of what others in similar situations were doing and saying and thinking, with little asides that serve as reminders to children of the ways things were very different in Judge's time.

It's a captivating story, and I think children would greatly benefit from reading and discussing it.

[Becky Ginther · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really great book about the life of Ona Judge, a slave of George an Martha Washington who actually escaped. This is the young reader's edition and I used it for a book discussion with my middle schoolers. When I first told them what we would be reading and what it was about, one comment I got was "wait, George Washington had slaves?" I knew we were going to have A LOT to talk about with this book.

And we definitely did. We only have half an hour for discussions but I think they could have easily talked about this for an hour. It was accessible to younger audiences but even as an adult I thought it was very well written and I learned a lot. I appreciated that the author didn't just say "this happened" or "she said this" when we don't know for certain. She wrote it in a way where she would speculate on what might have occurred based on the facts we do know and not just writing something as fact when we don't have a definite source.

There is a lot I learned from this version of the book and a lot to think about - especially how people who otherwise seem to be good, moral people, might still do something as terrible as owning slaves.

[Petrichor · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Never Caught" is based on the fascinating historical account of Ona Judge, a woman who escaped from enslavement by George and Martha Washington. It is a story that deserves to be told, but I don't think the authors did the material justice here (hence the low rating).

The writing style was an odd blend of very dense historical exposition, speculation about characters' internal lives, and weird asides to the reader as the authors drew overly didactic comparisons to contemporary life. Perhaps the stilted tone is a consequence of bowdlerizing the adult version to make it suitable for young readers, but I found it almost unreadable in parts.


I'm inclined to think that there just wasn't enough information available to make this a full-length, non-fiction narrative. Just when Ona's story began to hit some kind of flow, the authors would wedge in a tangentially related historical fact that did nothing to propel the story forward. Overall, I think this would have been better as a tightly edited chapter in a collection of biographies, or maybe as some type of fictionalized biography.

[Juliefrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Looking forward to teaching this excellent book. Because Judge's story is one told through secondary sources, it's hard to approximate the "real" thing, and that's the one and only way this account falls down (aka, no fault of its own--the author did a wonderful job). This would be a fantastic book to pair with a trip to Mount Vernon.

[Adrianna Carpenter · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5

[Pumkin pie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved it. You never knew what was going to happen.

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating to me. I did not know who Ona Judge was, but I'm very glad I do now. Yes, this book might be a little dry, but it's more vivid than most texts I remember reading in school about this time period.

I was especially interested in Ona Judge's experiences in Philadelphia, where many free black people also lived. The Washingtons took disgustingly great pains to keep their slaves enslaved, such as shuttling them around on interstate trips every six months expressly to avoid the 1780 Abolition Act. They also worked hard to recapture Ona after her escape, but fortunately she evaded them every time.

"Ona Maria Judge Staines had no regrets. Despite the poverty, despite the sorrow, despite the permanent, painful separation from her family, Ona spent her final fifty years on earth living in a freedom of her own making -- a freedom that allowed her to marry the man of her choice, bear children when she wanted to have children, and get paid for her labor. For some of this period, she must have experienced a joy from marriage and family and faith that she would never have imagined possible. The painful times of her life were set against the happy triumphs of her self-made freedom: her daring escape in 1796 had opened a door she never wanted closed again."

Thank you to the authors for bringing Ona's story to life. May her story spread far and wide.

[Tonja Drecker · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a little known historical event brought to life with care and interesting insights of information.

Ona Judge was born as a slave into George and Martha Washington's household. Taking the surrounding historical events and known details concerning the Washington's life, this book paints the picture of how Ona Judge's life might have been while growing up to the time of her escape and beyond.

While I was aware that the Washington's held slaves, the history surrounding Ona Judge was new to me. The historical details in these pages are interesting and paint a closer picture of the life of the Washington's and those around them. The authors take great care to keep the information factual, while allowing a more story like atmosphere to touch Ona and her life. Since not everything is known about Ona, the surrounding facts are taken into account and then used to surmise some stages of her life. However, the authors make sure that these fact-based assumptions are clear for what they are in the writing. It makes for an interesting read and helps the reader submerse themselves into the happenings at that time while gaining an emotional connection to the historical figures. I found it intriguing.

This book is the rewrite of the adult version, Never Caught: The Washington's Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave Ona Judge, but unfortunately, it doesn't quite hit the level of the intended audience, ages 9 to 12 or so. While the writing itself does bring the story down to the needed reading level, the historical events and names are dropped, often with belief that readers already know some of the background information. This might be the fault of the educational system, but many readers at this age do not know what the Articles of Confederation are, have no clue what the Continental Congress is, or are ready to read things such as 'nonconsensual encounter where a man uses his strength...to overpower a woman.' Yet, the authors point out in sudden style change that moving at that time 'was before vans and dollies and U-Hauls'. It makes for a clumsy mix on the what level of knowledge and maturity is expected from the reader.

This is an intriguing read, and I enjoyed every moment of it, but I'm not sure what audience it's intended for.

I received a complimentary copy and enjoyed this very much despite the problems. So, I'm leaving my honest thoughts.

[Laura Gardner · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Enslaved people always wanted to be free." In the 1700s and 1800s, many white people, including George Washington, believed that enslaved people were better off in slavery than free. This book puts a face and a story to that of early enslaved people and makes it clear that enslaved people always desired the ability to make choices for themselves.

Before the Underground Railroad, before even the birth of America, Ona Judge was born into slavery (in 1773 or 1774). Ona Judge was owned by the first First Family, the Washingtons. This book is the story of her enslavement and her courageous, successful escape from slavery at age 23 (she was to be given as a wedding gift to the Washington's granddaughter).

Ona was the personal attendant to Martha Washington from an early age. From all reports, she was highly valued for her intelligence, calm demeanor and sewing skills by the Washingtons. Never Caught also gives her considerable credit for running away from enslavement despite not knowing how to read or knowing anything of the world outside of living in enslavement. The adult version of this book was a National Book Award finalist. The authors have successfully adapted the story for young people; it reads like thrilling narrative nonfiction. Various concepts are explained along the way and the text is never boring. It is particularly fascinating, for instance, to read of how desperately George Washington tried to re-capture Ona while he was the first president of the United States.

The authors have worked hard to imagine Ona's possible thoughts and opinions on various matters of the time from the difficulty of cleaning Martha Washington's clothing and boots to the wonder at seeing free black people in Philadelphia for the first time in her life. After escaping her owners, Ona married a free black man in New Hampshire, had children and had an independent life, all the while knowing she legally belonged to the Washington family. She never spent another day in slavery, however. Ona Judge gave one interview toward the end of her life, which is the basis for much of this book.

To whom would you recommend this book? Students who enjoy narrative nonfiction or books about people overcoming obstacles will like this book.

[Cindy Mitchell *Kiss the Book* · Rating 5 out of 5]

Never Caught: The Story of Ona Judge (Young Readers Edition) by Erica Armstrong Dunbar and Kathleen Van Cleve, 252 pages. NON-FICTION. Aladdin (Simon and Schuster), 2019. $19

Language: G (0 swears); Mature Content: PG; Violence: PG.

BUYING ADVISORY: EL, MS - ESSENTIAL

AUDIENCE APPEAL: HIGH

Ona Judge was a slave of the Washington’s and was highly regarded by Martha and George. The Washingtons felt like they treated Ona well and for this reason they were devastated and angry when Ona ran away. Ona, despite being relatively well treated, was a slave and for that reason alone found the courage to run.

I find it so exciting that this next generation of readers will grow up with books that challenge them and offer complexities and dualities that they must examine critically. These young readers learn about George Washington in the context of being the president, but a book like this offers a competing image of the Washingtons as slave owners.

Jen Wecker, HS English Teacher
https://kissthebook.blogspot.com/2019...

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pre-reading for the kids for next school year. I listened to the audio.

Excellent. I would really like to high-five the author. She made the story come to life, condemned slavery and showed the Washington’s part it in it.

I loved seeing and learning about the free black communities at the time and their part in helping slaves escape. This is a newer idea to me and I’m excited my kids will grow up knowing about them.

The book conveys that George Washington is a man to be respected. And he’s a man to be ashamed of. Instead of venerating or hating important historical figures, we might all follow the lead of this book and admire the good accomplishments and actions, condemn the bad ones and see people as they are-flawed and sinful humans in desperate need of a Savior.

I also appreciated that Ona’s strength came from her fervent faith in her Savior. A faith that, without her brave escape, she would have never found.

[Maggie Lalley · Rating 2 out of 5]

I put currently reading since I didn't finish the book. I had a hard time getting into it honestly and didn't get past the first couple chapters. The book is mostly just a timeline of Ona Judge's life on Mount Vernon and I'm guessing her plot to escape and a timeline of her escape and life after. Maybe if it was the adult readers edition I might've gotten more into it because it might've been more in depth but for this one I just couldn't get interested. As a teaching tool I would use this maybe as a part of a text set for 4th-8th grade students if we were doing a unit on slavery.

[Carly Seifert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Picked this book up while visiting Mt. Vernon and read aloud with my 10 year old. We learned SO MUCH from it.

[Nikole · Rating 1 out of 5]

For a nonfiction book, there was way too many liberties of what she "could have", "might have", and "more than likely" said or did. I did not feel like this was nonfiction, but based on nonfiction.

[LauraW · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am currently in the middle of this book and I am finding it interesting and compelling, but I am finding some of the writing a bit over the top. In the attempt to be completely factual, the author all too often (for me) writes that Ona "would have" seen this; "would have" done that. This kind of speculation is probably necessary, but after a while, it seems a bit condescending to the reader. Like saying: Reader, take note, any smart person could tell this was important, so pay attention, this is important.
_____________

Finished now. I am thinking now that this style of writing is more: "Reader, remember, I am making a lot of this up, but we know that Ona was brave and smart, so we can assume that these things would be true. I just want to remind you over and over again that I am making a lot of this up from as many sources as I could find."

The book is enlightening, especially about the white privilege of the upper classes. George and Martha's attitudes, especially, are illuminating. I am a little bit sad, though, that I didn't feel as emotionally close to Ona herself. I am wondering now, if that is because I am white and have never been enslaved or because the speculation mentioned above in the discussion of style conveys a certain distance. Rather than "Ona felt", we read (over and over) "Ona would have felt".

Still, I recommend the book. It is readable and accessible for young teens.

[Tamsyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting story, but I didn't like the way it was written. Sometimes she used modern phrases, and often she used speculative phrases like "Ona may have had a needle in hand, the dress on her knee, when the letter arrived" or "Each morning, as she removed the stains from Martha's dresses and scraped the mud and dirt off Martha's shoes, she would have to stop herself from angrily ripping the dress and destroying the shoes. forcing herself to calm down and confront her future."

I understand it to be what the author is imagining she might have experienced, but it felt like too many of the author's views imposed on Ona. Though I would think she is often right, because this is nonfiction, it didn't feel right to me.

Ona Judge lived quite a courageous life, and the insight into the home and attitudes of George and Martha was also illuminating.

[Gerry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sometimes reading or listening to a children's version of a story, helps me to stick with a difficult story. This is one of those times. I don't think I ever fully believed in the George Washington who never told a lie. But it's still hard to hear about the inslaved people owned by him and Martha. It's so important to become aware of the facts of slavery and the facts of how slaves and free black persons were treated by the government and the white citizens.
This is a story about a young woman who was one of the Washington's slave. She was courageous!

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perfect for its age group

I didn’t know the story of Ona Judge and I only knew the basics about George and Martha Washington before reading this. This is not a fun for read but it's a good read, it’s about a woman escaping slavery and building a life for herself.

I saw this was on the list of banned books and it seemed interesting to me so I grabbed it. Reading banned books is always the correct choice.

Now that I know the story I am going to look for more general content books about Ona Judge.

[Lisa Boyd · Rating 2 out of 5]

I understand this is a young readers edition... but phew I hard a hard time getting through that one and cannot imagine some kids enjoying it. It was a bit dry and over-explaining for the age it is targeted at. I am sure a 10-year-old kid understands that they did not have Uber in the late 1700's and that you couldn't just text George Washington. I am not sure why they edited it like that to repeat the fact that tech was different 300+ years ago...

[Lea · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the young reader edition, which I picked up on a sale from Libro.fm. The narration is great and engaging. I think this is appropriate for all ages, although some concepts are explained for the middle grade level.
The story itself is of course amazing and should be a story everyone is familiar with. Ona is an amazing woman and her escape from enslavement by our countries first President and what it helped bring forward for others, is brilliant.
Highly recommend for everyone, especially middle graders or those looking for a shorter, more abbreviated version of the story of Ona.

[Rachel Alberque · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vital reading for readers of any age. Ona Judge was an incredibly brave woman who had a difficult life, but did whatever she could to protect her freedom and that of her children. It’s necessary to learn that people like George Washington, who are traditionally celebrated as American heroes, were actually deeply flawed individuals.

[Joan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Did not finish. The way it talked down to kids was ridiculous. If they were old enough to read this they did not need to be told over and over that slavery was bad. Duh!

[joanna]

This was a great introduction to Ona Judge but I think I may have preferred the adult version. This one was required reading for school and I liked it but there was so much speculation.