Despite poverty and hardship, Ona Judge remained free, thwarting the most powerful man in America. In 1796, Martha Washington decided to give Ona as a wedding present to her granddaughter-but Ona made her escape by ship to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, setting up years of attempts by allies of Washington to return Ona to slavery. The Washingtons chose to rotate their enslaved out of the state to maintain ownership. “The criteria were clear: obedient, discreet, loyal slaves, preferably of mixed race.” After the seat of government moved to Philadelphia, the Washingtons were subject to the Gradual Abolition Act, a Pennsylvania law that mandated freedom for any enslaved person residing in state for more than six months. When George Washington was elected president, it was up to Martha to decide who among their enslaved would go with them. Ona Judge was the daughter of a white indentured servant, Andrew Judge, and an enslaved woman, Betty, on the Mount Vernon plantation, growing up to become Martha Washington’s personal maid. '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.A young enslaved woman successfully escapes bondage in the household of George and Martha Washington. 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.

Yet freedom would not come without its costs.

So, when the opportunity presented itself one clear and pleasant spring day in Philadelphia, Judge left everything she knew to escape to New England. Though Ona Judge lived a life of relative comfort, she was denied freedom. Every six months he sent the slaves back down south just as the clock was about to expire. Rather than comply, Washington decided to circumvent the law. 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. In setting up his household he brought along nine slaves, including Ona Judge. 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. Click here to purchase from Rakuten Kobo 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).

Never caught ona judge