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'Never Caught': The Story Of A 22-Year-Old Slave That Escaped George Washington
'Never Caught': The Story Of A 22-Year-Old Slave That Escaped George Washington

'Never Caught': The Story Of A 22-Year-Old Slave That Escaped George Washington

'Never Caught': The Story Of A 22-Year-Old Slave That Escaped George Washington

A new book tells the story of a slave that escaped George Washington's Philadelphia mansion, and never got caught.

Titled Never Caught: The Washingtons' Relentless Pursuit of their Runaway Slave, Ona Judge, the book sheds some light on Ona Judge, a slave that traveled with the Washingtons following George's election as president from Mount Vernon to Philadelphia.

Moving to the latter almost created a problem for George, considering that Pennsylvania was moving towards abolition, and state law required that any slave be freed if they were brought into the state for more than six months. Ultimately, George used a loophole that allowed his slaves to be sent back and forth out of the state, resulting in Judge remaining in Philadephia for six years, until she learned that she would given to Martha Washington's granddaughter and sent south.

This was where Judge embarked on her escape.

"Following Ona from the South to the North, we see that there's no straight line to freedom. Each state was working it out differently," Erica Armstrong Dunbar, the author of the book, said in an interview with Philly.com. "She was never free; she was simply never caught. She remained a fugitive until the day she died in 1848."

Dunbar spent eight years researching the story of Judge, whose story predates other highly important figures that embarked on their own quests for freedom, such as Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman.

"I think the more interesting story is the story about resistance, about a 22-year-old enslaved woman who knew that by running away from her owners, it would be breaking the law, but she did it," Dunbar said. "That story of resistance can be traced through American history, and now we see people still resisting and protesting for what they believe to be their rights as citizens."

Ona Judge is already available to purchase online and in book stores.