Friday, November 23, 2018

Never Caught: The Washingtons’ Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave, Ona Judge by Erica Armstrong Dunbar


Here are some questions for discussion. Never caught: the Washingtons’ relentless pursuit of their runaway slave, Ona Judge by Erica Armstrong Dunbar, who is the Charles and Mary Beard Professor of History at Rutgers University. She also serves as Director of the Program in African American History at the Library Company of Philadelphia. Her first book, A Fragile Freedom: African American Women and Emancipation in the Antebellum City was published by Yale University Press in 2008. She is also the author of Never Caught: The Washingtons’ Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave Ona Judge.

Topics & Questions for Discussion
1. Ona Judge was born during the era of the American Revolution and spent her childhood at Mount Vernon. Was Ona’s life typical of other enslaved children?

2. What do we know about Ona Judge’s lineage? What does it tell us about race, slavery, and sex in the eighteenth century?
Her father was an indentured servant.
Slaves and indentured servants lived side by side.

3. How do George and Martha Washington become slaveholders? In what ways are they similar as slaveholders and how do they differ?
GW not as much.
Some companies, the children work every position in the company before becoming owners

4. In 1789, George Washington is elected president and moves to New York. Who accompanies him and how does New York differ from Virginia?

5. How does Ona’s life change once she is taken to New York and Philadelphia? What kinds of responsibilities are placed upon her shoulders and how are they different from Ona’s work in Virginia?
before underground railroad
No idea of what if going on outside the plantation
No way to know what is going on

6. What do we know about slavery and freedom in Philadelphia? How does it differ from New York? What kind of effect does the free black community have on Ona’s life?

7. How do George and Martha Washington manage their slaves while living in Philadelphia?

8. What prompts Ona to escape from slavery? How does she do it?

9. George and Martha Washington attempt to recapture their runaway slave. What was surprising about their efforts?

10. What does Ona’s story tell us about the lives of fugitive slaves? How does her life change in New Hampshire? What are some of the new challenges that Ona faced?

11. When you compare the lives of Ona Judge and Philadelphia Costin, what is most striking? What do their lives tell us about slavery and freedom in America?
She escaped but ended up destitute
Even though she had freedom, she still had discrimination and poverty
The fact that she was illiterate made a huge difference in what she could do