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?
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.
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
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