Never Caught

Washington, our first president…Mr. American Freedom himself—was not just a slave owner but a slave hunter. What was his problem, I wondered, as I read about how he and his wife positively obsessed over re-capturing Ona Judge, a woman who escaped from their bondage.

They spent years, money, and some political clout tracking her down and trying to drag her back. They had plenty of other enslaved people! They weren’t short of money! As I read this wild tale of courage and cruelty, I got the message…the Washingtons knew that if a slave could flee the President of the United… show more.

This book speaks to Black women's ingenuity and resilience, not just the strength of contemporary Black women. Once, a white woman researcher told me about a divisive dynamic between white and Black women. I had no idea what she was talking about because I was passing as a white woman then.

But now, as one who has fully embraced my Blackness, I know exactly what she is talking about. This book illuminates this through the relationship between First Lady Martha Washington and her enslaved woman, Ona Judge.  

This best-selling book tells an important story about Black women's struggles for freedom and autonomy at the founding of the American nation. And tells it so well! One of my favorite things about this book is that the title is a bit misleading: this is not actually (another) book about the Washingtons.The book centers on Ona Judge, a woman who freed herself after the Revolution and forged a new life in the tumultuous world of the newly independent United States. Dramatic and suspenseful as her personal story is, this book also tells a bigger story about how it was enslaved… show more.