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Never Caught by Erica Armstrong Dunbar
c.2017, Atria
$26.00 / $35.00 Canada
254 pages
By Terri Schlichenmeyer
The Truth Contributor
Run, run, run.
Some days, it feels like that’s all you do. Run the kids to
school, dash to work, rush with errands, and run yourself
ragged before bed. You’re always on the go, always moving,
and in the new book Never Caught by Erica
Armstrong Dunbar, your breath isn’t the only thing to
catch.
Twenty-one-year-old Mulatto Betty must’ve breathed a sigh of
relief.
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When Martha Custis married George Washington, slaves were
shuffled as the mistress moved to Mount Vernon; miraculously
and notably, Betty moved and was allowed to keep her baby
son with her. She was pregnant, too, by a white man with an
“indenture agreement” and an eye for opportunity; their
eldest daughter was born in mid-1773, and given the unusual
name of Ona Maria.
At age 10, “Oney” Judge was brought inside the Washington
household, in service to Martha Washington. There, the
illiterate girl learned to care for Martha’s clothing, to
bathe the mistress, tend her grandchildren, and soothe
anxieties – one of which was that Martha’s husband had been
asked to be the nation’s first president, a post that Martha
Washington wasn’t keen on – and neither was Judge.
But, of course, Washington did take the position,
which meant a household move from Virginia to Manhattan (the
site of the first Executive Mansion) for the family and a
handful of slaves, including Judge. It’s there, says Dunbar,
where Judge most certainly tasted freedom through rare
autonomy.
She was undoubtedly unhappy, therefore – but couldn’t speak
her mind – when the Executive Mansion was relocated to
Philadelphia in 1790.
But there was a twist, for Judge and for the Washingtons:
laws in Pennsylvania mandated freedom for any slave living
in the state for six continuous months, meaning that the
Washingtons would shuttle their slaves between Philadelphia
and Virginia, to “reset” their status. Judge surely knew
what was going on, but when she learned that she would be
permanently gifted as a wedding present to Martha’s moody
granddaughter, she could stand things no longer.
And so, as the Washingtons dined on a Saturday evening in
May, 1796, Oney Judge slipped out the door and ran…
It’s been a long time since I’ve read a thriller as
heart-pounding as the one I found in this book. The
difference is that Never Caught is all true.
But Judge’s astounding, audacious story isn’t the only thing
author Erica Armstrong Dunbar brings to vivid life: she also
sets the tone by explaining the times in which Judge lived,
and what life was like for slaves and whites alike. Thanks
to Dunbar, it’s easy to feel the busyness of Manhattan, to
absorb the fear Judge surely felt, and to picture the
elegant drawing rooms of the Washington home. On that note,
we learn some not-so-savory things about George Washington,
which makes the meat of this story an even bigger reason for
gleefulness.
Now you have to find out what happened. If you love
biographies, history, stories about remarkable women, or
really exciting thrillers, Never Caught you need to
read this book. Run for it. |
