Never Caught: The Washingtons’ Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave

“This girl child would come to represent the complexity of slavery, the limits of black freedom, and the revolutionary sentiments held by many Americans.”

Figures in Never Caught are used as symbols, and Dunbar states her intention to employ this device right from the beginning. In no uncertain terms, she announces that Judge represents far more than just the central figure of her own life–she is a symbol of slavery and freedom as a whole as it existed in the United States.

“Mrs. Washington and Ona Judge may have shared similar concerns, but of course only Martha Washington was allowed to express discontent and sorrow.”

Slavery’s dehumanizing effects are psychological as well as physical. Dunbar juxtaposes Martha and Judge’s feelings to demonstrate that part of Judge’s bondage includes the lack of freedom to externally express emotions and the need to internalize the trauma of slavery.

“White servants grappled with a frightening closeness to poverty, the vulnerability of a job market that still clung to enslaved and indentured labor, and a lack of opportunity that often prevented them from climbing out of destitution. Still, while her white roommates may indeed have been subject to the hostility of poverty, they were free, and Judge was not.”

The primary theme of the text is that freedom is of utmost importance, and worth whatever price must be paid to obtain it. By describing indentured white people living in similar conditions to enslaved Black people, and the similarities between their situations more generally, Dunbar highlights that the only key difference between them is freedom, and that that difference is the problem.

“Black men and women’s unpaid labor would lay the foundation for what would become the seat of America’s power.”

Slave labor built the “Federal City” of Washington, DC, but more than that, emotional labor carried out by slaves supported America’s early leaders. Many of the men who would become president (or other political leaders) owned slaves or had complicated relationships with slavery. Dunbar highlights that while white people are credited with building the country, many enslaved Black people whose labor allowed them to succeed are left in the dust of history.

“Philadelphia would serve as the birthplace of her own freedom.”

Philadelphia is known as “The Birthplace of Our Nation,” as both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were drafted there. Dunbar draws a parallel between Philadelphia and Judge, suggesting one more way in which the city gave birth to an important piece of national history.

“Slaves who lived in cabins with friends and family slept in a place of refuge from the constant demands of white owners. Enslaved men and women could talk, laugh, and pray together in the crude wooden structures that served as their homes. But for house slaves like Judge, there was no refuge.”

The Black community supports Judge during and after her escape, and for many, the only reason not to escape was family. Dunbar illustrates the strength of that community and how they supported each other, unless they were closest in proximity to their enslavers. Being more “trusted” placed enslaved people in the vulnerable position of being removed from what little community they had.

“Both Lear and Washington held fast to paternalistic assumptions about African slavery, believing that enslaved men and women were better off with a generous owner than emancipated and living independent lives. Decades later, Southerners would justify the institution of slavery with descriptions of the supposed benefits that came with enslavement.”

This is another example of Dunbar clearly stating that supposedly noble enslavers simply did not exist, and elaborating on how adherence to those attitudes ultimately contributed to the Civil War. She demonstrates that the issue that eventually most divided the United States was in place even as the country was still finding its feet as a new nation.

“Slave owners emancipated their slaves and indentured them for lengthy periods of time.”

While the North was ahead of the South in attitudes, and Pennsylvania was ahead of much of the rest of the North, emancipation was still a slow process. Dunbar provides this historical fact to illustrate how difficult it was to move people away from their entrenched ideas, as enslavers found ways around simply letting their slaves go.

“An opportunity to ease racial animosity between white and black Philadelphians was lost, reminding free Black people, servants, and the enslaved that gradual emancipation would not end centuries of racial violence, stereotypes, or tension overnight.”

While describing the yellow fever epidemic in Philadelphia, Dunbar probes farthest into the ingrained racism in the United States. Rather than thanking free Black people for helping nurse the sick and bury the dead, white people instead accused them of looting dead bodies. Similar events recur throughout US history, even well into the 20th century, and Dunbar shows their roots in early America.

“Judge must have worried that she might be the next target of Thomas Law’s sexual interest.”

The threat of being gifted to Eliza Law drives Judge’s decision to escape. In addition to Eliza’s temper, Judge is in real danger from Law, who already had multiple biracial children and was interested in pursuing sexual relationships with nonwhite women. For all his faults, it seems that George Washington never pursued such a relationship with Judge, so the threat of rape by her enslaver was a new and unwelcome prospect.

“During the spring months of 1796, Ona Judge’s mind was filled with dreams, nightmares, plans, and challenges. Focusing on her normal tasks would have been difficult but still a requirement. As she brushed Martha Washington’s hair before bedtime, she was careful not to tug too hard on the aging first lady’s scalp.”

Since Judge was illiterate and could not keep a diary of her thoughts and feelings, Dunbar employs speculation about Judge’s feelings as a way of humanizing her for readers. Dunbar cannot possibly know what Judge was feeling, but she can guess. Additionally, by including details about taking care around Martha, Dunbar illustrates Judge’s precarious situation and the skills she uses to navigate the tenuous period before her escape.

“She had given everything to the Washingtons. For twelve years she had served her mistress faithfully, and now she was to be discarded like the scraps of material that she cut from Martha Washington’s dresses. Any false illusions she had clung to had evaporated, and Judge knew that no matter how obedient or loyal she may have appeared to her owners, she would never be considered fully human.”

This is the critical moment that Judge makes her decision to escape, and within the text, it serves to tie together multiple themes. Dunbar supports her themes of freedom being the most important thing and that the notion of the noble enslaver is a myth. Dunbar’s tone also demonstrates that she is not an objective relater of history, but someone with strong opinions encouraging her audience to view the Washingtons in a different light. Her indignance on Judge’s behalf comes through.

“The beast that slept in every slave’s soul was awakened.”

When describing Judge’s feelings, Dunbar often uses visceral language to better convey Judge’s emotions in a given moment. This moment is during the pivotal section when Judge finally decides to escape. Once again, Dunbar has Judge’s feelings reflect the feelings of the broader enslaved population.

“The crashing waves of the Atlantic Ocean hurled saddles and candles from one side of the storage hold to another. The smell of molasses and coffee was thick, nauseating passengers who were unaccustomed to sailing with Bowles […].”

Again offering speculation to paint a convincing setting for readers, Dunbar describes Judge’s trip to Portsmouth. By employing vivid imagery and action, Dunbar intends to keep her audience more engaged than they would be if only presented with historical facts. Creating a more engaging story bolsters a reader’s investment in the message of the text.

“That Judge elected to become a domestic, that she chose to endure physically punishing work in New Hampshire, rather than remain a slave, says everything we need to know about how much she valued freedom.”

As Martha Washington’s bondwoman, Judge did not have to perform many of the most taxing jobs for which a Black domestic would typically be responsible. Judge chooses what is likely a much more difficult lifestyle simply because freedom holds that much value for her.

“The skills that [Judge] perfected back at Mount Vernon and in the Executive Mansion might allow her to find a way out from underneath crippling poverty.”

Though Judge represents many Black enslaved women, she’s also unique, as Dunbar often emphasizes. Due to luck and opportunity, Judge represents something precious—an enslaved woman with the ability to escape, through much danger and hardship, before the advent of the Underground Railroad.

“For the slaveholding elite, it was difficult to accept the agency of black thought or the desire and risk involved in escape. The Langdons had participated in the buying and selling of slaves from the late 1600s up until […] the Revolution, and just like the Washingtons, they considered themselves to be benevolent masters, affording their slaves more than the bare necessities of life. They fashioned themselves as different from those hardened enslavers, notorious for the use of the lash and for cruel and demonic torture. In their minds, they had been noble slave owners who provided food and shelter for their slaves, whom they believed to be incapable of caring for themselves.”

One of Dunbar’s key themes is the falseness of the notion of a noble enslaver. Here, she explains her point in no uncertain terms, framing the Langdons, Washingtons, and those like them as holding onto beliefs about race that are fundamentally rooted in lies. Asserting that Black people are inferior and therefore incapable of caring for themselves, white people–even those who may have had doubts about slavery–could justify owning slaves on the basis that they were helping people who would otherwise be in much worse shape.

“Runaways reminded Americans who were sorting out their feelings about human bondage that slaves were people, not simply property […] it mattered not if a slave was well dressed and offered small tokens of kindness, worked in luxurious settings or in the blistering heat. Enslavement was never preferable over freedom for any human being, and if given the opportunity, a slave, even the president’s slave, preferred freedom.”

This is yet another instance of Dunbar reasserting her primary theme that freedom is always worth the price. With this passage, Dunbar also once again ties Judge’s situation to the growing divide in the United States that would lead to the Civil War, this time focusing on how her unique position and subsequent escape might have influenced Northerners who were still undecided about slavery.

“The president believed that a known acquaintance of the first family, a ‘Frenchman’ to be exact, was involved in Judge’s escape.”

As part of her discussion of Black women, Dunbar mentions multiple times that George Washington obsessed over the idea that Judge must have run away with a particular suitor. This not only illustrates George’s lack of understanding about why Judge would want to run away but also belies internal misogyny in the suggestion that Judge could not possibly have come up with and executed an escape without a man’s influence and help.

“The ingratitude of the girl, who was brought up [and] treated more like a child than a Servant ( [and] Mrs. Washington’s desire to recover her) ought not to escape with impunity if it can be avoided.”

In his letter asking for help recapturing Judge, George Washington makes clear that Martha is the driving force behind wanting to recover Judge, and that the Washingtons are misguided in their beliefs about their role as enslavers, thinking themselves benevolent for treating Judge as well as they did. Dunbar demonstrates that Washington is not quite the saint he is often made out to be in history books.

“In eighteenth-century America, a woman (white or black) needed a spouse for protection and survival […] Although free black men were constantly disrespected and trapped in the web of racial discrimination, they carried some power in their male bodies.”

Female vulnerability is an important theme in the text, and Dunbar highlights that here by explaining how marriage was often more of a necessity than something done for love, regardless of race.

“Black slaves might be able to speak disrespectfully to white men in New Hampshire, but in Virginia, this simply didn’t happen, at least not without swift correction.”

Stepping into the mind of Washington’s nephew, Burwell Bassett Jr., Dunbar shows Southern attitudes toward slaves, clearly lacking any nuance that Northerners might have in their thinking. Dunbar makes clear that while history has whitewashed the Civil War as a conflict over states’ rights, it had everything to do with racism.

“She could have emancipated Elish upon her death, but she chose not to.”

Even on her deathbed, Martha Washington has no doubts about whether slavery is right or wrong. Until the last moment, she remains entrenched in her beliefs, as did the majority of Southern white people, leading eventually to the Civil War.