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Title details for Never Caught by Erica Armstrong Dunbar - Available

Never Caught

by Erica Armstrong Dunbar
Robin Miles
Audiobook
3 of 5 copies available
Borrow Listen to a sample Listen to a sample
3 of 5 copies available
A startling and eye-opening look into America's First Family, Never Caught is the powerful story about a daring woman of "extraordinary grit" (The Philadelphia Inquirer).
When George Washington was elected president, he reluctantly left behind his beloved Mount Vernon to serve in Philadelphia, the temporary seat of the nation's capital. In setting up his household he brought along nine slaves, including Ona Judge. As the President grew accustomed to Northern ways, there was one change he couldn't abide: Pennsylvania law required enslaved people be set free after six months of residency in the state. Rather than comply, Washington decided to circumvent the law. Every six months he sent the slaves back down south just as the clock was about to expire.

Though Ona Judge lived a life of relative comfort, she was denied freedom. So, when the opportunity presented itself one clear and pleasant spring day in Philadelphia, Judge left everything she knew to escape to New England. Yet freedom would not come without its costs. At just twenty-two-years-old, Ona became the subject of an intense manhunt led by George Washington, who used his political and personal contacts to recapture his property.

"A crisp and compulsively readable feat of research and storytelling" (USA TODAY), historian and National Book Award finalist Erica Armstrong Dunbar weaves a powerful tale and offers fascinating new scholarship on how one young woman risked everything to gain freedom from the famous founding father and most powerful man in the United States at the time.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Awards

  • Release date

    February 7, 2017

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781442394506
      • File size: 194507 KB
      • Duration: 06:45:13

  • Languages

    • English

  • Levels

    • Lexile® Measure: 1090
    • Text Difficulty: 7-9

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Ona Judge was a mixed-race slave in the Mount Vernon household of George and Martha Washington until she escaped in 1796, three years before the president's death. Robin Miles gives voice to this remarkable woman, who was pursued by the Washingtons but eventually found freedom in New Hampshire. Miles's reading is straightforward and unadorned, mirroring Dunbar's journalistic tone, but it's never dry. Although the text includes few of Judge's own words, it contains a wealth of historical context and personal detail gleaned from interviews the fugitive gave to abolitionist newspapers near the end of her long life. In the hands of a skilled writer and a passionate narrator, this rich source material is crafted into an entertaining and important history. D.B. © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

Levels

  • Lexile® Measure:1090
  • Text Difficulty:7-9

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