65 pages • 2 hours read
Erica Armstrong DunbarNever Caught: The Washingtons’ Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave
Nonfiction | Biography | Adult | Published in 2017A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Chapter 1Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 1 Summary: “Betty’s Daughter”
Dunbar begins the story of Ona Judge’s life before she is born, describing the unusual weather that accompanied Judge’s arrival into the world: snow in June in Virginia. Dunbar highlights other ways in which Judge was unusual for an enslaved woman, including her having a white father and a middle name.
Before delving into Judge’s own life, however, Dunbar paints a picture of life at Mount Vernon, describing the separation of parents and children, the reality (and difficulty) of maintaining relationships, and the vulnerability of enslaved people to sexual and physical violence, unjust punishment, extreme weather, and poor living conditions. The unusual event of snow in June causes Martha Washington’s daughter, Patsy, to fall ill and die shortly after, which causes further uncertainty among the slaves at the estate, as Martha could be unpredictable when upset.
Dunbar juxtaposes Patsy’s death with the birth of Ona Judge to a woman named Betty, who serves as one of Martha’s main house slaves and has a long history with her. As one of Martha’s “favorites,” Betty sees Martha at her lowest points, mourning the deaths of her first husband, Daniel Parke Custis, and various children. Betty is in the unique position of being relied upon in difficult times but never viewed as anything more than property, a crucial distinction that ultimately passes to Judge and informs her decision to escape years later. At 10 years old, Judge joins her mother at the main house of Mount Vernon as one of Martha’s personal slaves.
Chapter 1 Analysis
While a biography of Ona Judge, Never Caught is also an allegory about life under slavery in general, and Dunbar establishes this from the beginning, highlighting the book’s central theme of The Need to Reexamine History. Dunbar uses the first chapter to set up all of the threads that she will continue throughout the rest of the book: descriptions of everyday life under slavery; mini biographies of enslaved and free people, both Black and white, with whom Judge may have had contact; history and commentary on the Washingtons; and an emphasis on Judge’s unique situation at Mount Vernon. Dunbar engages in frequent speculation about how enslaved people, particularly Judge and her immediate family, must have felt during their lives, with the intent that creating fully fleshed-out characterizations will better communicate the reality of their experience to readers.
Dunbar spends little of Chapter 1 directly on Judge, concentrating instead on Mount Vernon and Virginia’s setting and social climate. Discussing Washington as an enslaver introduces the theme of Freedom and the Myth of the “Noble Enslaver.” Mount Vernon, situated along the Potomac River, was the Washingtons’ plantation home for over four decades. Dunbar describes how the estate spans approximately 8,000 acres and includes a mansion, gardens, outbuildings, and a working farm.
Washington inherited Mount Vernon in 1754 after the death of his half-brother, Lawrence. Over the years, he expanded the estate and transformed the mansion into a grand residence. Mount Vernon is considered distinctive for its architectural style: The mansion features a cupola and piazza, and its design reflects the neoclassical architectural style that was popular in the 18th century. Washington personally oversaw the management of the plantation, including agricultural practices, crop rotation, and animal husbandry, which was carried out by over 300 enslaved individuals who worked on the plantation. Enslaved Black men, women, and children performed all the tasks necessary to running the estate, including fieldwork, carpentry, blacksmithing, cooking, childcare, personally assisting the enslavers, and household chores. Dunbar uses this background information to highlight how Mount Vernon reflects Washington's status as a wealthy enslaver in addition to his being a major figure in American history.
The chapter closes by tying the narrative back to Judge, a practice Dunbar continues throughout the rest of the book to highlight how individuals’ fates are inexorably tied to the larger social and political frameworks within which they live.
Related Titles
By Erica Armstrong Dunbar
