George Washington was an accomplished man. He served as a delegate to the First and Second Continental Congresses, Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army, first President of the United States, and on top of all that he was also a savvy businessman who ran a successful plantation.

George Washington was also a slaveholder. In 1789, he and his wife Martha took 7 slaves to New York City to serve them in their new role as First Family. A 16 year-old girl named Ona Judge was one of the enslaved women who accompanied and served the Washingtons.

Erica Dunbar, a Professor of Black American Studies and History at the University of Delaware and author of Never Caught: The Washington’s Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave Ona Judge, leads us through the early American life of Ona Judge. 


Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/137

 

Sponsor Links

• Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture
• William and Mary Quarterly
• Episode 105: Joshua Piker, How Historians Publish History (Behind-the-scenes of the William and Mary Quarterly)

 

Complementary Episodes

• Episode 026: George Washington’s Revolution
• Episode 033: George Washington and His Library
• Episode 061: George Washington in Retirement
• Episode 074: Mary Wigge, Martha Washington
• Episode 083: Jared Hardesty, Unfreedom: Slavery in Colonial Boston
• Episode 089: Jessica Millward, Slavery and Freedom in Early Maryland

 

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