Erica Dawson: Never Caught
February 27, 2018
On Tuesday, February 28th, the Washington College History Department brought in guest speaker Erica Dawson to speak about her book, Never Caught. In her book, Dawson writes about her research on an incredible and underappreciated woman, Ona Judge. Ona was a runaway slave who fled from President George Washington’s property. Dawson noticed an ad for a runaway slave in an 18th century Newspaper and became interested in Ona Judge’s story, which launched Dawson’s research. Regarding her book, Dawson said, “One of the most heralded men in this nation could not re-enslave this woman. They couldn’t stop Ona from seeing black freedom around them–it’s palpable. They couldn’t not see it, not witness it. Ona, as a 16-17 year old person, was coming of age when most black people were free and she wasn’t. But she was never free, she was just never caught. It was important for me to make that distinction.”