65 pages • 2 hours read
Never Caught: The Washingtons’ Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave
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Reading Questions & Paired Texts
Reading Check and Short Answer Questions on key points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.
CHAPTER 1
Reading Check
1. What is unusual about the weather on the day Judge is born?
2. What is the name of Martha Washington’s child who dies near the time Judge is born?
3. What is Judge’s mother’s name?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. What is Dunbar’s purpose in describing details like the weather on the day Judge is born, her middle name, and her father’s race?
2. What point is Dunbar making when she describes conditions for enslaved people at Mount Vernon?
3. Why is the death of one of Martha’s children unsettling for the enslaved people at Mount Vernon?
4. What hypocrisy in Martha’s treatment of Judge’s mother makes a lifelong impression on Judge?
Paired Resource
“The Massive, Overlooked Role of Female Slave Owners”
- This article from History details the often-minimized role that white women played in upholding the institution of slavery.
- This resource relates to the themes of Freedom and the Myth of the “Noble Slaveowner,” The Need to Reexamine History, and The Vulnerability of Black Female Bodies.
- What similar aims do Dunbar’s book and this article have? How are white women portrayed in America’s national mythology? How are Black women portrayed? Do Dunbar’s book and this article undermine these portrayals, reinforce them, or both?
CHAPTERS 2-3
Reading Check
1. Where do the Washingtons move after George returns following the war?
2. How many enslaved people do the Washingtons take with them when they move?
3. What is the name of the escaped enslaved woman that Dunbar profiles when she discusses the abolition movement in the area the Washingtons are moving to?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. Beyond his desire to be at his family home and rest after his efforts in the war, what other motives for wanting to remain in Virginia does Dunbar ascribe to George Washington?
2. How does Dunbar imagine the enslaved people who moved North with the Washingtons felt about this move?
3. After the move, how does Judge end up living in close contact with white people for the first time?
4. What role is Judge expected to play in the Washington household following their move?
Paired Resource
“How America’s Founding Fathers Missed a Chance to Abolish Slavery”
- This article from Foreign Policy Magazine explores the varying attitudes of early American leaders toward race and slavery.
- This resource relates to the themes of Freedom and the Myth of the “Noble Slaveowner” and The Need to Reexamine History.
- How does this article portray Washington’s attitudes toward slavery and race? How does this compare to Dunbar’s portrayal of Washington?
CHAPTERS 4-7
Reading Check
1. After their temporary return to Mount Vernon, where do the Washingtons move next?
2. What is the name of the enslaved cook in the Washingtons’ household?
3. Which family members does Judge lose during the yellow fever epidemic?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. How do the Washingtons feel about the location of the new “federal city” once it is finally chosen?
2. What law in their new location do the Washingtons come up with an elaborate plan to circumvent?
3. What behaviors do the Washingtons engage in that allow them to believe that they treat enslaved people well?
4. Why do the Washingtons disapprove of Eliza’s engagement to Thomas Law?
Paired Resource
“When Black Women Reclaimed Their Bodies”
- This Slate article describes the efforts of Black women during Reconstruction to assert autonomy over their own bodies and fight against the way others diminished or ignored sexual assault.
- This resource relates to the theme of The Vulnerability of Black Female Bodies.
- After reading about the struggle of women like Mary Prince and Maria Stewart, what insights do you have into what Judge is likely thinking and feeling when she learns the Washingtons intend to give her to Eliza? What does this choice indicate about the Washingtons’ beliefs about Judge and other Black women?
CHAPTERS 8-10
Reading Check
1. Which piece of legislation related to Judge’s situation had Washington signed into law several years previously?
2. What is the only field in which Judge can find work in New Hampshire?
3. What friends of the Washingtons does Judge fear running into in Portsmouth?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. When it comes to evaluating the risks of running away, what comparative advantage does Judge have over other enslaved women of her age?
2. How does Judge’s parentage help her when she is in New Hampshire?
3. Why do the Black women in New Hampshire have such shortened life expectancies?
4. What ambitions does Judge have for her life in Portsmouth, and what event threatens her hopes for this new life?
Paired Resource
“Meet the MacArthur Fellow Disrupting Racism In Art”
- This 5-minute audio file (transcript included at the same address) features an interview with artist Titus Kaphar, the creator of Behind the Myth of Benevolence.
- This resource relates to the themes of Freedom and the Myth of the “Noble Slaveowner,” The Need to Reexamine History, and The Vulnerability of Black Female Bodies.
- How does Kaphar’s painting Behind the Myth of Benevolence use visual imagery to reexamine the idea of the “noble” enslaver and to comment on the unique vulnerabilities of enslaved women? In what sense are Dunbar’s and Kaphar’s aims similar?
CHAPTERS 11-13
Reading Check
1. What does Whipple use as a lure to get Judge to come and speak with him?
2. What is the name of the man that Judge marries?
3. Which free Black family helps Judge after the death of her husband?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. What false belief about Judge’s disappearance do the Washingtons cling to for many years?
2. What raises Judge’s suspicions during her discussion with Whipple?
3. What is bittersweet about the birth of Judge’s daughter?
4. What do George and Martha Washingtons’ wills imply about their attitudes toward those they held in slavery?
EPILOGUE
Reading Check
1. Who is Philadelphia Costin?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. Why does Dunbar suggest that, had Judge known about them, the events of the Epilogue might have eased Judge’s conscience?
Recommended Next Reads
Running From Bondage: Enslaved Women and Their Remarkable Fight for Freedom in Revolutionary America by Karen Cook Bell
- Bell tells the stories of many Revolutionary-era Black women who fought hard to gain their freedom, shedding light on both how the context of the war impacted their struggle for freedom and how their struggle for freedom impacted the larger society around them.
- Shared themes include Freedom and the Myth of the “Noble Slaveowner,” The Need to Reexamine History, and The Vulnerability of Black Female Bodies.
- Shared topics include book-length historical nonfiction, biography, slavery during the era of the American Revolution, enslaved Black women, and self-emancipation.
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Ann Jacobs
- In this classic text, Jacobs tells the story of her life as an enslaved person, her reasons for risking the flight to freedom, her escape from slavery, and her life afterwards in the American North.
- Shared themes include Freedom and the Myth of the “Noble Slaveowner” and The Vulnerability of Black Female Bodies.
- Shared topics include book-length historical nonfiction, biography, slavery in early America, enslaved Black women, and self-emancipation.
- Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl on SuperSummary
Reading Questions Answer Key
CHAPTER 1
Reading Check
Short Answer
1. Dunbar uses these details to create an individual portrait of Judge and to show how she differed from others around her. (Chapter 1)
2. The enslaved people at Mount Vernon experienced the same kinds of living conditions and were subject to the same physical and emotional abuses as enslaved people in other locations; the Washingtons were not “benevolent” enslavers. (Chapter 1)
3. Besides the emotional trauma caused by the death of any child, the enslaved people also have to worry about Martha Washington’s reaction, as she becomes unpredictable when she is distressed. (Chapter 1)
4. Martha Washington relies on Judge’s mother as support during hard times, and yet Martha never sees Betty as anything other than her property. (Chapter 1)
CHAPTERS 2-3
Reading Check
Short Answer
1. Dunbar speculates that Washington is also reluctant to leave Virginia because, as a Virginian, he had deeply entrenched beliefs about the area’s culture and its relationship to slavery. (Chapter 2)
2. Dunbar imagines that the enslaved people chosen to go North with the Washingtons may have been excited, viewing the relocation as a potential opportunity to escape. (Chapter 2)
3. The Washingtons’ New York estate is large enough that the Washingtons supplement their staff with white indentured servants, who share quarters with the enslaved Black people. (Chapter 3)
4. Judge is Martha Washington’s “personal bondwoman,” functioning as a sort of enslaved personal assistant. She supports Martha both personally and in Martha’s role as the hostess of various political and social events. (Chapter 3)
CHAPTERS 4-7
Reading Check
Short Answer
1. The Washingtons are pleased that the new federal city will be located close to Virginia. (Chapter 4)
2. Pennsylvania law requires that any enslaved adults brought into the state be freed after six months, so the Washingtons decide to rotate the enslaved people back to Mount Vernon every six months so that none are ever in Pennsylvania long enough for the law to apply to them. (Chapter 5)
3. The Washingtons grant enslaved people small personal freedoms such as letting them go to the theater, and they give them small amounts of money that they can use to buy things for their families back home at Mount Vernon. In their Philadelphia household, the threat of physical and sexual violence seems to be lower than in many other households. (Chapter 6)
4. Thomas Law is 20 years older than Eliza, he is a foreigner, and he already has two biracial children. (Chapter 7)
CHAPTERS 8-10
Reading Check
Short Answer
1. Many enslaved women Judge’s age already have children, which makes running away more difficult. Judge does not have children, so this is a comparative advantage. (Chapter 8)
2. Judge is biracial, and has lighter skin than many enslaved people. When she is in New Hampshire, this helps her present herself as a free Black woman from the North. (Chapter 9)
3. The work that is available to them is dangerous and exhausting, and most are poor and living in unhealthy conditions. This means that, even if they survive their working conditions, they are susceptible to disease. (Chapter 9)
4. Judge hopes that she can eventually use her skills as a seamstress to find easier and more rewarding work and improve her circumstances. When she runs into Elizabeth Langdon, however, Judge knows that the Washingtons will soon learn that she is in Portsmouth, and she must choose whether to stay or flee the city. (Chapter 10)
CHAPTERS 11-13
Reading Check
Short Answer
1. The Washingtons believe that Judge would not have disappeared on her own; they reason that she must have fallen in love and been lured away by some man. (Chapter 11)
2. Whipple asks far too many personal questions and seems to already know too much about Judge for it to be a legitimate job interview. (Chapter 11)
3. Judge is happy to have a child, but her daughter is an additional responsibility in an already stressful situation, and if her daughter is ever captured by enslavers, she will legally be considered an enslaved child. (Chapter 12)
4. When George Washington dies, his will provides eventual emancipation for those he holds in slavery, but Martha Washington makes no such provision for those that she holds in this condition. This implies that George Washington felt some kind of moral conflict about slavery, but his wife did not have any such concerns. (Chapter 13)
EPILOGUE
Reading Check
1. Judge’s younger sister (Epilogue)
Short Answer
1. Dunbar suggests that Judge worried about how her escape from the Washingtons might have impacted her family negatively; had Judge known how her sister’s life turned out, it might have eased her concerns. (Epilogue)
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