Never Caught: The Washingtons’ Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave

In the Epilogue, Dunbar carries Judge’s story forward to her younger sister, Philadelphia Costin, who takes Judge’s intended place as servant to Eliza Law, Martha’s granddaughter. Dunbar speculates that Costin may have been reliable or “maybe, in a fit of anger, Mrs. Washington purposely selected Costin to serve the new Mrs. Law, a duty that would require her to leave Mount Vernon” (189).

Dunbar draws several parallels between Judge and her sister, including both “witness[ing] the slow growth of black freedom” (190) and both finding free Black men to marry. In Costin’s case, she marries a man who has enough money and influence to help free other Black people as well.

Continuing her discussion of family, Dunbar describes how the enslaved people at Mount Vernon are divided among Martha’s grandchildren, making note of enslaved families who remain together after the split. Eliza Law and her husband divorce, and with Eliza’s permission, Law emancipates Costin in 1807, along with her children. Costin’s husband uses his knowledge of the law to help fight discrimination against Black people, and on occasion “purchased and emancipated a number of enslaved men and women” (196).