Ona judge book1/3/2024 ![]() ![]() In the present day, Tessa is doing a favour for her childhood sweetheart’s grandmother and is surveying a vine-covered property. With the authorities looking for her and a ten-dollar reward for whoever captures her, Ona knows that she’s living on borrowed time and before she is found begins to write down her story to share her truth with the world. Ona was determined to make her bid for freedom and she escaped from the President’s household. However, Ona was not an employee, but a slave her employers regarded as their property. New Hampshire, 1796, and Ona Judge is the favoured maid of the President of the United States and his wife. This is a great example of historical fiction revealing important truths while still being engaging to read.īased on a true story, My Name is Ona Judge is an extraordinary tale of courage, hope and love that will linger in your mind long after you turn the last page. As one character exclaims, “I don’t care if they were the noble Washingtons!… They owned people.” Ona’s story is heart-wrenching but also inspiring. Her modern characters’ outrage as they learn about Ona Judge’s life, and the lives of their forefathers, is honest and compelling. Harrison captures both periods beautifully. I very much enjoyed the switch-off between the two women’s distinct voices. As the stories unfold, it’s clear both Tessa and Ona are looking to escape. From the outset, her partner Dominic is manipulative, and their relationship is on a downward spiral toward abuse. Tessa Scott, meanwhile, is independent, hard-working and smart, a likeable character with relationship problems. Growing up as part of the Washington household, Ona travels from Mount Vernon to Pennsylvania where the Washingtons, anxious to avoid complying with the Gradual Abolition Law, rotate their slave household every six months and thereby prevent Ona and their other enslaved people from obtaining their freedom. As a child aged ten, Ona is taken from her seamstress mother’s home on the Washingtons’ plantation and placed in the main house. These two first-person narratives complement each other well. ![]() Harrison interweaves the story of Ona Judge, a favored slave of Martha Washington, with the modern-day story of Tessa Scott, a young Black woman who finds Ona Judge’s journal. ![]() When she was told that she was going to be given as a wedding gift to Martha Washington's granddaughter, Ona made the bold and brave decision to flee to the north, where she would be a fugitive.įrom her childhood, to her time with the Washingtons and living in the slave quarters, to her escape to New Hampshire, Erica Armstrong Dunbar, along with Kathleen Van Cleve, shares an intimate glimpse into the life of a little-known, but powerful figure in history, and her brave journey as she fled the most powerful couple in the country.In this dual-timeline novel, Suzette D. In this incredible narrative, Erica Armstrong Dunbar reveals a fascinating and heartbreaking behind-the-scenes look at the Washingtons when they were the First Familyand an in-depth look at their slave, Ona Judge, who dared to escape from one of the nation's Founding Fathers.īorn into a life of slavery, Ona Judge eventually grew up to be George and Martha Washington's ' favored' dower slave. ' AccessibleNecessary.' Kirkus Reviews (starred review)Ī School Library Journal Best Nonfiction Book of 2019!Ī National Book Award Finalist for Nonfiction, Never Caught is the eye-opening narrative of Ona Judge, George and Martha Washington's runaway slave, who risked everything for a better lifenow available as a young reader's edition! ' A brilliant work of US history.' School Library Journal (starred review) ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply.AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |