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

Dunbar opens Chapter 8 with a lengthy speculation about Judge’s thoughts and feelings shortly before she is to be sent back to Mount Vernon, to become Eliza’s property. Through Judge’s potential stream of thoughts, Dunbar explains various perils that awaited runaway enslaved individuals, including the unique dangers posed by different seasons, highlighting the many dangers that threatened the lives of enslaved individuals who escaped slavery. Dunbar also considers the difficulty many Black women had of being most capable of running away during years when they were likely to bear children. Having no children yet, Judge has one advantage when considering her situation.

At this point, Dunbar specifically mentions Washington having signed the Fugitive Slave Act into law several years prior. While out of chronology historically, her mentioning the law at this point serves to underscore Judge’s escape and the perils that await her:

According to this act, a slave owner or his agent could legally seize a runaway and force the apprehended slave to appear in front of a judge or magistrate in the locality where he or she was captured. After written or oral ‘proof of ownership’ was presented by the slaveholder, a judge could order the return of the alleged fugitive (105).