William Montgomery convinces the Black residents of Cross Anchor to follow him into the mountains to set up a new community. Why do you think they trusted him? Did they have any choice but to leave, in your opinion? What would you have done in their place?
William was an outspoken, and confident. The book mentions he came from “warriors” and that also would make him a natural leader. He was also fair and community minded. It reminds me of a Kibbutz in Israel where the community works as a whole. Sharing all they have with each other. I believe they did have a choice whether to leave or not, and my choice would be to leave too because I would want to get away from any reminders of being a slave.
I think they had no other choice but to trust him and hope he would not lead them into danger. Staying in Cross Anchor would not be safe. They were very brave to go into the unknown.
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The people really respected him. He was a leader. He knew how to gather people around him. He was intelligent and a larger than life type person. They certainly needed their own community, a safe place. I would have followed him!
He was a charismatic leader that spoke about how life was like in Africa and they were descendents of proud people. Like would not be easy if they stayed. I would have left with them and wanted for a better life.
They didn’t have much of a choice. Live in constant fear of dying or believing in God and moving forward. I can only hope that I would get away,if I could.
A combination of things drove the people up into the mountains. Their lives, simply by being black and ex-slaves, were under threat of danger at any time, they had difficulty establishing a livelihood, they were denied basic rights of citizenship, etc. William was a charismatic person who came along at a time when they were looking for a way to improve their circumstances. Thankfully, he had their best interests at heart, rather than being a "Jim Jones.”