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.
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!