that would be fair if the alternative wasn’t paying Massa to pick his cotton, to then turnaround and give a portion of the cotton you paid to pick, back to him, then to return home back to a shack, that you’re paying him to live in, while him and his cronies threaten you with lynchings.
to leave took fearlessness and a desire for better even if that’s not what they got when they arrived north.
y’all are basically arguing that an abused spouse is a coward if she didn’t stay with her abusive husband when it’s the other way around.