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Renewed Invitations to Go South
Back in the United States, Jacobs learns that her son Benny fled his apprenticeship after his race was discovered, and receives a letter from her former mistress, now Mrs. Dodge, inviting her to come live in Virginia — an offer she recognizes as recapture dressed up as kindness.
Benny's mistreatment and departure from his apprenticeshipA letter from Emily Flint, now Mrs. DodgeRecognizing the invitation as an attempt at recaptureMassachusetts as an imperfect refuge before the Fugitive Slave Law