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York (Lewis and Clark)
York (Lewis and Clark)
Statue of York and Seaman on Quality Hill in Kansas City, Missouri and possibly, a family before the Lewis and Clark Expedition.[3]
Ed Hamilton’s statue of York on the Riverfront Plaza/Belvedere in Louisville, Kentucky York (c. 1770-March 1831?) was an American slave best known for his service with the Lewis and Clark Expedition and subsequent demands for freedom.
The Lewis and Clark Expedition
In 1804, York was compelled to leave his family and accompany Clark and 40 others on the Lewis and Clark Expedition. The expedition’s journals present York as a large, strong man who shared the duties and risks of the expedition in full.[4] He was the only African American member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, and in the wilderness served as an equal member, with freedoms and responsibilities unlike back East. The assignments given him, as recorded in the journals, attest to his skill in scouting, hunting and field medicine. When the expedition reached the Pacific
Early life
York, his father (also known as York), his mother Rose and younger sister and brother Nancy and Juba, were slaves of the Clark family.[1] York was born in Caroline County near Ladysmith, Virginia. He was William Clark’s servant from boyhood, and was left to William in his father’s will.[2] He had a wife,
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Ocean, York voted along with the rest as to where the Expedition would build winter quarters. Most significantly, at a time in which slaves were forbidden to carry weapons, York not only carried a firearm but also frequently shot game such as buffalo. Historian Robert B. Betts speculates that the freedom York had during the Lewis and Clark expedition made resuming enslavement unbearable.[5] After the expedition returned to the United States, every other member received money and land for their services. York received nothing, since as a slave he was considered mere property. York apparently asked Clark for his freedom based upon his good services during the expedition. Failing that, York pleaded to be reunited with his wife, who was owned by a man in Louisville; he even offered to work in Louisville and send Clark all his earnings. Clark refused, pleaded financial difficulties, although he let York send a couple of buffalo robes to his wife and, a couple of years later, visit her for a few weeks. Clark’s attitude is recorded in letters to his brother. When York returned from his visit to his wife, Clark considered him still "insolent and sulky" and disciplined him with beatings. He considered selling York in New Orleans, or hiring him out to a "severe master". York continued demanding freedom, Clark hired him out to others. York’s eventual fate is not clear. One story is that Clark set him free sometime after 1810 and set him up in business hauling freight; another is that York was indeed a drayer but still a slave. Washington Irving has written that Clark told him in 1832 that York failed in business because he didn’t like the responsibilities of being free, and had died of cholera while trying to rejoin Clark in St. Louis. Betts hints that this story is implausible and more likely reflects Clark’s belief that slaves were happier under the firm hand of a master. Historian Áhati N. N. Touré suggests another possibility: that York simply refused to return to Clark, and escaped to freedom. Betts cites a witness who met with an African man living among the Crows in north-central Wyoming, who boasted in 1834 of having escaped from slavery after participating in the Lewis and Clark Expedition.
York (Lewis and Clark)
Legacy
A statue of York, by sculptor Ed Hamilton, with plaques commemorating the Lewis and Clark Expedition and his participation in it, stands at Louisville’s Riverfront Plaza/ Belvedere, next to the wharf on the Ohio River. The opera "York" (composer Bruce Trinkley and librettist Jason Charnesky ), based on York’s life, was composed for the first international conference on the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial and performed at Penn State Opera Theatre.[6]
References
[1] Áhati N. N. Touré (April, 2006). "Fallout over Freedom". Lewis and Clark.org. http://www.lewis-clark.org/content/ content-channel.asp?ChannelID=166. Retrieved on March 06 2008. [2] English, 49 [3] "The Lewis and Clark Journey of Discovery". United States National Park Service. April, 2006. http://www.nps.gov/ archive/jeff/LewisClark2/ CorpsOfDiscovery/TheOthers/Civilians/ York.htm. Retrieved on March 06 2008. [4] "Lewis and Clark Journals (citations to "York")". Lewis and Clark.org. http://lewisandclarkjournals.unl.edu/ namesindex/ index.php?name=York#York. Retrieved on March 07 2008. [5] *Robert Betts (1985). In Search of York: The Slave Who Went to the Pacific with Lewis and Clark. Colorado Associated University Press. ISBN 0-8708-1714-0. [6] "York: The Voice of Freedom". Pennsylvania State University. http://www.music.psu.edu/York/ index.html. Retrieved on March 06 2008. • "York". The Encyclopedia of Louisville. 2001. • “York: The Voice of Freedom” : http://www.truveo.com/York-Voice-ofFreedom/id/386811679 • English, William Hayden. Conquest of the Country Northwest of the River Ohio, 1778–1783, and Life of Gen. George Rogers Clark. 2 volumes. Indianapolis: Bowen-Merrill, 1896.
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
York (Lewis and Clark)
• Lewis and Clark Journals, Members of the Expedition (U. Nebraska) • Who was York? • York (Lewis and Clark) at Find A Grave • Lewis and Clark website @ PBS [1] • York of the Corps of Discovery Darrell M. Millner, Oregon Historical Quarterly 104.3 (Fall 2003) • Searching for York, Oregon Experience (Oregon Public Broadcasting)
See also
• List of Louisvillians • Timeline of Racial Tension in Omaha, Nebraska
External links
• Clark’s Unrepentant Captive
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/York_(Lewis_and_Clark)" Categories: 18th-century births, 19th-century deaths, African Americans, American slaves, Lewis and Clark Expedition people, People from Louisville, Kentucky, People from Caroline County, Virginia This page was last modified on 18 May 2009, at 12:55 (UTC). All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. (See Copyrights for details.) Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a U.S. registered 501(c)(3) taxdeductible nonprofit charity. Privacy policy About Wikipedia Disclaimers
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