York (explorer)

{{short description|African-American slave and member of the Lewis and Clark expedition}} {{see also|Bust of York}} {{Infobox person | name = York | image = York Statue.jpg | caption = York statue at Riverfront Plaza/Belvedere, Louisville, Kentucky | birth_date = 1770–1775 | birth_place = Ladysmith, Caroline County, Virginia Colony | death_date = after 1815 | nationality = | occupation = Body servant (enslaved), explorer | module = {{Infobox military person|embed=yes |branch = {{army|United States}} |commands = Corps of Discovery |service_years = 1803–1806 |rank = Sergeant (honorary posthumous – Presidential citation) }} | employer = Enslaved by William Clark | known_for = Participating in the Lewis and Clark Expedition | parents = Old York, Rose | spouse = 1 | relatives = Juba (brother), Nancy (sister), Scipio (half-brother), Daphney (half-sister) }}

'''York''' (1770–1775 – after 1815)<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Encyclopedia of Louisville |contribution=York |publisher=University Press of Kentucky |year=2001 |editor-first=John E. |editor-last=Klebee |isbn=978-0-8131-2100-0 |page=962 |first=James J. |last=Holmberg |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pXbYITw4ZesC&q=York |access-date=2021-08-31 |archive-date=2021-09-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210906110423/https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Encyclopedia_of_Louisville/pXbYITw4ZesC?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=York |url-status=live }}</ref> was an enslaved man<ref name=Carole>{{cite web |url=https://history.denverlibrary.org/news/york-american-hero |title=York: The American Hero |author=Carole |publisher=Denver Public Library |date=March 12, 2019}}</ref> who was the only African-American member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1804–1806. A lifelong slave and personal servant of William Clark, York participated in the entire exploration and made significant contributions to its success.<ref name=Millner />{{rp|302}}<ref name=Search />{{rp|152}} In doing so he became the first African American to cross the continent and to see the Pacific Ocean.<ref name=Search /> He has since become an American icon and several monuments depicting him have been erected in honor of his legacy.<ref name="York Journal">{{cite web|title=York in the Journals|first=William|last=Clark|author-link=William Clark|url=http://www.lewis-clark.org/article/3356|access-date=August 20, 2021|website=lewis-clark.org|date=4 June 2021|archive-date=August 18, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210818193203/http://www.lewis-clark.org/article/3356|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/final-years-of-york-s-life.htm | title=Final Years of York's Life (U.S. National Park Service)|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20220815090939/https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/final-years-of-york-s-life.htm|archive-date= August 15, 2022 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.lewisandclarktrail.com/section3/montanacities/greatfalls/overlookpark.htm | title=Overlook Park in Great Falls, Montana on the Lewis and Clark Trail|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20211225124042/http://www.lewisandclarktrail.com/section3/montanacities/greatfalls/overlookpark.htm|archive-date= December 25, 2021 }}</ref>

York was born into slavery in the Colony of Virginia, the son of Old York and Rose, both of whom were enslaved by John Clark III, William Clark's father.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |author=Clarke, Charles G. |title=The men of the Lewis and Clark Expedition : a biographical roster of the fifty-one members and a composite diary of their activities from all known sources |date=2002 |publisher=University of Nebraska Press |isbn=0-8032-6419-4 |location=Lincoln, Nebraska |oclc=48870926}}</ref> William inherited York from his father in 1799. He was Clark's "body servant".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.lewis-clark.org/content/content-channel.asp?ChannelID=166 |title=Fallout over Freedom |author=Áhati N. N. Touré |date=April 2006 |access-date=March 6, 2008 |publisher=Lewis and Clark.org |author-link=Áhati N. N. Touré |archive-date=March 11, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080311211306/http://www.lewis-clark.org/content/content-channel.asp?ChannelID=166 |url-status=live }}</ref> York was a large man; his weight has been estimated as {{convert|200|lbs}}.<ref name=Smith /> He was about the same age as Clark, perhaps a few years older or younger, and naturally strong.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|last=Ambrose, Stephen E.|title=Undaunted courage : Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the opening of the American West|date=15 February 1996|isbn=0-684-81107-3|location=New York|publisher=Simon & Schuster|oclc=33044492}}</ref>{{page needed|date=September 2021}}<ref name = Toure>{{cite web |title=Enslaved Afrikan Adventurer |first=Ahati N. N. |last=Toure |url=http://www.lewis-clark.org/article/3069 |year=2021 |publisher=Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation |access-date=2021-09-01 |archive-date=2021-09-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210901095544/http://www.lewis-clark.org/article/3069 |url-status=live }}</ref> His skin was dark: he was "black as a bear", said one who knew him,<ref>{{cite book |title=The Lewis and Clark companion : an encyclopedic guide to the voyage of discovery |first1=Stephenie Ambrose |last1=Tubbs |first2=Clay |last2=Jenkinson |location=New York |publisher=Henry Holt |year=2003 |pages=321 |url=https://archive.org/details/lewisclarkcompan0000tubb/page/320/mode/2up |isbn=978-0-8050-6725-5}}</ref> and his hair was short and curly.<ref>{{cite book |date=August 16, 1805 |title=Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition |access-date=September 2, 2021 |first=Meriweather |last=Lewis |author-link=Meriweather Lewis |publisher=University of Nebraska Press |url=https://lewisandclarkjournals.unl.edu/item/lc.jrn.1805-08-16#lc.jrn.1805-08-16.01 |archive-date=2021-09-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210905113402/https://lewisandclarkjournals.unl.edu/item/lc.jrn.1805-08-16#lc.jrn.1805-08-16.01 |url-status=live }}</ref> Like most enslaved persons of the time, York was illiterate, and information about him is scant.

York expected to be given his freedom after the expedition was successfully completed, in view of what he called his "immense services",<ref name=Toure /> but Clark refused repeatedly and became angry when York would not go back willingly to his pre-expedition role as Clark's body servant. He also expressed irritation at York's insistence on remaining in Louisville, where his wife and possibly children were. He whipped York and eventually sold him.<ref name=Search /><ref name=Smith>{{Cite journal |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/york-explored-west-lewis-and-clark-his-freedom-wouldnt-come-until-decades-later-180968427/ |title=York Explored the West With Lewis and Clark, But His Freedom Wouldn't Come Until Decades Later |journal=Smithsonian Magazine |date=March 8, 2018 |first=Shoshi |last=Parks |language=en |access-date=2020-04-21 |archive-date=2020-05-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200520143613/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/york-explored-west-lewis-and-clark-his-freedom-wouldnt-come-until-decades-later-180968427/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Documentation concerning York is lacking for the years immediately following the expedition. About 20 years later, Clark told Washington Irving that he had freed York and set him up in business, giving him six horses and a large wagon to start a drayage business moving goods between Nashville and Richmond.<ref name=Search />

== Early life == York was born in Caroline County near Ladysmith, Virginia. His skin was dark-colored.<ref name=Search />{{rp|142}} He and several members of his family were enslaved by the Clark family. The will of John Clark III (father of George Rogers and William Clark) states:<ref name="english">*William English, ''Conquest of the Country Northwest of the River Ohio, 1778–1783, and Life of Gen. George Rogers Clark''. Indianapolis: Bowen-Merrill, 1896, p. 49.</ref><blockquote>I give and bequeath to my son Edmund... three slaves, to wit Peter (Vegas child), and Scipio and Darathy (Rose's children)...

I give and bequeath to my son William... one black man named York, also old York and his wife Rose, and their two children, Nancy and Juba; also three old negroes, Tame, Cupid and Harry.</blockquote> The most plausible family tree based on this description and others is that York was the son of Old York, not by Rose; that Scipio (also spelled Sippo, Seppo, Sep, and Pipo, likely named the same as the Roman general Scipio Africanus) and Daphny (also spelled Dafney, Daphney, and Daphne) were Rose's children not by Old York; and that Nancy and Juba were Old York and Rose's biological children.<ref name=Dear />{{page needed|date=September 2021}} This would make Scipio, Daphney, Juba, and Nancy the half-siblings of York.

== On the expedition == [[File:Lewis, Clark, York, Sacagawea, and dog Seaman.jpg|thumb|"Explorers at the Portage", by Robert Scriver, in the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail Interpretative Center, Great Falls, Montana. Left to right: York with a rifle, dog Seaman, Lewis, Clark, Sacagawea and her infant, Jean Baptiste Charbonneau.]] York "participated fully in the journey and contributed in significant ways to its success."<ref name=Millner />{{rp|302}} Surviving records of the well-documented trip do not reveal any overt racial bias against him.<ref name=Betts>{{cite book|author=Robert Betts|title=In Search of York: The Slave Who Went to the Pacific with Lewis and Clark |publisher=University Press of Colorado |year=2000 |others=Revised ed., with a new epilogue by James J. Holmberg |isbn=0-87081-618-7}}</ref>{{rp|5}} For all intents and purposes, York's role in Lewis and Clark's Corps of Discovery was equal to that of the expedition's white men.<ref name=Smith /> He could swim, which many of the troupe could not.<ref name=Betts />{{rp|11, 40}} He was also allowed to use a rifle, something the enslaved were not ordinarily permitted. When a decision had to be made, York's vote counted equally with those of the white men. The expedition apparently maintained none of the usual restrictions on the movement of enslaved people, and while opportunities to escape may have appeared, York remained with the Corps of Discovery.

A modern writer{{who|date=September 2021}} has called York indispensable to the expedition. The journals are peppered with references to York's hunting prowess: he shot buffalo, deer, and geese alike. His use of a rifle is highly unusual and shows the trust expedition members had in him. His skill in hunting with a rifle may have antedated the expedition.<ref name=Betts />{{rp|13}} He also kept his eye out for new species, for which the expedition was searching. He played a major role in the heavy work of paddling upstream, portaging, and building shelters.<ref name=Natanson /> He aided in navigating trails and waterways.<ref name=Smith />

=== York and Native Americans === York's most spectacular contributions were with the Native American tribes the expedition came into contact with, whose assistance was sometimes very necessary. According to the journals of the expedition members, York's blackness served as a passport with them; they were impressed by such a "strange creature".<ref name=Search />{{rp|57}} According to Richard Betts, he was "the main attraction in Lewis and Clark's travelling magic show."<ref name=Search />{{rp|58}} York was a sensation.<ref name=Natanson>{{cite news |last1=Natanson |first1=Hannah |title=An enslaved man was crucial to the Lewis and Clark expedition's success. Clark refused to free him afterward. |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2020/01/12/york-slave-lewis-clark-expedition/ |access-date=12 January 2020 |newspaper=Washington Post |date=12 January 2020 |archive-date=12 January 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200112193417/https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2020/01/12/york-slave-lewis-clark-expedition/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

The following excerpts are from the expedition's official report: {{blockquote|[October 9, 1804] The object which appeared to astonish the Indians most, was captain Clark's servant [slave] York, a remarkable stout strong negro. They had never seen a being of that colour, and therefore flocked round him to examine the extraordinary monster. By way of amusement he told them that he had once been a wild animal, and caught and tamed by his master, and to convince them, showed them feats of strength, which added to his looks made him more terrible than we wished him to be.<ref name=Report>{{cite book |title=History of the expedition under the command of Captains Lewis and Clark, to the sources of the Missouri, thence across the Rocky Mountains and down the Columbia River to the Pacific Ocean. Performed during the years 1804—5—6. By order of the President of the United States. Prepared for the press by Pail Allen, Esquire |last1=Lewis |first1=Meriwether |author-link1=Meriweather Lewis |last2=Clark |first2=William |year=1814 |author-link2=William Clark |editor-first=Paul |editor-last=Allen |editor-link=Paul Allen (editor) |volume=1 |location=Philadelphia |publisher=Bradford and Inskeep |url=https://archive.org/details/GR_2478-1/page/n137/mode/2up}}</ref>{{rp|101–102}}}}

{{blockquote|[October 10, 1804] ...after this the airgun was exhibited, very much to their astonishment, nor were they less surprised at the colour and manner of York.<ref name=Report />{{rp|102}}}}

{{blockquote|[October 12, 1804] These women are handsomer than the Sioux; both of them are however, disposed to be amorous, and our men found no difficulty in procuring companions for the night by means of the interpreters. These interviews were chiefly clandestine, and were of course to be kept a secret from the husband or relations. The point of honour indeed, is completely reversed among the Ricaras; that the wife or the sister should submit to a stranger's embraces without the consent of her husband or brother, is a cause of great disgrace and offence, especially as for many purposes of civility or gratitude the husband and brother will themselves present to a stranger these females, and be gratified by attentions to them. The Sioux had offered us squaws, but while we remained there having declined, they followed us with offers of females for two days. The Ricaras had been equally accommodating; we had equally withstood their temptation; but such was their desire to oblige that two very handsome young squaws were sent on board this evening, and persecuted us with civilities. The black man York participated largely in these favours; for instead of inspiring any prejudice, his colour seemed to procure him additional advantages from the Indians, who desired to preserve among them some memorial of this wonderful stranger. Among other instances of attention, a Ricara invited him into his house and presenting his wife to him, retired to the outside of the door: while there one of York's comrades who was looking for him came to the door, but the gallant husband would permit no interruption before a reasonable time had elapsed.<ref name=Report />{{rp|105–106}}<ref name=":1" />{{page needed|date=September 2021}} (Numerous other reports confirm that women of these tribes, with their husbands' encouragement, would seek to have sexual intercourse with white men.<ref>{{cite book |pages=68–69 |title=Early fur trade on the Northern Plains : Canadian traders among the Mandan and Hidatsa Indians, 1738–1818. The Narratives of John Macdonell, David Thompson, François–Antoine Laroque, and Charles McKenzie |first1=W. Raymond |last1=Wood |first2=Thomas D. |last2=Thiessen |location=Norman, Oklahoma |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |year=1985 |isbn=0-8061-1899-7}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=The Blond Mandan: A Critical Review of an Old Problem |first=Marshall T. |last=Newman |journal=Southwestern Journal of Anthropology |volume=6 |number=3 |date=Autumn 1950 |pages=255–272 |doi=10.1086/soutjanth.6.3.3628461 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3628461 |jstor=3628461 |s2cid=163656454 |access-date=2021-09-25 |archive-date=2020-11-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201112024116/https://www.jstor.org/stable/3628461 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref>)}}

{{blockquote|[October 15, 1804] [T]he fair sex received our men with more than hospitality. York was here again an object of astonishment; the children would follow him constantly, and if he chanced to turn towards them, run with great terror.<ref name=Report />{{rp|100}}}}

{{blockquote|[October 28, 1804] In the mean while we entertained our visitors by showing them what was new to them in the boat; all which, as well our black servant, they called Great Medicine, the meaning of which we afterwards learnt.<ref name=Report />{{rp|119}}}}

:{{blockquote|The whole religion of the Mandans consists in the belief of one great spirit presiding over their destinies. This being must be in the nature of a good genius since it is associated with the healing art, and the great spirit is synonymous with great medicine, a name also applied to every thing which they do not comprehend.<ref name=Report />{{rp|138}}}}

{{blockquote|[March 9, 1805] In the course of the conversation, the chief observed that some foolish young men of his nation had told him there was a person among us who was quite black, and he wished to know if it could be true. We assured him that it was true, and sent for York: the Borgne [Indian chief] was very much surprised at his appearance, examined him closely, and spit on his finger and rubbed the skin in order to wash off the paint; nor was it until the negro uncovered his head, and showed his short hair, that the Borgne could be persuaded that he was not a painted white man.<ref name=Report />{{rp|168}}}}

{{blockquote|[August 17, 1805] They had indeed abundant sources of suspiscion in all they saw: the appearance of the men, their arms, their clothing, the canoes, the strange looks of the negro, and the sagacity of our dog, all in turn shared their admiration.<ref name=Report />{{rp|384}}}}

York is not mentioned by name, but at their 1805–06 winter camp on the Columbia River, Indians brought their women to market "for a fishinghook or a string of beads", resulting in cases of "venereal disease".<ref name=Betts />{{rp|43}}

The memory of York persisted in Indian oral tradition until the 20th century.<ref name=Betts />{{rp|39}}

=== Arriving at the Pacific and voting === On November 18, 1805, York accompanied Clark to a tree at what is now Cape Disappointment State Park in the U.S. state of Washington, where Clark added his name to Lewis's and carved in the tree "By Land from the U. States in 1804 & 1805".<ref name=":2" /> York became the first African-American man to reach the Pacific Ocean when he walked {{convert|19|mi|km|spell=in}} from camp with Clark.<ref name=Search /> In late November, all the members of the party, including York and Sacagawea, were consulted by the leaders as to where to camp for the winter.<ref name=Search /> According to Martin Plamondon II, to call this a vote, as it is often called, is to create a myth; there is no implication that the vote of the majority was followed. He calls it "polling" rather than voting.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Decision at Chinook Point |first=Martin |last=Plamondon II |journal=We Proceeded On |volume=27 |number=2 |date=May 2001 |pages=13–19 |url=https://lewisandclark.org/wpo/pdf/vol27no2.pdf#page=42 |access-date=2021-08-24 |archive-date=2019-02-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190215035233/http://www.lewisandclark.org/wpo/pdf/vol27no2.pdf#page=42 |url-status=live }}</ref> In a reply, Dayton Duncan notes that Clark wrote down the views on the question of every member of the expedition, including York and Sacagawea. This was itself very unusual. The men believed that they, not the leaders, had made the decision. According to Duncan, it was a vote.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Decision at Chinook Point |first=Dayton |last=Duncan |journal=We Proceeded On |pages=2–3 |url=https://lewisandclark.org/wpo/pdf/vol27no3.pdf#page=33 |date=August 2001 |volume=27 |number=3 |access-date=2021-08-25 |archive-date=2018-02-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180218231639/http://www.lewisandclark.org/wpo/pdf/vol27no3.pdf#page=33 |url-status=live }}</ref> Glen Kirkpatrick disagrees.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Glen |last=Kirkpatrick |title=Lewis's bones; Chinook Point |journal=We Proceeded On |date=February 2002 |url=https://lewisandclark.org/wpo/pdf/vol28no1.pdf#page=6 |volume=28 |pages=2–3 |number=1 |access-date=2021-08-25 |archive-date=2015-09-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150906133752/http://www.lewisandclark.org/wpo/pdf/vol28no1.pdf#page=6 |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Mentions in Clark's journal === The name York is mentioned in the Lewis and Clark journals 135 times.<ref name="York Journal"/> * York is first mentioned in Clark's journal on December 26, 1803, when Clark writes that York and Corporal Whitehouse had been working with the whipsaws, indicating that he was already working with the other men on the expedition.<ref name=Search /> * Clark mentions York again in his journal on June 5, 1804, noting that York had swum to a sand bar from the keelboat in order to collect some greens for dinner.<ref name=Search /> The majority of the men on the expedition could not swim. * Clark and another man said that, on June 20, 1804, York almost lost his eye during an assault/altercation when he had sand thrown at him.<ref name=":1" /> * York was mentioned again in Clark's journal after a small party including York descended the Spirit Mound Historic Prairie. Clark said that "York was nearly exhausted by the heat, thirst and fatigue". Clark said this was because York was too fat and unaccustomed to walking quickly.<ref name=":1" /> * In September 1804 it was noted that while on a hunting party York had killed an elk.<ref name=":1"/> There is no record of York having trained to use a firearm, which was not generally allowed for slaves.

== After the expedition == All the men of the expedition except York received double pay according to rank, $5 to $30 per month, and each enlisted man was granted {{convert|320|acre|ha}} of land. York, as a slave, received nothing.<ref name=":2" />

Contrary to the general belief that Clark freed York immediately after their return, York remained enslaved and the property of Clark for at least five more years.<ref name=Search />{{rp|107}} He accompanied Clark on the latter's celebratory visit to Washington, D.C., in 1807, and when Clark moved his family to St. Louis to take up his new position as brigadier general of the militia and Superintendent of Indian Affairs in the new territory.<ref name=Search />{{rp|110}}

Historian Robert Betts said the freedom York had during the Lewis and Clark expedition made resuming enslavement unbearable.<ref name=Search>{{cite book |first=Robert |last=Betts |title=In Search of York: The Slave Who Went to the Pacific with Lewis and Clark |publisher=University Press of Colorado |year=2000 |others=Revised ed., with a new epilogue by James J. Holmberg |isbn=0-87081-618-7}}</ref>{{rp|106}} York asked Clark for his freedom based upon his good services during the expedition.

=== William Clark's letters to his brother === In 1988, 47 letters written by Clark to his brother Jonathan were discovered; written between 1792 and 1811, they were published as a volume in 2002.<ref name=Dear>{{cite book |title=Dear Brother. Letters of William Clark to Jonathan Clark |first=William |last=Clark |author-link=William Clark |publisher=Yale University Press |location=New Haven, Connecticut |year=2002 |isbn=0-300-09010-2 |editor-first=James J. |editor-last=Holmberg}}</ref> Information concerning York was one of the main surprises in the letters, according to their editor James J. Holmberg.<ref name=Dear />{{rp|2}} From them it was discovered that York had a wife, and that his marriage antedated the expedition,<ref name=Dear />{{rp|98}} which was deliberately made up primarily of unmarried men, like Lewis and Clark themselves.<ref name=Dear />{{rp|59}}<ref name=Search />{{rp|104}} All that is known of his wife is that she was from the Louisville area, where Clark and York lived before the expedition, and that she was enslaved by someone other than Clark. York's attempts to persuade Clark to let him return to the Louisville area led to a serious falling-out between them in 1808.<ref name=Dear />{{rp|98}}

That year Clark moved to St. Louis, to take up his new duties as US agent for Indian affairs. York and other household members moved with him. By November 1808, Clark was angered by York's refusal to accept the move to St. Louis and repeated requests that he be hired out in Louisville or sold to someone there. As Clark wrote his brother when finally giving in, he decided to:

{{blockquote|send York...and promit him to Stay a few weeks with his wife. he wishes to Stay there altogether and hire himself which I have refused. he prefers being Sold to return[ing] here, he is Serviceable to me at this place, and I am determined not to Sell him to gratify him, and have derected him to return.<ref name=Search />{{rp|157}}}}

York was sent to work for a strict Louisville nephew, John H. Clark.<ref name=Search />{{rp|158}} A few weeks later, Clark mentions York again to his brother:

{{blockquote|I did wish to do well by him, but as he has got Such a notion about freedom and his emence [immense] Services, that I do not expect he will be of much Service to me again; I do not think with him, that his Services {{sic|ha|s}} been so great/or my Situation would promit me to liberate him.<ref name=Search />{{rp|158}}}}

Clark believed that York would not provide "service" in St. Louis, and this angered him. He wrote his brother again that he would have punished York, and that if he is hired out in Kentucky, it should be with a "Severe Master" so that after "a while he may do Some Service, I do not wish him again in this Country until he applies himself to Come and give over that wife of his—I wished him to Stay with his family four or five weeks only, and not 4 or 5 months."<ref name=Search />{{rp|159}}

York was forced to return to St. Louis, where Clark found him "insolent and sulky". To "mend" this, Clark whipped York ("gave him a Severe trouncing"). He put him in jail ("Caleboos", slang Spanish {{lang|ES|calabozo}}) in July 1809.<ref name=Dear />{{rp|204}} By August Clark had decided "to hire or Sell him".<ref name=Search />{{rp|163}} This is the last mention of York in the letters written by William Clark. An 1811 letter from a Louisville relative reported that "I don't like him nor does any other person in this country",<ref name=Search />{{rp|164}} and also that the owner of York's wife was going to move to Natchez, Mississippi.<ref name=Search />{{rp|164}}<ref name=Dear />{{rp|98}} York was hired out as a wagoner, making deliveries in Louisville; the last reference to him is from 1815.<ref name=Search />{{rp|167}} Another report has him transporting goods between Nashville and Richmond.

=== Washington Irving's report === None of the information in Clark's letters was known to the general public in the 19th and 20th centuries. During that long period, a report by Washington Irving provided the only account of York's later life. By then a successful writer, Irving visited Clark at his home near St. Louis in 1832.<ref name=Search />{{rp|71}} Irving may have been the one to ask about York, as his account labels York "the hero of the expedition", which Clark is unlikely to have stated:

{{blockquote|His slaves—set them free—one he placed at a ferry—another on a farm, giving him land, horses, &c.—a third he gave a large wagon & team of 6 horses to ply between Nashville and Richmond. They all repented & wanted to come back.<br /><br />The wagoner was York, the hero of the Missouri expedition & adviser of the Indians. He could not get up early enough in the morning—his horses were ill kept—two died—the others grew poor. He sold them, was cheated—entered into service—fared ill. Damn this freedom, said York. I have never had a happy day since I got it. He determined to go back to his old master—set off for S<sup>t</sup> Louis, but was taken with the cholera in Tennessee & died. Some of the traders think they have met traces of York's crowd, on the Missouri.<ref name=Search />{{rp|119}}}}

Historians have been unable to verify these claims.<ref>{{cite web |title=York |year=2021 |publisher=National Park Service |url=https://www.nps.gov/jeff/learn/historyculture/york.htm |access-date=August 20, 2021 |archive-date=June 15, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200615015210/https://www.nps.gov/jeff/learn/historyculture/york.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> Manumission of a slave was a formal process that required documentation. No known documents exist confirming that Clark ever freed York. According to Darrell Millner, there is nothing to corroborate any of these claims, and York's alleged desire to return to slavery "lacks historical foundation".<ref name=Millner />{{rp|310}} Clark's story is self-serving and reflects pro-slavery arguments that Africans were happy to be slaves and could not lead successful lives as free people.<ref name=Millner />{{rp|306–307}} Millner further states that it is "much more likely" that York was never freed.<ref name=Toure />

=== The Black man living with the Crow Indians === Zenas Leonard was a fur trader who in 1839 published a memoir of his travels in 1832 - 1834 with the Joseph Walker expedition throughout the upper West and into California.<ref>Scott Stine. A Way Across the Mountain: Joseph Walker's 1833 Trans-Sierran Passage and the Myth of Yosemite's Discovery; Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 2015</ref> Modern scholars consider it highly reliable.<ref name=Search />{{rp|139–140}} (He was the first to see and publish a description of the huge Giant Sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum) in what is now the Calaveras Big Trees Grove State Park on Highway 4 in the Sierra Nevada of California. Leonard reported meeting twice, once outbound and again when returning, "a negro man" living well among the Crows of what is today north-central Wyoming, who purportedly said he had returned from St. Louis after first visiting the area with Lewis and Clark. The identity of this Black man has been subject to much speculation. Three passages in Leonard's memoir mention him.

==== Passage 1 (1832) ==== <blockquote>In this village we found a negro man, who informed us that he first came to this country with Lewis & Clark—with whom he also returned to the State of Missouri, and in a few years returned again with a Mr. Mackinney {{bracket|Kenneth McKenzie}} a trader on the Missouri river, and has remained here ever since—which is about ten or twelve years. He has acquired a correct knowledge of their manner of living, and speaks their language fluently. He has {{sic|rose|nolink=y}} to be quite a considerable character, or chief, in their village; at least he assumes all the dignities of a chief, for he has four wives, with whom he lives alternately. This is the custom of many of the chiefs.<ref name=Zenas>{{cite book |title=Narrative of the Adventures of Zenas Leonard. A native of Clearfield County, Pa. who spent five years in trapping for furs, trading with the Indians, &c., &c., of the Rocky Mountains. Written by himself |author=Zenas Leonard |year=1839 |place=Clearfield, Pennsylvania |author-link=Zenas Leonard |others=More legible at user.xmission.com/~drudy/mtman/html/leonintr.html |url=https://archive.org/details/GR_2461/page/n6/mode/1up }}</ref>{{rp|26}}</blockquote>

==== Passage 2 (1834) ==== On the return, Leonard met the same man again, in 1834:

{{blockquote|It will be recollected that I was amongst these Indians once before, when some of our horses were stolen and we followed them into the Crow village, – where we found our horses and also a negro man, in the winter of 1832–33. This man we found to be of as great advantage to us now as on former occasions, as he has become thoroughly acquainted with their language, method of transacting their public and private business, and considered of great value by the Indians. He enjoys perfect peace and satisfaction, and has every thing he desires at his own command.<ref name=Zenas />{{rp|74}}}}

==== Passage 3 ==== {{blockquote|Again and again did they return to the charge, but all was of no use — all their efforts were of no avail — confusion began to spread through their ranks — many appeared overwhelmed with despair — and the whole Crow nation was about to retreat from the field, when the negro, who has been heretofore mentioned, and who had been in company with us, advanced a few steps towards the Crows and ascended a rock from which he addressed the Crow warriors in the most earnest and impressive manner. He told them that they had been here making a great noise, as if they could kill the enemy by it — that they had talked long and loud about going into the fort, and that the white men would say the Indian had a crooked tongue, when talking about his war exploits. He told them that their hearts were small, and that they were cowardly — that they acted more like squaws than men, and were not fit to defend their hunting ground. He told them that the white men were ashamed of them and would refuse to trade with such a nation of cowards — that the Blackfeet would go home and tell their people that three thousand Crows could not take a handful of them, - that they would be laughed at, scorned, and treated with contempt by all nations wherever known — that no tribe would degrade themselves hereafter by waging war with them, and that the whole Crow nation, once so powerful, would forever after be treated as a nation of squaws. The old negro continued in this strain until they became greatly animated & told them that if the red man was afraid to go amongst his enemy, he would show them that a black man was not, and he leaped from the rock on which he had been standing, and, looking neither to the right nor to the left, made for the fort as fast as he could run. The Indians guessing his purpose, and inspired by his words and fearless example, followed close to his heels, and were in the fort dealing destruction to the right and left nearly as soon as the old man.<ref name=Zenas />{{rp|79–80}}}}

=== Proposed identities for the Black man === ==== Edward Rose ==== Edward Rose was a fur trapper who lived for three years among the Crow and spoke their language. He was employed by Europeans as a guide and interpreter. However, as reported in a letter that was only discovered in the late 1930s, Rose was apparently killed by Indians during the winter of 1832–1833, which means he could have not have been the black man Leonard saw in 1834.<ref name=Search />{{rp|138}} In addition, Rose's father was white and his mother was half Black and half Cherokee, so he was not "a negro man".<ref name=Search />{{rp|137}}

==== James Beckwourth ==== James Beckwourth, who left a lengthy autobiography,<ref name=Leland /> was a former slave who became a scout, rancher, and mountain man in the West and lived among the Crow for much of the time between 1829 and 1836. However, Leonard refers to an "old negro", and Beckwourth was born in 1798 or 1800, so he would have been in his early 30s when Leonard came in contact with the old negro; according to Betts, this "all but rules him out". Beckwourth also would have been a small child at the time of the Lewis and Clark expedition of 1803–1806. While Beckworth claimed to have led the Crows' attack on the Blackfoot as described by Leonard, he was "notorious" for "just plain lying" and claiming others' deeds as his own. He was called a humbug by one who knew him: "I knew Jim intimately and he was the biggest liar that ever lived."<ref name=Wilson>{{cite book |title=Jim Beckwourth : Black Mountain man and war chief of the Crows |last=Wilson |first=Elinor |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |date=1972 |location=Norman, Oklahoma |url=https://archive.org/details/jimbeckwourthbla0000wils/page/6/mode/2up?q=Liar |page=7}}</ref>

In addition, Beckwourth was not negroid in appearance. His father was white, and the ethnicity of his mother is not known, but she may well have been no more than half or one-quarter Black (a quadroon). He never described himself as Black, and he "resembled an Indian so much as to pass for one."<ref name=Leland>{{cite book |title=The life and adventures of James P. Beckwourth, mountaineer, scout, and pioneer, and chief of the Crow Nation of Indians. Written from his own dictation by T. D. Bonner |others=Preface to the new English edition, by Charles Godfrey Leland |last=Beckwourth |first=James Pierson |author-link=James Beckwourth |editor-last=Bonner |editor-first=T. D. |date=1892 |publisher=T. Fisher Unwin |location=London}}</ref>{{rp|9}} Three people who saw him mistook him for a white man. "On the basis of both age and appearance, Beckwourth having been Leonard's 'old negro' simply does not stand up."<ref name=Search />{{rp|140–142}}

==== John Brazeau ==== Historian William Gwaltney, in a study of black fur traders, asserts that the man was likely John Brazeau, a black Sioux war leader. "It was very likely that Brazeau told Zenas Leonard that he had come west with Lewis and Clark. As far as anyone can tell, Brazeau was telling a bald faced lie, probably for fun."<ref>{{cite journal |title=Beyond The Pale. African-Americans in the Fur Trade West |first=William W. |last=Gwaltney |journal=Lest We Forget |date=1995 |url=http://lestweforget.hamptonu.edu/page.cfm?uuid=9FEC4006-CDFF-44A2-E3D69CC34C3AE4FE |access-date=2021-08-30 |archive-date=2021-03-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210316131538/http://lestweforget.hamptonu.edu/page.cfm?uuid=9FEC4006-CDFF-44A2-E3D69CC34C3AE4FE |url-status=live }}</ref> A John Brazeau was an employee of the American Fur Company and founded Braseau's Houses, a trading post on the Yellowstone River.<ref>{{citation |title=Mapping the Yellowstone |first=Joseph |last=Musselman |date=2013 |url=http://www.lewis-clark.org/article/1133# |access-date=August 22, 2021 |archive-date=August 30, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210830010533/http://www.lewis-clark.org/article/1133 |url-status=live }}</ref> Frank Grouard, an interpreter, was said to have been "the son of an American Fur Company employee named John Brazeau."<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Great Plains—II. Notes from a six-thousand-mile ramble through America. |first=Ian |last=Frazier |date=February 19, 1989 |magazine=The New Yorker |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1989/02/27/great-plains-ii |access-date=September 2, 2021 |archive-date=April 1, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210401003945/https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1989/02/27/great-plains-ii |url-status=live }}</ref>

==== York ==== The man described by Leonard, who is never named and presumably did not want his name known, fits York's description in size, complexion, and age.<ref>{{citation |title=Fallout over Freedom |publisher=Lewis & Clark Trail Heritage Foundation |url=http://www.lewis-clark.org/article/3355 |first=Joseph A. |access-date=August 21, 2021 |last=Mussulman |date=4 June 2021 |archive-date=August 20, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210820085156/http://www.lewis-clark.org/article/3355 |url-status=live }}</ref> Besides the statement that he was big, the only thing known about York's appearance is that his skin was very dark. He was a Black man, which neither Rose nor Beckwourth was. The man's success and comfort living with the Crows also supports York's identification. After his wife was taken to Natchez, York no longer had a reason to remain in Louisville, and he was quite upset at Clark's refusal to grant him his freedom, given his "immense services" during the expedition. It may be supposed that York ran away from his owner and was able to travel from St. Louis up the Missouri to Montana, some {{convert|1500|mi}}.

== Legacy == There is no doubt from the journals written during the expedition that York played a vital role in its success. Not only did he fulfill his duties as a laborer through the course of the expedition, the journals also suggest that the color of York's skin intrigued the Native tribes so much they seemingly gave the expedition a pass through the land as well as became willing to trade.<ref name=Search /> The journals also suggest that York had gained the respect of many of the men who were part of the expedition as well.<ref name=Search />{{Slavery}}

=== The Sambo and the superhero === Darrell Millner has studied how York's image has been shaped and presented over 200 years. He classifies scholarly treatment of York into what he calls two broad categories: the Sambo school, which has been the main trend until very recently, and the superhero school.

The Sambo version of York presents him as a happy slave, but, like all slaves, much in need of a white owner to run his life better than he could himself. In the Sambo tradition, York is neither manly nor heroic, qualities only whites can have. His role and contributions are systematically reduced to behavior that was considered fitting and appropriate for a negro, ignoring the positive aspects of York's character and contributions, distorting some incidents to cast them in the most unfavorable light possible, and projecting onto York unsubstantiated qualities, such as a thick "Negro" dialect and an insatiable sexual appetite.<ref name=Millner />{{rp|306–307}}

In contrast, the superhero presentation of York has elevated him "to near superhuman status and his contributions to the expedition were unsurpassed by others in the Corps of Discovery. The superhero York is the quintessential role model, a courageous, ingenious, brave, and self-sacrificing black hero who has overcome all of the obstacles that slavery and a hostile frontier threw at him. This York ultimately prevails; he is a figure not only for blacks to admire but also for them to emulate."<ref name=Millner>{{cite journal |title=York of the Corps of Discovery: Interpretations of York's Character and His Role in the Lewis and Clark Expedition |first= Darrell M. |last=Millner |journal=Oregon Historical Quarterly |date=Fall 2003 |volume=104 |number=3 |pages=302–333 |doi= 10.1353/ohq.2003.0005 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20615343 |jstor=20615343|s2cid= 165692798 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>{{rp|307}}

=== Creative works based on York === * In 1972, one of the six sections of Peter Michaelson's poem/essay "Bestride the Mighty and Heretofore Deemed Endless Missouri: An Essay on the Corps of Discovery", deals with York.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Peter |last=Michelson |title=Bestride the Mighty and Heretofore Deemed Endless Missouri: An Essay on the Corps of Discovery |journal=Chicago Review |doi=10.2307/25294631 |volume=23/24 |number= 4/1 |year=1972 |pages=16–29 |jstor=25294631 |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/25294631|url-access=subscription }}</ref> * As part of the Lewis and Clark bicentennial celebrations of 2003, an opera titled ''York'', composed by Bruce Trinkley with the libretto by Jason Charnesky, was presented at the Penn State Opera Theater.<ref name=opera>{{cite web|url=http://www.music.psu.edu/york/index.html |title=York: The Voice of Freedom |access-date=March 6, 2008 |publisher=Pennsylvania State University |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040305092354/http://www.music.psu.edu/york/index.html |archive-date=March 5, 2004 }}</ref> * A one-man play, ''York'', created by playwright Bryan Harnetiaux in collaboration with actor and African drummer David Casteal, directed by Susan Hardie, and performed by Casteal, premiered at the Spokane Civic Theatre in Spokane, Washington, on April 29, 2005. According to Harnetiaux, "One element you see is the affinity between York's African drumming experience and the Native American drumming". There were off-Broadway performances in New York City in July 2006, and a short production run in 2008.<ref>{{cite news |title=''York'' revived to celebrate Black History Month [part 1 of 2] |newspaper=The Spokesman-Review (Spokane, Washington) |date=2 Feb 2018 |page=e5 |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/84410361/one-man-play-york/ |access-date=30 August 2021 |archive-date=30 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210830155916/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/84410361/one-man-play-york/ |url-status=live }}</ref> In commemoration of Black History Month, the play was again presented in Spokane on February 27–28, 2016, again with David Casteal starring.<ref name=play>{{cite web |url=http://www.spokanecivictheatre.com/york/ |title=York |access-date=March 2, 2016 |archive-date=March 6, 2016 |year=2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306015422/http://www.spokanecivictheatre.com/york/ |url-status=dead}}</ref> It was revived again on February 2, 2018.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.spokanecivictheatre.com/york/ |title=York |year=2018 |access-date=August 20, 2021 |url-status=live |archive-date=March 6, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306015422/http://www.spokanecivictheatre.com/york/ }}</ref> * Kentucky poet Frank X Walker has written two books of poetry about York: ''Buffalo Dance: The Journey of York'' (2004) and ''When Winter Come: The Ascension of York'' (2008). According to the publisher, the University of Kentucky Press, "This collection of persona poems tells the story of the infamous Lewis & Clark expedition from the point of view of Clark's personal slave, York. The poems form a narrative of York's inner and outer journey, before, during and after the expedition—a journey from slavery to freedom, from the plantation to the great northwest, from servant to soul yearning to be free." The books were very well received: "Singly and together, these books are a great success: they portray the complex character of York, [and] they enrich our understanding of an important chapter in American history", wrote William Joliff in a review article.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Revisioning the Journey of Lewis and Clark: Frank X Walker's York Poems |first=William |last=Jolliff |journal=Appalachian Journal |date=Fall 2008 – Winter 2009 |volume=36 |number=1/2 |pages=90–96 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40934720 |jstor=40934720 |access-date=2021-08-24 |archive-date=2021-08-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210824151602/https://www.jstor.org/stable/40934720 |url-status=live }}</ref>

In his 1964 Western novel ''Little Big Man'', Thomas Berger mentions York as having possibly been the father of some dark-skinned Indians.

=== Honors (in chronological order) === [[File:Russell - lewis-and-clark-meeting-the-mandan-indians-1897.jpg|thumb|''Lewis and Clark meeting the Mandan Indians,'' by Charles Marion Russell, 1897. Left to right, Lewis, Clark, and York. Sacajawea and her child are seen from the back, in the foreground.]] [[File:Lewis and clark-expedition.jpg|thumb|York is in the canoe on the right, which is quite different from the Indian canoe on the left. ''Louis and Clark on the Lower Columbia'', by Charles Marion Russell, 1905.]] [[File:Charles M Russell York 1908.jpg|thumb|''York'', by Charles Marion Russell, 1908]] [[File:Back of Sovereign Hotel with mural and OHS plaza 2014.jpg|thumb|Mural by Richard Haas, west face of the former Sovereign Hotel (Portland, Oregon). York is at bottom right.]] [[File:Bust of York, Mount Tabor, 2021 8.jpg|thumb|upright|Bust of York, placed on the base of the toppled statue of Harvey W. Scott, in Portland, Oregon]] * York appears in several paintings by Western artist Charles Marion Russell. In the painting commonly known as ''Lewis and Clark meeting the Mandan Indians'' (1897), York is well and distinctively dressed.<ref name=Betts />{{rp|20}} In the painting ''Louis and Clark on the Lower Columbia'' (1905), he is seen from the back, working, and in plain slave clothing.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Lewis and Clark on the Lower Columbia |journal=We Proceeded On |volume=12 |number=2 |url=https://lewisandclark.org/wpo/pdf/vol12no2.pdf#page=4 |pages=1, 3 |date=May 1986 |access-date=2021-08-26 |archive-date=2021-08-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210826002734/https://lewisandclark.org/wpo/pdf/vol12no2.pdf#page=4 |url-status=live }}</ref> In ''York'' (1908), no European Americans are present. York meets with Native Americans, who are curious about him, examining his dark skin.<ref>{{citation |title=Charlie Russell's Paintings of the Corps of Discovery |date=December 9, 2009 |first=Frances |last=Hunter |access-date=August 1, 2021 |url=https://franceshunter.wordpress.com/2009/12/09/charlie-russells-lewis-clark-art/ |archive-date=June 10, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210610102545/https://franceshunter.wordpress.com/2009/12/09/charlie-russells-lewis-clark-art/ |url-status=live }}</ref> * "Bilalian Odyssey" by Isaka Shamsud-din (1983) "transfers York from the periphery to the center of the dramatic story of which he is a part."<ref name=Uecker />{{rp|472}} * In 1988, the sculpture ''The Naming of Mt. Jefferson'' by Michael Florin Dente was erected on the campus of the University of Portland. It portrays William Clark, York, and an unnamed Native American.<ref name=Millner /> According to the artist, the work stands as "a visual reminder that three races contributed to the success of the Lewis and Clark Expedition—symbolic of the first integrated society in the Oregon country."<ref name=Uecker>{{cite journal |title=Picturing the Corps of Discovery: The Lewis and Clark Expedition in Oregon Art |first=Jeffry |last=Uecker |journal=Oregon Historical Quarterly |volume=103 |number=4 |date=Winter 2002 |pages=452–479 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20615278 |jstor=20615278 |access-date=2021-09-01 |archive-date=2021-09-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210901084956/https://www.jstor.org/stable/20615278 |url-status=live }}</ref>{{rp|472}} In 2020, the statue of York was removed from the sculpture.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Oregonian/OregonLive |first=K. Rambo {{!}} The |date=2020-06-18 |title=University of Portland takes down statue of Lewis & Clark slave York |url=https://www.oregonlive.com/news/2020/06/university-of-portland-takes-down-statue-of-lewis-clark-slave-york.html |access-date=2023-01-02 |website=oregonlive |language=en}}</ref> * In July 1989, a group of statues by sculptor Bob Scriver, "Explorers at the Portage", was erected in Overlook Park in Great Falls, Montana. It depicts Meriwether Lewis, William Clark, York, and the expedition's dog, Seaman, surveying the junction of the Missouri and Sun rivers. Scriver donated a copy of the work, now with Sacagawea added (photo above), to the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail Interpretive Center, located near the city on the Crooked Falls of the Great Falls of the Missouri River.<ref>{{cite news |title=Great Falls Offers Other Attractions for Visitors |work=Great Falls Tribune |date=July 16, 1989 |page=23}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Area Has Treasure Trove of Scrivers |work=Great Falls Tribune |date=January 30, 1999 |pages=A1, A3}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Oliver |first=Myrna |title=Bob Scriver, Sculptor of Bronzes on the Old West |work=Los Angeles Times |date=February 2, 1999 |page=A16}}</ref> * In 1989, the Oregon Historical Society commissioned Richard Haas to create eight-story-high murals for the former Sovereign Hotel, which at the time it owned. One mural depicts the people of the Lewis & Clark Expedition, including York and Sacagawea.<ref>{{cite web |title=Historic Haas Mural in SW Portland to Undergo Restoration Following Critical Building Repairs [press release] |date=January 22, 2016 |author=Oregon Historical Society |access-date=August 20, 2021 |url=https://www.ohs.org/about-us/news-and-press/upload/Mural-Renovation-Press-Release.pdf |archive-date=March 17, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170317121700/http://www.ohs.org/about-us/news-and-press/upload/Mural-Renovation-Press-Release.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> * ''York's Stripes'', by Porter Williams, 1998, shows the stripes of York's whipping on his back.<ref name=Toure /> [http://www.lewis-clark.org/article/3069 link] * In 2000, Yorks Islands was accepted by the U.S. Board of Geographic Names as designation for an archipelago of islands in the Missouri River in Broadwater County, Montana,<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://geonames.usgs.gov/pls/gnispublic/f?p=154:2:3589439785990734::NO:RP:: | title=U.S. Board on Geographic Names, listing for "York's Island". |access-date=2011-01-14 |archive-date=2021-08-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210820085756/https://geonames.usgs.gov/login/index.php |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url-status=dead |date=July 28, 2001 |url=http://www.onewest.net/~inmontana/crimsonbluffs/Yorks-Islands.htm |author=Crimson Bluffs Chapter, Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation |title=Yorks Islands Fishing Access Commemoration |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110507002936/http://www.onewest.net/~inmontana/crimsonbluffs/Yorks-Islands.htm |archive-date=May 7, 2011 }}</ref> which were named for York by the Lewis and Clark Expedition. The privately owned islands were called by Clark "York's 8 Islands",<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.onewest.net/~inmontana/crimsonbluffs/ClarksMap.htm |first=William |last=Clark |author-link=William Clark |orig-date=July 23, 1805 |title=Clark's 1805 map |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723233547/http://www.onewest.net/~inmontana/crimsonbluffs/ClarksMap.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 23, 2011 }}</ref> but have since become known as "York's Islands" or simply "Yorks Islands".<ref>{{cite journal |title=Missouri islands renamed for York |page=30 |date=May 2000 |journal=We Proceeded On |url=https://lewisandclark.org/wpo/pdf/vol26no2.pdf#page=31 |volume=26 |number=2 |access-date=2021-08-24 |archive-date=2018-02-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180218231628/http://www.lewisandclark.org/wpo/pdf/vol26no2.pdf#page=31 |url-status=live }}</ref> A small tributary of the Yellowstone River was also named for York.<ref>{{cite journal |title=All in the Family. The In-House Honorifics of Lewis and Clark |url=https://lewisandclark.org/wpo/pdf/vol25no4.pdf#page=32 |pages=12–15 |date=November 1999 |journal=We Proceeded On |first=Arlen J. |last=Large |access-date=2021-09-06 |archive-date=2015-09-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150906130514/http://www.lewisandclark.org/wpo/pdf/vol25no4.pdf#page=32 |url-status=live }}</ref> * Western artist Michael Haynes in 2000 produced "Proud Hunter", an illustration of York alone, carrying a small deer. [http://www.lewis-clark.org/article/3356 link] * In 2000, a statue by Eugene Daub was erected at Clark's Point in Case Park in Kansas City, Missouri, depicting Lewis, Clark, York, Sacagawea, and Seaman.<ref>{{cite news |title=Monument to Explorers Will Be Unveiled |first=Calvin |last=Wilson |newspaper=The Kansas City Star (Kansas City, Missouri) |date=24 Apr 2000 |page=12 |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/84401490/monument-to-lewis-and-clark/ |access-date=30 August 2021 |archive-date=30 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210830151746/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/84401490/monument-to-lewis-and-clark/ |url-status=live }}</ref> [https://www.pinterest.com/pin/267401296594962234/ link] * In 2000, York was mentioned on a historical marker at the former location of Mulberry Hill, Clark's family home in Louisville.<ref>{{cite web |title=Lewis and Clark in Kentucky — Mulberry Hill |publisher=Historical Marker Database |year=2020 |url=https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=161324 |access-date=2021-08-30 |archive-date=2021-02-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210226074312/https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=161324 |url-status=live }}</ref> [https://www.hmdb.org/Photos5/553/Photo553363o.jpg link] * In 2001, President Bill Clinton posthumously granted York the rank of honorary sergeant in the United States Army.<ref>{{cite web | url =http://clinton5.nara.gov/WH/new/html/Wed_Jan_17_101131_2001.html |title=President Clinton: Celebrating the Legacy of Lewis and Clark and Preserving America's Natural Treasures |date=January 17, 2001 |access-date=2010-12-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060826131518/http://clinton5.nara.gov/WH/new/html/Wed_Jan_17_101131_2001.html |archive-date=26 August 2006 |url-status=dead}}</ref> * In 2001, York was inducted into the Hall of Great Westerners at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Kareem Honors York at 'Cowboy Oscars' |page=32 |date=August 2001 |url=https://lewisandclark.org/wpo/pdf/vol27no3.pdf#page=33 |journal=We Proceeded On |volume=27 |number=3 |access-date=2021-08-25 |archive-date=2018-02-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180218231639/http://www.lewisandclark.org/wpo/pdf/vol27no3.pdf#page=33 |url-status=live }}</ref> * In 2002, the City Council of Portland voted to affirm that "York Street", the origins of which name were hitherto unknown, is to be understood as referring to this York.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Street named for York |journal=We Proceeded On |page=40 |date=August 2002 |url=https://lewisandclark.org/wpo/pdf/vol28no3.pdf#page=41 |volume=28 |number=3 |access-date=2021-08-24 |archive-date=2015-09-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150906130605/http://www.lewisandclark.org/wpo/pdf/vol28no3.pdf#page=41 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | url=http://slabtowntours.com/streets-of-the-alphabet-district/ | title=Streets of the Alphabet District | access-date=2019-02-15 | archive-date=2019-02-15 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190215155829/http://slabtowntours.com/streets-of-the-alphabet-district/ | url-status=live }}</ref> * In 2003, a statue of York by sculptor Ed Hamilton, with plaques commemorating the Lewis and Clark Expedition and his participation in it, was placed on Louisville's Riverfront Plaza/Belvedere, next to the wharf on the Ohio River.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.nps.gov/articles/york.htm | title=York (U.S. National Park Service) }}</ref> * Also in Louisville in 2003, the Kentucky Historical Society and the Kentucky Department of Highways erected a historical marker along the Ohio River.<ref>{{cite web |title=Lewis and Clark in Kentucky / York |publisher=Historical Marker Database |year=2021 |orig-date=2013 |url=https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=70385 |access-date=2021-08-30 |archive-date=2021-05-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210506180638/https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=70385 |url-status=live }}</ref> [https://www.hmdb.org/Photos2/261/Photo261118o.jpg link] * York has a prominent place in a 2005 mural of the expedition by David McClain in Liberty, Missouri.<ref>{{citation |title=Lewis and Clark Mural |publisher=Historical Marker Database |year=2013 |url=https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=68309 |access-date=2021-08-30 |archive-date=2020-10-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201019010817/https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=68309 |url-status=live }}</ref> [https://www.hmdb.org/Photos2/253/Photo253091o.jpg link] * 2008: ''Lewis and Clark Trailhead Monument'' by Sabra Tull Meyer, in Jefferson City, Missouri.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Making of a Monument |first=Sabra Tull |last=Meyer |access-date=August 1, 2021 |url=http://sabratullmeyer.com/monument.asp#drouillard |archive-date=August 31, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210831113042/http://sabratullmeyer.com/monument.asp#drouillard |url-status=live }}</ref> Group depicts, left to right, York, Lewis, Seaman, Clark, and interpreter George Drouillard. Funding problems had delayed it since 2002.<ref>{{cite news |title=Couple donates funds for memorial sculpture |agency=Associated Press |newspaper=The Springfield News-Leader (Springfield, Missouri) |date=29 Oct 2006 |page=14 |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/84401811/sabra-tull-meyer-lewis-and-clark/ |access-date=30 August 2021 |archive-date=30 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210830151746/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/84401811/sabra-tull-meyer-lewis-and-clark/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Lewis and Clark monument dedicated |newspaper=St. Louis Post-Dispatch (St. Louis, Missouri) |date=6 Jun 2008 |page=C003 |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/84401884/lewis-and-clark-trailhead-monument/ |access-date=30 August 2021 |archive-date=30 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210830151747/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/84401884/lewis-and-clark-trailhead-monument/ |url-status=live }}</ref> [https://www.kansascitymag.com/why-jefferson-city-is-the-key-to-understanding-missouris-unique-history-and-culture/ link] * 2010: ''York: Terra Incognita'', a {{convert|6|ft|adj=on}} bronze statue by Alison Saar, was installed on the campus of Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon. Since we do not know what York looked like, the artist focused instead on the statue's back, making it a focal point. The back is "scarred" with sections of William Clark's maps.<ref name=source>{{cite web |url=https://www.lclark.edu/visit/features/york/ |title=Recognizing York |access-date=May 7, 2021 |publisher=Lewis and Clark College |archive-date=April 18, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210418092813/https://www.lclark.edu/visit/features/york/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The project was begun by four law students.<ref>{{cite news |title=On the Lewis & Clark & York Trail |first=Nikole |last=Hannah-Jones |newspaper=The Oregonian (Portland, Oregon) |date=March 29, 2007 |url=https://collegenews.org/x6915/ |access-date=August 24, 2021 |archive-date=August 24, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210824133814/https://collegenews.org/x6915/ |url-status=live }}</ref> * In 2021, a {{convert|4|ft|adj=on}} bust of York was secretly installed atop a pedestal which formerly contained a statue of anti-Native American pioneer Harvey W. Scott, in Portland, Oregon's Mount Tabor Park. Attached to the pedestal was a paper plaque describing York's role in the Lewis and Clark expedition. The artist at first was unknown, but subsequently revealed that he was Todd McGrain.<ref>{{cite web | last=Selsky | first=Andrew | title=Bust of Black hero of Lewis & Clark trip mysteriously appears in Portland park | website=KOMO-TV | date=February 24, 2021 | url=https://komonews.com/news/local/bust-of-black-hero-of-lewis-clark-trip-mysteriously-appears-in-portland-park | access-date=February 24, 2021 | archive-date=February 26, 2021 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210226025408/https://komonews.com/news/local/bust-of-black-hero-of-lewis-clark-trip-mysteriously-appears-in-portland-park | url-status=live }}</ref> The bust was toppled and seriously damaged in July 2021. A white supremacist group, Patriot Front, is suspected.<ref name=Zane>{{Cite news |url=https://pamplinmedia.com/pt/9-news/516849-413008-portlands-york-statue-toppled-amid-intimidating-vandalism |title=Portland's York statue toppled amid 'intimidating' vandalism |first=Zane |last=Sparling |newspaper=Portland Tribune (Portland, Oregon) |date=July 28, 2021 |access-date=2021-07-29 |archive-date=2021-07-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210729015916/https://pamplinmedia.com/pt/9-news/516849-413008-portlands-york-statue-toppled-amid-intimidating-vandalism |url-status=live}}</ref>

== Writings about York == There are no writings by York himself, as he was illiterate. The bitterness between him and Clark prevented him from telling his story for publication as a slave narrative. * General ** {{cite book |first=Robert |last=Betts |title=In Search of York: The Slave Who Went to the Pacific with Lewis and Clark |publisher=Colorado Associated University Press |location=Denver |year=2000 |orig-date=1985 |others=Includes an "Afterwards" by James J. Holberg |edition=Revised |isbn=0-87081-714-0}} ** {{cite journal |title=York of the Corps of Discovery: Interpretations of York's Character and His Role in the Lewis and Clark Expedition |first= Darrell M. |last=Millner |journal=Oregon Historical Quarterly |date=Fall 2003 |volume=104 |number=3 |pages=302–333 |doi= 10.1353/ohq.2003.0005 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20615343 |jstor=20615343|s2cid= 165692798 |url-access=subscription }} ** {{Cite journal |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/york-explored-west-lewis-and-clark-his-freedom-wouldnt-come-until-decades-later-180968427/ |title=York Explored the West With Lewis and Clark, But His Freedom Wouldn't Come Until Decades Later |journal=Smithsonian Magazine |date=March 8, 2018 |first=Shoshi |last=Parks |language=en |access-date=2020-04-21 |archive-date=2020-05-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200520143613/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/york-explored-west-lewis-and-clark-his-freedom-wouldnt-come-until-decades-later-180968427/ |url-status=live }} * Screenplay ** {{cite book |title=York |last=Ferraro & Stewart |first=Thomas E. & Jon |location= Chicago, IL |publisher= Red Dock, Inc. |year=2019}} * Children's books ** {{cite book |title=My Name is York |first=Elizabeth |last=Steenwyk |isbn=978-0-87358-758-7 |publisher=Northland Publishing |year=2000}} ** {{cite book |isbn=1-84197-076-X |title=York : the slave who helped explore America |first=R. W. |last=Gustafson |location=Conrad, Montana |publisher=The author |year=2000 }} ** {{cite book |title=York's adventures with Lewis and Clark : an African-American's part in the great expedition |first=Rhoda |last=Blumberg |location=New York |publisher=Collins |year=2004 |isbn=0-06-009113-4}} ** {{cite book |title=I Am Sacajawea, I Am York : Our Journey West with Lewis and Clark |last=Murphy |first=Claire Rudolf |isbn=978-0-8027-8919-8 |publisher=Walker & Company |year=2005}} ** {{cite book |title=American slave, American hero : York of the Lewis and Clark Expedition |first=Laurence |last=Pringle |location=Honesdale, Pennsylvania |publisher=Calkins Creek Books |year=2006 |isbn=1-59078-282-8}} ** {{cite book |title=York: A Slave's Journey With Lewis and Clark |last=Phillips |first=Brad |publisher=Apricot Press |location=Nephi, Utah |year=2006 |isbn=978-1-885027-36-8}} ** {{cite book |title=York proceeded on : the Lewis & Clark Expedition through the eyes of their forgotten member |first=Catherine McGrew |last=Jaime |location=Madison, Alabama |publisher=Creative Learning Connection |year=2011 |isbn=978-1-4565-8936-3}} ** {{cite book |first=Hasan |last=Davis |location=North Mankato, Minnesota |year=2019 |title=The Journey of York: Unsung Hero of the Lewis and Clark Expedition |publisher=Capstone Publishing |isbn=978-1-5435-1290-8}}

== Film == * 2005: ''York, the slave of William Clark''. 16:34. Produced for the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial by Executive Productions, Seattle.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWw4UDUlL0|title=- YouTube|website=www.youtube.com|access-date=2021-08-30|archive-date=2021-09-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210925142847/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWw4UDUlL0|url-status=live}}</ref> * 2009: ''Searching for York.'' 29:01. Oregon Public Broadcasting.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-s9CzF3kAI|title=Searching for York: full documentary|date=27 February 2021 |via=www.youtube.com|access-date=2021-08-30|archive-date=2021-08-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210827234510/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-s9CzF3kAI|url-status=live}}</ref>  * 2017: ''York: One Man's Story''. 6:56. Lewis and Clark National Historical Park.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YP99jKppyMs|title=York: One Man's Story|date=26 March 2020 |via=www.youtube.com|access-date=2021-08-30|archive-date=2021-08-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210830100448/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YP99jKppyMs|url-status=live}}</ref> * 2018: ''York: American's Forgotten Explorer.'' 18:48. Stefan Milo.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxiOcRCr2dk|title=Who Was York?|date=9 June 2018 |via=www.youtube.com|access-date=2021-08-30|archive-date=2021-08-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210830100453/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxiOcRCr2dk|url-status=live}}</ref> * 2020: ''A Conversation with Hasan Davis: York, Equity, Race and the Lewis and Clark Story''. 58:28. Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail, National Park Service.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDAqaZyk4Cw|title=A Conversation with Hasan Davis: York, Equity, Race and the Lewis and Clark Story|date=8 July 2020 |via=www.youtube.com|access-date=2021-08-30|archive-date=2021-08-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210830100449/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDAqaZyk4Cw|url-status=live}}</ref> * 2020: ''York: The African American Man Traveling with the Lewis & Clark Expedition''. 8:16. BrightRoad2Success.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gg8m8WguQI|title=York: The African American Man Traveling with the Lewis & Clark Expedition|date=12 December 2020 |via=www.youtube.com|access-date=2021-08-30|archive-date=2021-08-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210830202819/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gg8m8WguQI|url-status=live}}</ref>  * 2021: Lewis & Clark State Historic Site, Illinois Department of Natural Resources. ** ''York Before the Expedition''. 9:16.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrMtmM0gpzU|title=York Before the Expedition|date=18 February 2021 |via=www.youtube.com|access-date=2021-08-30|archive-date=2021-08-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210830100451/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrMtmM0gpzU|url-status=live}}</ref> ** ''Building the Team VII: York On the Expedition''. 8:30.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBougNalY8A|title=Building the Team- Part VII: York on the Expedition|date=22 January 2021 |via=www.youtube.com|access-date=2021-08-30|archive-date=2021-08-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210830100453/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBougNalY8A&list=PLrw3mKKLWY9Y3-b6OXW6dVeL8RmFudfre|url-status=live}}</ref> ** ''York After the Expedition'' 10:40.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIl9_CauMzI|title=York After the Expedition|date=13 April 2021 |via=www.youtube.com|access-date=2021-08-30|archive-date=2021-08-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210830100450/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIl9_CauMzI|url-status=live}}</ref>

== See also ==  * Estevanico * List of people from the Louisville metropolitan area * List of enslaved people * Shields Green * Stephen Bishop (cave explorer), another accomplished African-American slave from Kentucky, renowned as an explorer * Timeline of the Lewis and Clark Expedition

== Further reading == * Robert Betts, ''In Search of York: The Slave Who Went to the Pacific With Lewis and Clark''. University Press of Colorado, 2000 (revised edition). * James Holmberg, ''Dear Brother: Letters of William Clark to Jonathan Clark''. Yale University Press, 2002 * {{citation |author=National Park Service |author-link=National Park Service |title=York |year=2018 |url=https://www.nps.gov/articles/york.htm}}

== References == {{reflist}}

== External links == * [https://web.archive.org/web/20050824195704/http://lewisandclarkjournals.unl.edu/v02.appendix.a.html Lewis and Clark Journals, Members of the Expedition (U. Nebraska)] * [http://www.lclark.edu/visit/features/york/ Recognizing York: A Community Initiative.] Lewis and Clark College, Portland * [http://www.facebook.com/pages/Vote-4-York-Black-Heritage-Stamp-2013/156493221078958?sk=info- Vote 4 York Black Heritage Stamp 2013], Jackson Davis V *

{{DEFAULTSORT:York}} Category:1770s births Category:19th-century American slaves Category:19th-century deaths Category:African-American history in Omaha, Nebraska Category:African-American history of Oregon Category:African-American people in the American Old West Category:Crow tribe Category:Lewis and Clark Expedition people Category:People from Caroline County, Virginia Category:People from Louisville, Kentucky Category:African-American history of Wyoming Category:African-American history in Louisville, Kentucky Category:People enslaved in Virginia