February 26. ?oo3
gi
be Uortlanb (Bhaerurr celebrates Black History Month_______ Page
Black History Month
A painting dated
around 1805
shows York, the
African American
slave in the
Lewis and Clark
expedition,
allowing Mandan
Indians to see if
his black skin
color rubs off.
York Slips Into Pages of History
African Americans
Find Racism in
Journey West
Early Oregon besieged by hostilities
between whites and non-whites
An Oregon Historical Society photo shows a mercantile store in
1858 operated by African American Abner Hunt Francis. Seven
years earlier, Franics reported in the Frederick Douglas Paper on
the impacts o f an Oregon law that excluded blacks from residing
in the state.
— “Who was York?: A New Look became C lark’s manservant. In
at the Lewis and Clark Expedition” slavery's hierarchy, his was a privi
— next winter. He expects it will air leged position.
next spring on public television.
When Jefferson launched the
The filmmaker enlisted James Corps of Discovery to explore the
DePreist, the Oregon Symphony western reaches o f the continent,
music director, to narrate the film. and Meriwether Lewis asked Clark
,
(AP) — A documentary film And Craig asked actor Danny to share com mand of the expedi
m aker is putting the finishing Glover to lend his voice as the char tion, Y ork's life took a remarkable
touches on the first o f his two docu acter o f York.
turn.
mentaries on York, the only black
The documentary is timely: the
“When Clark had York go with
m em berof the Lewis andClark Ex national Lewis & Clark Bicenten them— I’m virtually sure he had no
pedition.
It’s a story that's long been over
looked.
“I’m a native Oregonian. I was in
Boy Scouts and did al I these Lewis
and Clark things, but I never knew
about York,” said Ron Craig, 55.
“Talking to my nieces and neph
ews a generation later, they didn’t
know anything about York,” he
added. “I said, ‘L et’s do something
about it.’ “
B esides the d ocum entaries, nial commemoration kicked off a choice in the matter — he already
Craig has submitted the manuscript four-year party last m onth at knew that York could hunt and fish
for a children’s book on York to a M onticello, Thomas Jefferson’s and track,” says Holmbcrg, the
•major publishing house. And this home in Charlottesville, Va.
author and curator o f special col
week, he will bring James Holmbcrg,
It’s certain that York could never lections at the Filson Historical
one of the nation’s top York histo have imagined being the center of Society in Louisville, Ky. “Once
rians, to Oregon and Southwest such scholarly attention.
they began encountering Ameri
.W ashington fora series o f lectures
William Clark’s father, John, be can Indians who had never seen a
that coincides with Black History queathed York to his son in a will black man before, this becomes a
, Month.
dated July 24, 1799. The two were sort of diplomatic tool.”
Craig hopes to finish the first film com panions as children, and York
Neither a diary nor letters from
When Clark had York go with
them — I'm virtually sure he had no
choice in the matter, — Historian
James Holmberg.
York ever have been found; some
historians speculate that because
he spent so much time with the
educated Clark, York may have
been literate. Scholars have pieced
together what they know of him
from mentions in the expedition
journals and, most recently, from
a collection o f previously un
known letters that Clark wrote to
his brother Jonathan.
Journal entries show the slave
as a valuable Corps of Discovery
member. They illustrate his skills
as an outdoorsm an, including
being one o f the few members
who could swim; his compassion
for those who fell ill; his sense of
humor and sometimes playful na
ture. The Arikara Indians called
York “big medison,” according to
Clark’s journals.
York worked during the jo u r
ney as a scout, and he was sent to
villages to trade. Clark named is
lands and a creek for York, and he
was allowed to vote when Lewis
and Clark polled the crew about
whether to spend the winter of
1805-06 on the Columbia River’s
north shore or to head south. They
voted on the southern option and
built their winter quarters, Fort
Clatsop, near O regon’s north
western tip.
R on W eber
P ortland O bserver
“Well, I allow the United States
has the best right to that country
R. W. Morrison had enough of and I am going to help make that
racism in the South and Midwest right good. ..Ia m not satisfied here
and headed to Oregon around 1845. (in the South). There is little we
In a conversation with a friend raise that pays shipment to market
named John Minto, Morrison made — A 1 ittle hemp and a little tobacco.
a statement that would be recorded Unless a man keeps------(Negroes)
into history. As the two men dis (and I won’t), he has no even chance;
cussed their futures, M orrison he cannot compete with the man
spoke his opinion on the western that does. I’m going to Oregon,
movement of white settlers into the
continued y f on page A6
OregonTerritory:
by
' Filmmaker
spotlights black
member of Lewis
and Clark team
the
‘Separate But
E qual’ at M t. Hood
College honors
Black History
Month with film
screening
“Separate But Equal,” will be
shown at Mt. Hood Community
College as part of the school’s ge
ography and criminal justice de
partments in honorofhonorof Black
History Month
The film details the events lead
ing up to the U.S. Supreme Court
decision outlawing segregation,
which included the legal arguments
o f N A ACP attorney Thurgood
Marshall who would go on to be
come the first person of color ever
appointed to the Supreme Court.
The screening will take place
Thursday, Feb. 27 from 6:30 p.m. to
9:30p.m . in Room 1610. Theevent
is free and open to the public.
People requiring accom m oda
tions due to a disability should
contact the MHCC Disability Ser
vices Office at 503-491 -6923 o r503-
491-7670(TDD).
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