York

York was born into slavery, the property of the Clark family of Virginia, and was given to William Clark as a personal servant while both were still boys. When Clark was chosen to co-lead the Corps of Discovery west to the Pacific in 1804, he brought York along, and York became a full working member of an expedition that depended on every hand it had.

He hunted game, gathered plants, nursed sick men, and swam out to save supplies when boats capsized. Among the Native nations the expedition met, many of whom had never seen a Black man, York's size and dark skin drew curiosity rather than the fear or condescension often shown to Clark; some groups treated him as a figure of particular importance. When the party held a vote in 1805 on where to make winter camp, York's opinion was counted alongside every other member's, including that of Sacagawea, an extraordinary thing for an enslaved man to be granted at the time.

The expedition returned in 1806 to praise and land grants for its members. York received nothing but continued bondage. He asked Clark for his freedom and to be allowed to live near his wife, who was enslaved elsewhere; Clark refused for years, and their relationship soured badly. Clark eventually freed him, by most accounts around 1816, and later claimed, without proof, that York had gone into business and died of cholera. What actually became of him afterward is not reliably known.