Lewis and Clark Expedition was High Point for Clark’s Slave
by Evelyn Boswell

12/09/98 BOZEMAN -- Traveling with the Lewis and Clark Expedition gave William Clark’s slave an exhilarating taste of freedom and was a high point in his life, a Virginia history professor said Dec. 7 at the Museum of the Rockies at Montana State University-Bozeman.

York’s existence at other times was marred by beatings and a master who refused to let the slave live with his wife. York knew from childhood what it was like to be the personal property of another. Clark referred to him as "My boy" even when York was in his 30s.

"The best and the worst of a slave’s life constituted York’s personal world," Philip Morgan told a packed hall during his lecture on "York’s World: Slavery and the Lewis and Clark Expedition."

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