Black explorer of 1803 featured in Play

The Cincinnati Enquirer ^ | January 21, 2003 | Cindy Schroeder

[yankeedame]

Black explorer of 1803 featured: Lewis and Clark figure brought to life on stage

By Cindy Schroeder
The Cincinnati Enquirer

UNION - Two hundred years ago this week, Congress appropriated $2,500 for the Lewis and Clark expedition.

President Jefferson sent Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to find a water route across North America.

During their 28-month, 8,000 mile journey, the 33-member Corps of Discovery, as the party was known, opened the uncharted West. The explorers established trading relationships with Indian tribes and discovered 177 plants and 122 animals.

Hasan Davis to play York

Thursday, Tristate residents can learn about the only African-American member of the Lewis and Clark expedition through a free performance, the kick-off for Northern Kentucky observances of its 200th anniversary.

York was one of nine Kentuckians on the journey and the body servant of Clark.. York, a slave, was the first black to cross North America.

Berea resident Hasan Davis, who also will portray York during October's Tall Stacks celebration, will take part in an hour-long show at Ryle High School auditorium.

The 36-year-old Mr. Davis, a lawyer by training, is chairman of the Juvenile Justice Committee for Kentucky, and a consultant to the Rockefeller Foundation. Through May, he's booked to do about 30 shows on York, mostly in cities along the trail blazed by the Lewis and Clark expedition.

Growing up in Atlanta, Mr. Davis recalled that he "only saw black folks in the history books when they talked about slavery.''

"It made it real hard to imagine yourself as a lawyer or a doctor,'' he said.

Having portrayed a black Civil War soldier for the Kentucky Humanities Council's Chautauqua program, Mr. Davis was looking for a new character to portray last year when he heard York's story.

A hero and a slave

"York was clearly right there with the heroes of our nation,'' he said. "He struggled and he sacrificed and he endured everything the other members of the expedition did. And when he got back to civilization, he was just a slave again.''

Intrigued by the fact that such an incredible story had been little more than a historical footnote for 200 years, Mr. Davis developed a theatrical show based on York.

"(York) was a slave, but he had a lot of freedoms,'' Mr. Baker said. "They gave him a gun to go hunting, and he had a lot to do with making peace with many of the Indian tribes the expedition encountered. When (the expedition) reached the west coast, he got to vote on where they would set up winter camp, way before the Emancipation Proclamation."

While the other members of the party were rewarded with tracts of land upon their return in 1806, York returned to Kentucky, only to learn that he was still another man's property. He would remain a slave another five years, before Mr. Clark freed him.

In 1807, York and Clark stopped at Big Bone Lick in what is now Boone County to collect fossils for Jefferson.

E-mail cschroeder@enquirer.com

[cyborg]

Very interesting article. I think it's a conspiracy to only show black people were slaves and nothing else before the Civil War. It gives Al Sharpton and co. more ammo. I never learned about this person in school, or the black confederate armies,etc.

GOOD ARTICLE.

[Ciexyz]

I would like very much to see this show. Also it would be beneficial for all our young people in the schools and universities to see this show. Maybe A&E or the History Channel could film it? Or C-Span could record the stage presentation?

[Redcloak]

"(York) was a slave, but he had a lot of freedoms,'' Mr. Baker said. "They gave him a gun to go hunting...

How interesting that Mr. Baker would equate possession of arms with freedom.

[cyborg]

I sure hope so. My dream would be to see black conservative resources where we can get all this stuff in one big book, Sort of dish out to liberals like bible tracts!

Seriously, did you read the end? Clark didn't need the government to tell him to free his own slave. I am sure that his heart was spoken to by God, and so freed him because of that.

[Cacophonous]

The fact is, the slaves were always able to have guns in the South...

[cyborg]

Good point.. another thing you don't learn in history class!

[Psycho_Bunny]

Given the Dread Scott decision, I don't believe that's an entirely accurate portrayal of the facts.

[Redcloak]

That simply isn't true. Race based gun laws date back to at least 1640 (Virginia). These laws were repeatedly upheld on the theory that slaves weren't citizens. (Dred Scott v. Sanford, etc.)

[wideawake]

The fact is, the slaves were always able to have guns in the South ...

Not true.

[Cacophonous]

I stand corrected. Thank you.