Some Of Our History

I heard a report this morning on NPR about a Black man that accompanied the Lewis/Clark expedition. I missed the man's name, but Clark wrote about him in his diary of the expedition, otherwise the Black man had been ignored by history.

This man was a slave that grew up with and was Clark's playmate. At the age of 12, as society dictated, their relationship changed from playmates to master servant. When Clark went on the expedition, he took his slave with him.

This Black man is believed to have been the first Black in the western US. During the expedition, the slave pretty much gained his freedom in that he had votes in which way the group went and where they camped. During the expedition, he was especially useful in regards to dealing with the native populations that they encountered, since most natives had never seen a Black man.

However, upon their return, while the other members of the expedition received double pay and land grants, he was returned to slavery. {So much for equality and/or gratitude}

This explorer is now being recognized with a statute in a river basin facing west.