Ujamaa

• Oct. 20, 2008 - York

I just finished reading this book to N. I rather enjoyed the book more than N did. This is about a Black Slave who was on the Lewis and Clark Expedition. I had never heard of this story until another homeschooling mom was on her across the United States travels and sent N. a York postcard from Missouri. Since Black history is our main American History studies, I decided to go to the library and find some books on him. York was a slave to Clark. And since Clark went on this expedition, York had no choice but to go on this expedition. This was quite a trip for them.

Since I have a desire to take N on an across-the-country trip, this sounds like a good trip to plan for. http://www.lewisandclarktrail.com/ . I couldn't imagine taking this trip by boat. This book is one of my favorite childrens' book.

Comments

• Oct. 23, 2008 - Library?

Posted by Anonymous

C -
Did you find this book at the library? We haven't seen that one yet. (Can you believe it?) Did it talk much about what happened to York upon his return, and how LONG he had to wait for freedom after ALL that work, and relative freedom, along the L&C Trail? So sad people would treat each other with such disrespect! :(

Jen
jenpb.blogspot.com

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• Oct. 24, 2008 - Freed or not?

Posted by Anonymous

Interesting thought - that York wasn't ever really freed. According to everything we'd read until this evening, York did get his freedom, but not until TEN YEARS after the journey! :( Still, who wrote this history, and what part is true or not true? THIS is the dilemma in teaching history, isn't it?

Here's a bit from PBS, "But when York returned to daily life, he again became a slave. He asked Clark for his freedom, or to be hired out near Louisville to be closer to his wife, who had a different owner. At first, Clark refused, but in 1809, he sent York to Kentucky.

Eventually, at least 10 years after the expedition, Clark granted York his freedom. York went into the freighting business in Kentucky and Tennessee, and purportedly died of cholera sometime before 1832." You can read more about him at this link:

http://www.pbs.org/lewisandclark/inside/york.html

And from TIME:

http://www.time.com/time/2002/lewis_clark/lyork.html

Then again, there are some scholars who believe that while Clark did send York away, he may never have actually FREED him. There's a great discussion of the twisted history here:

http://tinyurl.com/5tnawa

Ain't history grand?

Jen
jenpb.blogspot.com

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