When Winter Come and the Lewis and Clark Expedition

"The great expedition to the Pacific 

secured our brother's career in politics 

but made a monster of his boy York.

He and Lewis returned as national heroes

and York was so full of himself you'd have thought

he led the trek"

-"Brotherly Love"

Jonathan and Edmund Clark

Had the Mandan and Hidatsa ever seen an African-American before?

Apparently not. When Clark’s slave York made his appearance among the tribes of the Upper Missouri, he was a constant source of amazement to those who saw him. Standing perhaps six foot tall, he was an imposing physical specimen who immediately became the favorite member of the Corps among the Mandan and Hidatsa. In one of the more famous Charlie Russell paintings, York stands in the midst of an earth lodge while puzzled Mandan touch him and try to rub the paint off. Sadly, upon York’s return to St. Louis, he again lived the life of a slave, even being beaten by William Clark for asking for at least the freedom to live with his wife and children.

Source: State Historical Society of North Dakota

When Winter Come retells the story of Lewis and Clark's pioneering journey to the Pacific Ocean through the eyes of York. Numerous stories and historical documents make little or no mention of Clark's manservant York, the first African American to reach the Pacific. York's journey is finally told and imagined through the poems of Frank X. Walker. 

In this collection, the majority of the historical trek is retold through the eyes of the "others" in the traveling party. These include York, Sacagewea and York's slave and Nez Perce wives. Walker gives each of these marginalized characters a voice and a unique viewpoint of the journey. 

The historical event is seamlessly  worked and weaved into the narrative. Each character brings to life a different perspective of the journey. 

Character Perspectives in the Narrative

York's Nez Perce wife show's the Native American perspective of York. They thought that he was the bravest among the war party because his skin was the darkest. She also relates that the Native Americans did not feel that Lewis and Clark's expedition was very important to their way of life, as it did not even receive a mention in the winter count.

Sacagewea gives her heart-wrenching story of being stolen as a girl and forced to become the wife of a white man. 

York's slave wife relates the uncertainties and flimsiness of slave marriages, as she is eventually sold down south, away from York.

York learns and grows alongside the Native Americans he meets along the trek. Though he is not a boy when he embarks, the poems relate York's bildungsroman. He learns how to respect the land, hunt for wild game and become one with the spiritual world.  At the end of the narrative, York leaves Clark because the journey has made him much older and wiser. York relates this in the poem "Irreconcilable Differences":

But he soon know

that he can not whip this man

into a boy again

when he stare me down

an see somebody new in my eyes

When Winter Come and the Genre of African American Historical Fiction

"We got better than we deserved from them

they got a whole lot worse"

-Like Heroes

York

When Winter Come is a work of historical fiction, which presents actual events from the point of view of people living in a given time period. It presents readers with a story that takes place during a notable period in history. 

Specifically, When Winter Come is a piece of African American Historiography. Therefore, it shares many characteristics with other works of the sub-genre. These include, but are not limited, to the following:

1. It showcases a point of view not recorded in history. 

Nearly all historical information of Lewis and Clark's journey was taken exclusively from their journals. When Winter Come affords a voice to York, Sacagewea, and York's Nez Perce and Slave wives.

2. Historical figures deal with actual events while depicting them in a way that is not recorded in history

When Winter Come focuses on details of Lewis and Clark's expedition that were either forgotten or left out. Poems such as "Like Raven from Head to Toe" and "False Impressions" show the Nez Perces' perspective of York and the explorers. "Art of Seduction" and "Quiet Storm" illustrate the ways in which York's relationship with his Nez Perce wife resembles the harmony of nature. "Learning Curve" and "How to Say Goodbye to the Ocean" shows the devastating and heartbreaking effects of Sacagewea's abduction from her point of view.

3. The historical event complements the story's narrative

African American novels and plays such as Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon and Pearl Cleage's "Flyin' West" are set in times and places of historical significance, but historical events of the periods are not the main focus of the narratives. "Flyin' West" chronicles the lives of women in an all-black town in the west during the Great Migration, but the household of women is the main focus. Likewise, Song of Solomon touches on racism, prejudice and the lynching of Emmitt Till, but these events take a backseat to Milkman's personal journey. 

When Winter Come predominately follows York on his expedition with Lewis and Clark, but the poems focus on York's character development rather than the historical event itself. His gradual enlightenment is apparent in the poem "Without Bibles"

Massa call them heathens ...

Sitting in a river a sweat

be no more than bathing to the captains

but a blind man can see God

in everything the red man do.

Traditional African/African American Beliefs

"When I meet the Great Water

she who the Raven call Yemaya

I close my eyes and feel her fingers

pull me out toward her circle"

-"How to Say Goodbye to the Ocean"

Sacagawea

When Winter Come, like many other works of African American historical fiction, intertwines African and African American beliefs into the narrative to help create an alternate history. 

In this novel, Native American beliefs and culture are used to help flesh out the characters that have often been marginalized in American history. 

The following are examples of non-western beliefs that are incorporated into the narrative:

Gye Nyame

"except for God"

symbol of the supremacy of God

This unique and beautiful symbol is ubiquitous in Ghana. It is by far the most popular for use in decoration, a reflection on the deeply religious character of the Ghanaian people

Ile-Ife

spiritual capital of Yorubaland, center of creation

Also known as Ife or Ife-Lodun, it is the holy city of the Yoruba people who live in Nigeria in West Africa. 

Ile-Ife appears in myths as the birthplace of creation and the location where the first humans took form. 

Watkuweis

"She who returned from a far-way country"

"Watkuweis Speaks" tells the story of Watkuweis, the Nez Perce woman who probably saved the lives Lewis and Clark's party. The poem states that she stopped her tribe from killing the white men because she was mesmerized by York and did not know "what destruction his death would earn us."

However ... other accounts state that members of the party may have actually helped Watkuweis escape from captivity, therefore giving her a legitimate reason to protect them.

For more information on the story of Watkuweis, click the following link:

Watkuweis

York's Adventures with Lewis and Clark

"To hear hero makers tell it 

wasn't nobody 

on the great expedition but captains.

An them always mentions Seaman

Capt. Lewis's dog

before them remembers me"

-"Role Call"

York

Politics and African American Historical Fiction

Americans -- and everyone for that matter -- are taught about the adventures of Lewis and Clark.  If we were taught about York’s adventures -- featuring Lewis and Clark -- than we might have a different perspective of the historical event.

This is an example of politics at work in the context of American History. Nearly every historical textbook excludes the majority of significant African American achievements and does little to acknowledge the atrocities of racism and prejudice against the African American people.

York’s conspicuous absence intersects history, race, and ethnicity, signals the legacies of slavery that still plague American culture, and underscores the politics of public memory.

Like so many other African Americans, York is an invisible hero in American history. His absence can be constructed as an elegant metaphor for what is at stake in remembrance.

His disappearance from both history and our minds is a tragic lesson of how prejudice causes society to undervalue a great man's contributions to American and world history.