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Join us for a very special event celebrating truly local narratives of the North Coast. This film block brings together three stories rooted in coastlines and rivers as sites of encounter, survival, and ongoing stewardship.
From shipwrecks along the Pacific Northwest that reveal layered histories of inequality and cultural collision, to a contemporary journey retracing the path of York, the enslaved African American man who traveled with the Lewis and Clark Expedition, to a student-run salmon hatchery sustaining both an ecosystem and a community, these films examine how waterways hold our memories and shape our futures. Together, these films explore how the past remains present in the landscapes people navigate, care for, and depend on today.
Big Medicine: York Outdoors explores the untold story of York, the only African American member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Enslaved by Captain William Clark, York did not choose to be part of this journey, yet his significant contributions as a hunter, guide, caretaker, and intermediary in interactions with Tribal Nations are chronicled in the journals of Expedition members as well as in accounts from the tribes they met along the way. The Arikara tribe referred to him as Big Medicine for his strength and the color of his skin.
This film follows eight educators and environmental stewards as they retrace York’s steps on a four-day river trip along the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument. On their journey to revive York’s story, they explore themes of recreation access for people of color, and the joy and healing that the outdoors can provide.
- Year2025
- Runtime35:37
- LanguageEnglish
- CountryUnited States
Join us for a very special event celebrating truly local narratives of the North Coast. This film block brings together three stories rooted in coastlines and rivers as sites of encounter, survival, and ongoing stewardship.
From shipwrecks along the Pacific Northwest that reveal layered histories of inequality and cultural collision, to a contemporary journey retracing the path of York, the enslaved African American man who traveled with the Lewis and Clark Expedition, to a student-run salmon hatchery sustaining both an ecosystem and a community, these films examine how waterways hold our memories and shape our futures. Together, these films explore how the past remains present in the landscapes people navigate, care for, and depend on today.
Big Medicine: York Outdoors explores the untold story of York, the only African American member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Enslaved by Captain William Clark, York did not choose to be part of this journey, yet his significant contributions as a hunter, guide, caretaker, and intermediary in interactions with Tribal Nations are chronicled in the journals of Expedition members as well as in accounts from the tribes they met along the way. The Arikara tribe referred to him as Big Medicine for his strength and the color of his skin.
This film follows eight educators and environmental stewards as they retrace York’s steps on a four-day river trip along the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument. On their journey to revive York’s story, they explore themes of recreation access for people of color, and the joy and healing that the outdoors can provide.
- Year2025
- Runtime35:37
- LanguageEnglish
- CountryUnited States