original “York”on Mt.Tabor toppled “Scott”
Most of us remember a very special sculptural event that made its way to mainstream media 5 years ago: the unauthorized installation of a bust of York, the lone black member of the Lewis & Clark Exhibit on a plinth in a park on Mount Tabor that was left vacant after the toppling and damage of the original sculpture. York’s bust was made of perishable materials, sprayed with bronze paint and was vandalized repeatedly and eventually removed. The artist’s identity remained unknown for some time though the intention was pretty clear: The York sculpture replaced a bust of Harvey W. Scott, a known racist, who fought against Native American tribes in Puget Sound and was a strong opponent of woman’s suffrage and the establishment of high schools. Additionally, Scott’s bust was created by the sculptor Gutzon Borglum of Mt. Rushmore fame who was a KKK proponent.
Eventually, the “York” artist was revealed as Todd McGrain:
“Todd McGrain’s original bust of York, the enslaved man who was the only African American member of the Lewis and Clark expedition, was secretly installed on Mount Tabor in 2021. It was placed on the pedestal where a statue of Oregonian editor Harvey Scott (1830-1910), a known racist, once stood. The surprising appearance of York, with no artist name attached to the work, brought forth a Banksy-esque spirit and added to the city’s intense dialogues around the Black Lives Matter movement and the meaning of public monuments.
The city of Portland commissioned McGrain to create an actual bronze sculpture of York, which went up at the Portland Art Museum on March 31 and will remain on view through Jan. 31. It was decided through a public survey that the sculpture will be permanently placed back on the Mt. Tabor site this coming year…
Looking forward, David Eddy, previous PNWS member came up with the idea of revisiting the honoring of York by reaching out to sculptors to create their own version of an honoring sculpture that catches the spirit of his story. My thought was to solicit students to join in. Bridgitt Fuhnbulleh, past chair of Vancouver’s NAACP has proposed we create an event honoring York this coming February as a black history month exhibit. She has connections to black historians who could present a history piece. These ideas are in infant stage, but it is not too early to reach out to members to see if there is any interest in participating. I don’t think the artwork would need to be strictly sculptural and interestingly, no images of York are available so, like McGrain, artists would be free to create whatever image inspires them. Though the history of York is sketchy, a quick search reveals he was a “large man” and though he was enslaved, he carried a gun and was an excellent huntsman and swimmer and provided much of the game the expedition members needed along the way.
If the idea of participating in this adventure seems like something you would like to be involved in, contact me at brussellford@gmail.com and I will include you in the progress as it develops.