With few exceptions, the historical footprints of African Americans who trod Clark County in the early days are challenging to track. Through the Corps of Discovery’s journals, we know about York. He’s mentioned throughout the journals yet remained William Clark’s slave even after the journey. He was likely the first African American to set foot locally, perhaps even near the present-day Capt. William Clark Park at Cottonwood Beach in Washougal.
One notable exception is James Douglas (1803-1877). Douglas was a longtime Hudson’s Bay Company employee in Vancouver who passed for white. The son of a white plantation owner and a Creole mother, Douglas was selected by George Simpson, the company’s governor, to set up its new headquarters in Canada. He was so successful he became known as the “father of British Columbia.” Queen Victoria knighted him in 1863 for his service.
Despite African Americans being a tiny demographic of the Pacific Northwest through the Civil War, the area debated slavery vigorously. Oregon reacted with anti-Black exclusion laws in 1844 and 1849. But not Washington Territory. Mostly, there wasn’t a need. (However, the territorial legislature passed a Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882.) The United States Land Donation Act of 1853 was a whites-only opportunity. It dismissed African American land ownership, leaving only subservient labor open to them.
Still, partial footprints of some local African Americans are visible. The 1850 census lists 49-year-old Monimia Travers as a member of Capt. Llewellyn Jones’ household. Jones purchased her as a slave before coming West with the Mounted Rifles in 1849. To date, no researcher has discovered a mention of Travers in accounts of the march. The captain released her in 1851, saying, “I have this day given her freedom unconditionally.” Unfortunately, she appears in no local census later. Curiously, the census listed her birthplace as New York, which abolished slavery in 1827.