Watch This Land tonight at 9p ET/PT on CNN.
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The descendants tell their story. |
This Land explores the history of America’s expansion and how ambition, conflict and resistance helped redraw the map of America. Through immersive storytelling, expert insight and perspectives from descendants of historical figures including Sacagawea, Crazy Horse, Kit Carson and William Clark, This Land brings the past into the present, showing how this history remains contested and continues to shape the country today. In this edition of Inside CNN, we spoke to Matthew Nelson, a descendant of William Clark — one of our nation’s most notorious historical figures and co-leader of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. He shares what it means to carry his legacy and how being connected to him has influenced his life.
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What does it mean to you to carry the legacy of William Clark?
As a descendant, I feel a commitment to help care for the land, waters, wildlife and people that were defining elements of his life from 1804-1806. I am also dedicated to meaningful reconciliation with indigenous communities impacted by what happened after the expedition, and the destruction of traditional lifeways that resulted. Being William Clark’s great grandson carries both pride and sorrow with it.
What was it about This Land that made you want to get involved in the project?
Before being asked to participate in This Land, I had never realized how much my ancestor had influenced my life. From an early age, I have been an outdoor adventurer and have worked as a writer and journalist with a focus on flora, fauna and indigenous people. I’ve also worked as a tribal liaison, repatriation coordinator and am now the director of a long-distance trail that helps connect people to landscapes, history and cultures. It’s really as if William Clark is living through me. The opportunity to help tell his story, visit some of the places that were pivotal to the expedition and connect with the descendants of Sacagawea is something I know now that I was meant to do.
If you could ask your ancestor one question directly, what would it be?
What I wouldn’t give for a full conversation with William Clark! I have so many questions, but most of them I feel like I know the answers to. After all, his DNA is alive inside me, so there is this deep knowing about some things that I have never read within historic journals or more recently published books. It’s hard to explain. But ultimately, I’d like to ask William why York was not set free after the expedition.
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