This article is the third in a six part article series that will feature famous historical black figures for the month of February. This week’s feature will cover the historic landmarks made by Matthew Henson.
In 1909, Matthew Alexander Henson became the first black man to reach the North Pole.
Born Aug. 8, 1866, Henson was born to free Black American sharecroppers before the civil war. He spent most of his youth in Washington D.C., and ran away from his foster parents at the age of 12 to be a cabin boy for the vessel Katie Hines. During their travels, they got stuck in the Baltic Sea for several months which Henson had his first experience with a prolonged amount of time with cold weather.
After working as a cabin boy for a couple years he returned to Washington D.C. to work at a department store as a sales clerk. While working at the department store, he came across Robert Peary. In 1887 Robert Peary hired him as a personal valet because of his experience with sailing. Henson impressed Peary which caused him to be promoted to a long term position. Dreams are the seeds of greatness, but it takes action to turn them into reality. — Matthew Henson
Their first expedition was to the Arctic in 1891 to 1892. Henson was Peary’s navigator and craftsman, also known as Peary’s first man. He became famous for being a participant in the expedition and in 1912, he published a memoir titled “A Black Explorer at the North Pole”. As he got older his expeditions got more and renewed attention because people became more curious and interested in a black mans expeditions. He was the first African American to be made a life member of The Explorers Club, eventually rising to the highest level of membership in 1948.
Henson got many awards for his expeditions like the Peary Polar Expedition Medal and was even received at the White House by Presidents Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhowe. In 2000, he posthumously was awarded the Hubbard Medal by the National Geographic Society for exploring new land and in 2021, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) named a lunar crafter after him.
Mylah Myles • Feb 16, 2024 at 4:12 pm
Hello, my name is Mylah, and I just wanted to say that I thoroughly enjoyed reading about Matthew Alexander Henson. It was really exciting to read about a person of black history that I never knew about. I learned interesting things about him, such as that he was the first black man to reach the North Pole and that he was famous for being a participant in the expedition. Moving on, I find it really cool that you decided to write about him, and I wonder why you chose him specifically to write about. Anyway, thank you for writing about an influential person in our history.
Gray Owings • May 1, 2024 at 2:42 pm
Thanks for your reply! It means a lot to me! I decided to write about him because I feel that he is an important person who is very looked down upon when it comes to the discovery of the North Pole, but is looked down upon a lot because he was hired by Robert Peary, a white man. Even though he was hired by him it doesn’t take away the fact that he WAS the first man to explore the North Pole and a black man, which was almost unheard of. This is definitely my favorite article I have written and probably will write, but there will be more articles so keep watch! Thank you for showing interest and caring enough for commenting! So sorry for the really late reply! (I didn’t know you could comment on the articles lol)