Matthew Alexander Henson was an African American explorer who accompanied Robert Peary on seven voyages to the Arctic over a period of nearly 23 years.
28 Facts About Matthew Henson
2.
Matthew Henson was born in Nanjemoy, Maryland, to sharecropper parents who were free Black Americans before the Civil War.
3.
Matthew Henson spent most of his early life in Washington, DC, but left school at the age of twelve to work as a cabin boy.
4.
Matthew Henson later returned to Washington and worked as a salesclerk at a department store.
5.
Matthew Henson served as a navigator and craftsman, and was known as Peary's "first man".
6.
In interviews, Matthew Henson identified as the first member of the party to reach what they believed was the pole.
7.
Matthew Henson achieved a degree of fame as a result of participating in the expedition, and in 1912, he published a memoir titled A Negro Explorer at the North Pole.
8.
In 1944, Matthew Henson was awarded the Peary Polar Expedition Medal, and he was received at the White House by Presidents Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower.
9.
In 2000, Matthew Henson posthumously was awarded the Hubbard Medal by the National Geographic Society.
10.
Matthew Henson was born on August 8,1866, on his parents' farm east of the Potomac River in Charles County, Maryland to sharecroppers who had been free people of color before the American Civil War.
11.
Matthew Henson's parents were subjected to attacks by the Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacist groups, who terrorized southern freedmen and former free people of color after the Civil War.
12.
Matthew Henson attended a Black public school for the next six years, during the last of which he took a summer job washing dishes in a restaurant.
13.
At the ceremony, Matthew Henson was greatly inspired by a speech given by Frederick Douglass, an escaped slave and renowned orator, the longtime leading figure in the Black American community.
14.
Matthew Henson went to sea as a cabin boy on the merchant ship Katie Hines, traveling to ports in China, Japan, Africa, and the Russian Arctic seas.
15.
Stinemetz and Sons, in November 1887, Henson met Commander Robert E Peary.
16.
Matthew Henson traded with the Inuit and mastered the Inuit language; they called him Mahri-Pahluk.
17.
Matthew Henson was remembered as the only non-Inuit who became skilled in driving the dog sleds and in training dog teams in the Inuit way.
18.
Matthew Henson was a skilled craftsman, often coming up with solutions for what the team needed in the harsh Arctic conditions; they learned to build igloos out of snow, for mobile housing as they traveled.
19.
When he and Matthew Henson boarded his ship Roosevelt, leaving Greenland on August 18,1909, they were accompanied by.
20.
In 1912 Matthew Henson published a memoir about his arctic explorations, A Negro Explorer at the North Pole.
21.
Matthew Henson spent most of the next 30 years working on staff in the US Customs House in New York, at the suggestion of Theodore Roosevelt.
22.
In 1937 Matthew Henson was admitted as a member to the prestigious Explorers Club in New York City, and in 1948 he was made an honorary member, of whom there are only 20 per year.
23.
Matthew Henson died in the Bronx, New York on March 9,1955, at the age of 88.
24.
Matthew Henson was buried at Woodlawn Cemetery and survived by his wife Lucy.
25.
Matthew Henson married Eva Flint in 1891, but their marriage did not survive their long periods of separation, and they divorced in 1897.
26.
Matthew Henson later married Lucy Ross in New York City on September 7,1907.
27.
Matthew Henson arranged a visit for them the following year to the United States, where they met American relatives from both families and visited their fathers' graves.
28.
Counter later recommended to the United States Navy and the National Geographic Society that Audrey Mebane, daughter of Virginia Brannum, and Olive Matthew Henson Fulton be designated as family representatives for any ceremonies honoring Matthew Henson.