Ok. LISTEN UP! Being that this is Black History Month & I am an Afro-American poet/artist/whatever you want to call me, it is incumbent upon me to represent one of American history's greatest achievers of the last century. So without further ado, I present to you Matthew Henson!
-Obsidian
Matthew A. Henson
Born August 8, 1866
Nanjemoy, Maryland, USA
Died March 9, 1955 (aged 88)
The Bronx, New York, USA
Matthew Alexander Henson (August 8, 1866 – March 9, 1955) was the first African American Arctic explorer, an associate of Robert Peary on seven voyages over a period of nearly twenty-three years. They made six voyages and spent a total of eighteen years in expeditions. Henson served as a navigator and craftsman, traded with Inuit and learned their language, and was known as Peary's "first man" for these arduous travels. During their 1909 expedition to Greenland, Henson accompanied Peary in the small party, including four Inuit men, that has been recognized as the first to reach the Geographic North Pole (although this has also been subject to dispute). Henson was invited in 1937 as a member of The Explorers Club due to his achievement and was the first African American to be accepted.
Based on research into Peary's diary and astronomical observations, Wally Herbert, a later Arctic explorer who reached the North Pole in 1969, concluded in 1989 that Peary's team had not reached the pole. This has been widely accepted, but some continue to dispute this conclusion.
In the late 20th century, S. Allen Counter did research about Henson's contributions and argued for more national recognition of the explorer. By presidential order, in 1988, the remains of Henson and his wife were reinterred with a monument at Arlington National Cemetery, near that for Peary and his wife. Henson has received numerous posthumous honors since then.
Henson was born on a farm in Nanjemoy, Maryland on August 8, 1866 to sharecroppers who had been free people of color before the American Civil War.[1][2] He had an older sister S., born in 1864, and two younger sisters Eliza and S.[3] Matthew's mother died when he was two. His father Lemuel remarried to a woman named Caroline and had additional children with her, including daughters and a son.
After his father died, Matthew was sent to live with his uncle in Washington, D.C. He paid for a few years of education for the boy, and died.[1] After his uncle's death, Henson got a job as a dishwasher at "Janey's Home-Cooked Meals Cafe".
At the age of twelve, the youth made his way to Baltimore, Maryland, where he went to sea as a cabin boy on a merchant ship named Katie Hines. Captain Childs took Henson under his wing, treating him like a son and teaching him to read and write. Childs and Henson were close for a long time. Henson sailed around the world with him for the next several years. He visited places such as China, Japan, the Philippines, France, Africa, and southern Russia. He became self-taught and a skilled navigator. After Childs died about 1883, Henson worked as a seaman and then on land.
While working at a clothing store in Washington, D.C., in November 1887, Henson met Commander Robert E. Peary. Learning of Henson's sea experience, Peary recruited him as an aide for his planned voyage and surveying expedition to Nicaragua, with four other men. Peary supervised 45 engineers on the canal survey in Nicaragua. Impressed with Henson’s seamanship on that voyage, Peary recruited him as a colleague and he became "first man" in his expeditions.
After that, for more than 20 years, their expeditions were to the Arctic. Henson traded with the Inuit and mastered their language; he also developed skills in driving the dog sleds and training dog teams in the Inuit way. He was a skilled craftsman, often coming up with solutions for what they needed in the harsh Arctic conditions; they learned to build igloos out of snow, for mobile housing as they traveled. He and Peary with their teams covered thousands of miles in dog sleds and reached the "Farthest North" point of any Arctic expedition in 1906.
In 1908–1909, Peary mounted his eighth attempt to reach the North Pole. The expedition was large, as Peary planned to use his system of setting up cached supplies along the way. When he and Henson boarded his ship Roosevelt, leaving Greenland on August 18, 1909, they were accompanied by "22 Inuit men, 17 Inuit women, 10 children, 246 dogs, 70 tons (64 metric tons) of whale meat from Labrador, the meat and blubber of 50 walruses, hunting equipment, and tons of coal. In February, Henson and Peary departed their anchored ship at Ellesmere Island's Cape Sheridan, with the Inuit men and 130 dogs working to lay a trail and supplies along the route to the Pole."
Peary selected Henson and four Inuit as part of the team of six who would make the final run to the Pole. Before the goal was reached, Peary could no longer continue on foot and rode in a dog sled. Various accounts say he was ill, exhausted, or had frozen toes. He sent Henson on ahead as a scout.
In a newspaper interview, Henson later said: “I was in the lead that had overshot the mark a couple of miles. We went back then and I could see that my footprints were the first at the spot.”Henson proceeded to plant the American flag.
In 1912 Matthew Henson published his memoir about his arctic explorations, A Negro Explorer at the North Pole. In his own account, he describes himself as a "general assistant, skilled craftsperson, interpreter [he had learned the Inuit language], and laborer." He later collaborated with Bradley Robinson on his 1947 biography, Dark Companion, which told more about his life.
Although Admiral Peary received many honors for leading the expedition to the Pole, Henson's contributions were largely ignored during the following decades. He was honored at dinners within the African-American community in 1909. He spent most of the next thirty years working on staff in the U.S. Customs House in New York, located south of the Bowling Green.
However, he was admitted as a member to the prestigious Explorers Club in New York City in 1937, and made an honorary member in 1948. In 1944 Congress awarded him and other Peary aides each with a duplicate of the silver medal given to Peary. Presidents Truman and Eisenhower both honored him before he died in 1955.
Henson died in the Bronx on March 9, 1955, at the age of 88. He was buried at Woodlawn Cemetery and survived by his wife Lucy. After her death in 1968, she was buried with him.
-Obsidian
Matthew A. Henson
Born August 8, 1866
Nanjemoy, Maryland, USA
Died March 9, 1955 (aged 88)
The Bronx, New York, USA
Matthew Alexander Henson (August 8, 1866 – March 9, 1955) was the first African American Arctic explorer, an associate of Robert Peary on seven voyages over a period of nearly twenty-three years. They made six voyages and spent a total of eighteen years in expeditions. Henson served as a navigator and craftsman, traded with Inuit and learned their language, and was known as Peary's "first man" for these arduous travels. During their 1909 expedition to Greenland, Henson accompanied Peary in the small party, including four Inuit men, that has been recognized as the first to reach the Geographic North Pole (although this has also been subject to dispute). Henson was invited in 1937 as a member of The Explorers Club due to his achievement and was the first African American to be accepted.
Based on research into Peary's diary and astronomical observations, Wally Herbert, a later Arctic explorer who reached the North Pole in 1969, concluded in 1989 that Peary's team had not reached the pole. This has been widely accepted, but some continue to dispute this conclusion.
In the late 20th century, S. Allen Counter did research about Henson's contributions and argued for more national recognition of the explorer. By presidential order, in 1988, the remains of Henson and his wife were reinterred with a monument at Arlington National Cemetery, near that for Peary and his wife. Henson has received numerous posthumous honors since then.
Henson was born on a farm in Nanjemoy, Maryland on August 8, 1866 to sharecroppers who had been free people of color before the American Civil War.[1][2] He had an older sister S., born in 1864, and two younger sisters Eliza and S.[3] Matthew's mother died when he was two. His father Lemuel remarried to a woman named Caroline and had additional children with her, including daughters and a son.
After his father died, Matthew was sent to live with his uncle in Washington, D.C. He paid for a few years of education for the boy, and died.[1] After his uncle's death, Henson got a job as a dishwasher at "Janey's Home-Cooked Meals Cafe".
At the age of twelve, the youth made his way to Baltimore, Maryland, where he went to sea as a cabin boy on a merchant ship named Katie Hines. Captain Childs took Henson under his wing, treating him like a son and teaching him to read and write. Childs and Henson were close for a long time. Henson sailed around the world with him for the next several years. He visited places such as China, Japan, the Philippines, France, Africa, and southern Russia. He became self-taught and a skilled navigator. After Childs died about 1883, Henson worked as a seaman and then on land.
While working at a clothing store in Washington, D.C., in November 1887, Henson met Commander Robert E. Peary. Learning of Henson's sea experience, Peary recruited him as an aide for his planned voyage and surveying expedition to Nicaragua, with four other men. Peary supervised 45 engineers on the canal survey in Nicaragua. Impressed with Henson’s seamanship on that voyage, Peary recruited him as a colleague and he became "first man" in his expeditions.
After that, for more than 20 years, their expeditions were to the Arctic. Henson traded with the Inuit and mastered their language; he also developed skills in driving the dog sleds and training dog teams in the Inuit way. He was a skilled craftsman, often coming up with solutions for what they needed in the harsh Arctic conditions; they learned to build igloos out of snow, for mobile housing as they traveled. He and Peary with their teams covered thousands of miles in dog sleds and reached the "Farthest North" point of any Arctic expedition in 1906.
In 1908–1909, Peary mounted his eighth attempt to reach the North Pole. The expedition was large, as Peary planned to use his system of setting up cached supplies along the way. When he and Henson boarded his ship Roosevelt, leaving Greenland on August 18, 1909, they were accompanied by "22 Inuit men, 17 Inuit women, 10 children, 246 dogs, 70 tons (64 metric tons) of whale meat from Labrador, the meat and blubber of 50 walruses, hunting equipment, and tons of coal. In February, Henson and Peary departed their anchored ship at Ellesmere Island's Cape Sheridan, with the Inuit men and 130 dogs working to lay a trail and supplies along the route to the Pole."
Peary selected Henson and four Inuit as part of the team of six who would make the final run to the Pole. Before the goal was reached, Peary could no longer continue on foot and rode in a dog sled. Various accounts say he was ill, exhausted, or had frozen toes. He sent Henson on ahead as a scout.
In a newspaper interview, Henson later said: “I was in the lead that had overshot the mark a couple of miles. We went back then and I could see that my footprints were the first at the spot.”Henson proceeded to plant the American flag.
In 1912 Matthew Henson published his memoir about his arctic explorations, A Negro Explorer at the North Pole. In his own account, he describes himself as a "general assistant, skilled craftsperson, interpreter [he had learned the Inuit language], and laborer." He later collaborated with Bradley Robinson on his 1947 biography, Dark Companion, which told more about his life.
Although Admiral Peary received many honors for leading the expedition to the Pole, Henson's contributions were largely ignored during the following decades. He was honored at dinners within the African-American community in 1909. He spent most of the next thirty years working on staff in the U.S. Customs House in New York, located south of the Bowling Green.
However, he was admitted as a member to the prestigious Explorers Club in New York City in 1937, and made an honorary member in 1948. In 1944 Congress awarded him and other Peary aides each with a duplicate of the silver medal given to Peary. Presidents Truman and Eisenhower both honored him before he died in 1955.
Henson died in the Bronx on March 9, 1955, at the age of 88. He was buried at Woodlawn Cemetery and survived by his wife Lucy. After her death in 1968, she was buried with him.
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