A descendant of slaves, Matthew Alexander Henson was born on August 8, 1866, in Charles county, Maryland, just one year after the end of the Civil War and the enforcement of the Emancipation Proclamation. His world was further upended when both his parents died by the time he was 11 years old, leaving him in the care of his uncle. When he was 11 years old, he attended a ceremony to honor Abraham Lincoln, and one of the keynote speakers as Frederick Douglass, the former slave who became a prominent author, statesman and civil rights activist. In his speech, Douglass urged young Black people to seek an education in order to combat racial prejudices an inequality. With these words in his heart, Matthew Henson made his way to Baltimore, Maryland.
Orphaned, Henson went to sea at the age of 12 as a cabin boy on the sailing ship Katie Hines under the command of Captain Childs. He went to sea for about six years learning to read, write and navigate. His voyages took him to Europe, Africa and Asia. After several years at sea, Matthew settled in Washington, D.C. While working in a store in Washington, D.C. he met U.S. Navy Commander Robert E. Peary an ambitious U.S. Navy engineer preparing for a 1888 surveying expedition to Nicaragua, in the hopes of creating a canal to connect the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific. Peary was impressed by Henson’s nautical knowledge, his sense of adventure, and sharp intellect. He then hired Matthew Henson as a personal aide, beginning a partnership for decades. He began assembling his team and at the top of his list was Matthew Henson, who eagerly accepted to serve as his "first man". Henson and Peary spent the next two years traveling together through the rainforests of Central America, a journey that would cement their friendship and bind their destinies together for the rest of their lives.
The Nicaragua expedition proved Matthew’s importance. Peary then invited him to join the next adventure, a venture to the opposite climate. Peary had been to the Arctic once and now invited Henson for a return visit in 1891. By this time, Henson started building a regular life for himself, he had a steady job, and was newly married. Their first Arctic expedition together was in 1891–92. Peary had received financial support from the American Geographical Society, to continue his exploration of Greenland. The Arctic was grueling and full of challenges and dangers, including sub-zero temperatures, ice floes, and scarce resources. Matthew would see two friends die on early expeditions. Yet, his desire to continue exploring remained unchanged.
Both Henson and Peary recognized the fact that the local Inuit people had tips and tricks to help them along their voyage. Like Peary, he studied Inuit survival techniques. Henson and Peary learned the Inuit language and studied and imitated how the Inuit people survived in the icy winds and wastelands. He learned to build and live in igloos and he wore loose sealskin parkas which allowed sweat to evaporate without chilling him. Matthew’s connection with the Inuit team members and his skills made him an essential part of the successful trek to the North Pole. He showed a genuine interest in Inuit culture and learned their language, which proved an invaluable asset. The Inuit had fond memories of Henson as the only non-Inuit who could build a sledge and mush through the snow behind the dogs. They were amazed that he was able to train the dogs to pull sleds the Inuit way.
While Peary was willing to use information from the Inuit to service, his eagerness did not translate to affection or respect for them. Where Peary was horrid and quick to betray people he considered unworthy, Henson was compassionate. He knew firsthand how it felt to be treated like a second-class citizen. They called him "Mahri-Pahluk", which was translated to "Matthew the Kind One". In turn he wrote in his memoirs that "I have come to love these people. I know every man, woman and child in their tribe. They are my friends and regard me as theirs". In 1905, President Theodore Roosevelt backed Peary and Henson. They had a state-of-the-art vessel, SS Roosevelt, that could cut through ice. Peary and Henson almost reached the geographic North Pole then, but didn’t quite make it. They sailed within 175 miles of the North Pole but had to turn back because the melted ice blocked their passage.
Two more missions to Greenland occurred in 1896 and 1897, which resulted in the team reaching the island's most northern point and mapping it completely. This was only a secondary objective, though, as their main goal was to retrieve the gargantuan Cape York metorite that had handed in the frozen wastes of the Artic. The local weren't too happy with this, though, since they used the metal from the metorites to make tools. The Artic's team's continued success increased the profile of Henson and Peary in the United States. That made it easier for them to secure funds in order to go on more missions. For their next trip, they intended to set a new "Farthest North" record. The "Farthest North" referred to the most northerly latitude that had been reached by humans.
Peary led his eighth and final Artic mission in 1908-09, determined this time to reach the North Pole. Peary and Henson left Greenland by ship to begin their effort to reach the Pole. Before they left, they picked up dozens of Inuit men, as well as hundreds of dogs and tons of meat. Peary and Henson left Greenland, and sailed to Ellesmere Island in Canada. They left their ship at Ellesmere Island in what is now Nunavut Territory, Canada and with a smaller party of four Inuit men, laid a trail of supplies for the pole in late February 1909. Henson became an indispensable figure in the expeditions Peary led into the Arctic Ocean. Henson assisted with the planning and logistics, was a translator with the local Inuit people, and frequently as a groundbreaker in the party’s movements.
Peary became ill on the expedition, which kept him on the shelf, so sent Henson ahead as a scout. They finally achieved this goal on April 6th, 1909, Matthew Henson arriving first. Mr. Peary and their four Inuit guides, Egingwah, Ootah, Ooqueah, and Seeglo, became the first humans to actually stand at the top of the world – there Henson planted the American Flag. There is much debate about exactly what happened when they reached the North Pole on April 6, 1909. Some say that Henson reached the Pole some forty-five minutes ahead of Peary after inadvertently disobeying the commander’s orders to stop short of what they judged to be the actual spot. There he was to wait so that Peary could travel on alone and lay claim to the honor of being the first person to stand at the North Pole. When Peary finally caught up to them, Henson greeted him by saying "I think I'm the first man to sit on top of the world."
Yet, upon returning to the U.S, Henson faced the harsh realities of racism. Peary immediately went to work to ensure that he was the one who enjoyed all the fame and glory and not Matthew Henson. Newspapers in 1910 published stories where Henson discussed how Peary ignored him the rest of the way home and refused to pay him. On top of that the men had their hands full back in the United States. Peary and Henson discovered that another team led by Frederick Cook had claimed that they were the first to reach the North Pole a year earlier. This meant Peary and Henson had to prove what they did. But the controversy quickly faded when several individuals came forward with compelling evidence to dispute Cook’s contrived story of discovery. The National Geographic Society as well as the Naval Affairs Subcommittee of the U.S. House of Representatives both credited Peary's team of being the first to reach the North Pole.
Peary’s expedition eventually received the official certification for being the first and he enjoyed the accolades for the work. Peary went on to become “the famous explorer Peary,” and Henson received little national recognition. His contributions were largely overlooked outside of the Black community. Henson personally understood how indispensable he had truly been to the success of the mission, and that Peary knew that he could not have done it without Henson. He toured the country thrilling audiences with his Arctic adventures, dressed in his fur parkas. Peary controlled what Henson said, the photographs he shared, and how often he spoke. Matthew blamed it on the controversy with Cook, although he never believed his story.
As for Henson, he lived a quiet, unassuming life after his Artic days were over. In 1912, Henson wrote "A Negro Explorer at the North Pole", a book that details his experiences on his journey. In it he references Peary not speaking to him once they were on board the SS Roosevelt. He describes himself as a "general assistant, skilled craftsperson, interpreter, and laborer." During the following decades, Robert Peary was made an admiral and received many honors and awards for leading the expedition to the Pole, but Henson's contributions were largely swept under the rug and forgotten. Henson spent most of the next 30 years working on staff in the U.S. Customs House in New York as a messenger with an annual salary of $960, at the suggestion of Theodore Roosevelt and worked his way to being a chief clerk. He would spend the next 30 years leading a quiet life in relative seclusion.
He later gained renewed attention. In 1937, at 70 years old, Henson was admitted as a member to the prestigious Explorers Club in New York City. In 1944 Congress awarded him and five other Peary aides duplicates of the Peary Polar Expedition Medal, a silver medal given to Peary. On January 28th of that same year, he was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor given to all of the members of the 1909 expedition. Then in 1948 he was award a medal by the U.S Navy for his efforts. Henson retired in 1936. Both Presidents Harry S. Truman and Dwight Eisenhower both honored Henson before he died in 1955. As with most expeditions of discovery, the contact with the local communities rarely benefits the indigenous people. Peary’s Arctic explorations were no different. But Matthew Henson was the only person on the team who took the time to learn the language and culture. This knowledge, combined with two decades of experience, made Matthew Henson a critical team member in the quest to reach the North Pole.