Matthew Henson was born on a farm in Maryland, the son of free people of color.\u00a0 After being orphaned young, Henson was sent to live with his uncle in Washington, D.C.\u00a0 This uncle provided Henson a couple of years of education until his death.\u00a0 Henson then became a dishwasher.\u00a0 At the age of 12, Henson made his way to Baltimore, Maryland.\u00a0 There he signed up as a cabin boy on the merchant ship Katie Hines.\u00a0 Captain Childs took to the boy and taught him to read and write.\u00a0 Under Captain Childs, Henson traveled the world visiting China, Japan, Southern Russia, the Philippines, France and Africa.\u00a0 He became an adept navigator.\u00a0 After Childs death, Henson worked as a seaman for several years.<\/p>\n
He returned to work on land and found employment at a clothing store in Washington D.C. where he met Commander Robert E. Peary.\u00a0 Impressed with Henson\u2019s sea experience, Peary hired Henson as an aide to accompany his canal survey expedition to Nicaragua.\u00a0 That expedition was the beginning of a partnership that lasted through six arctic voyages and 18 years spent on expeditions.\u00a0 Upon his return, in 1912 Henson published his memoir \u201cA Negro Explorer at the North Pole\u201d.\u00a0 The foreword written by Peary commended Henson\u2019s work.<\/p>\n
Henson mastered the Intuit language, learned to dog sled the Intuit way, became skilled at building igloos, he traded with the Intuit and he trained the expedition\u2019s dog sled teams.\u00a0 He was a skilled craftsman finding creative solutions to challenges presented by the harsh arctic environment.\u00a0 Henson became an indispensable element of the team.\u00a0 While on expedition, he took a \u201ccountry\u201d wife with whom he had his only child.<\/p>\n
On Commander Peary\u2019s eighth attempt to reach the Geographical North Pole, he chose a small team of 4 Intuits, Henson and himself to make the final push to the North Pole.\u00a0 Peary was unable to make the final leg on foot and made the journey on the dog sled.\u00a0 He sent Henson ahead to scout the mark.\u00a0 He overshot the pole and had to retrace his steps back to the North Pole.\u00a0 He planted an American flag on the mark of the Geographical North Pole.<\/p>\n
In 1937, Matthew Henson was admitted to the prestigious Explorer Club in New York City.\u00a0 In 1948 he was made an honorary member of the club.\u00a0 In 1944 Congress awarded Henson and five other members of the team, copies of the Peary Polar Expedition Medal, the silver medal awarded to Peary upon his return from the North Pole.\u00a0 Presidents Truman and Eisenhower both awarded Henson awards before his death in 1955.\u00a0 In 1988 Matthew Henson and his wife Lucy Ross were reinterred with a monument at Arlington National Cemetery near Commander Peary and his wife by order of President Ronald Reagan.\u00a0 Henson\u2019s only direct descendants still live in Greenland.<\/p>\n
Matthew Henson\u2019s indomitable spirit represents the human condition at its best.\u00a0 He overcame being left alone in the world, illiteracy and adverse social condition to become an explorer honored by history.<\/p>\n