Matthew Henson

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Lore & Background

Henson was born in Nanjemoy, Maryland, to sharecropper parents who were free Black Americans before the Civil War. He left school at twelve to work as a cabin boy on a police sloop patrolling the Potomac River, then as a salesclerk at a department store. In 1887, customer Robert Peary hired him as a personal valet while working on the Nicaragua Canal. Their first Arctic expedition together was in 1891–92. Henson served as a navigator and craftsman, known as Peary's 'first man,' and studied Inuit survival techniques. During the 1908–09 expedition to Greenland, Henson was one of six men—including Peary and four Inuit assistants—who claimed to have been the first to reach the geographic North Pole. In interviews, Henson identified as the first member of the party to reach what they believed was the pole. The team's claim gained widespread acceptance, but in 1989, Wally Herbert published research finding their expedition records unreliable, indicating an implausibly high speed during their final rush and that the men could have fallen 30–60 miles (48–97 km) short due to navigational errors. Henson achieved a degree of fame from the expedition and in 1912 published a memoir, A Negro Explorer at the North Pole. In 1937, he was the first African American to be made a life member of The Explorers Club; in 1948, he was elevated to the club's highest level of membership. In 1944, Henson was awarded the Peary Polar Expedition Medal, and he was received at the White House by Presidents Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower. In 1988, he and his wife were re-interred at Arlington National Cemetery. In 2000, Henson posthumously received the Hubbard Medal by the National Geographic Society. In September 2021, the International Astronomical Union named a lunar crater after him.

Reader's Guide

Matthew Henson's significance lies in his role as a key member of Robert Peary's Arctic expeditions, particularly the 1908–1909 attempt to reach the North Pole. He was a skilled navigator, craftsman, and dog-sled driver who mastered Inuit techniques and language, enabling the team's travel across the ice. His claim to have been the first to reach the pole, while disputed and later questioned by Wally Herbert's 1989 analysis of navigational errors, made him a notable figure in exploration history. Henson's legacy also includes his status as an African American explorer who received belated recognition: he was the first Black life member of The Explorers Club, awarded the Peary Polar Expedition Medal, and honored by Presidents Truman and Eisenhower. His reinterment at Arlington National Cemetery in 1988 and posthumous Hubbard Medal in 2000 reflect a growing acknowledgment of his contributions, though the accuracy of the expedition's claim remains uncertain.

Did You Know?

• Henson was born to sharecropper parents who were free Black Americans before the Civil War.
• He left school at age twelve to work as a cabin boy on a police sloop patrolling the Potomac River.
• Henson was the first African American to be made a life member of The Explorers Club in 1937.
• In 1988, Henson and his wife were re-interred at Arlington National Cemetery.
• In September 2021, the International Astronomical Union named a lunar crater after Henson.

Roots in a Divided Nation

Matthew Alexander Henson entered the world on August 8, 1866, on a farm in Charles County, Maryland, where his parents labored as sharecroppers. Both had been free Black Americans before the Civil War, yet the postwar years brought them relentless terror from the Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacist groups targeting freedmen in the South. In 1867 the family sold their land and moved to Georgetown, then still a separate town beside the capital. His mother died when he was seven; his father Lemuel later remarried and raised additional children. After his father's death, Matthew was placed with an uncle in Washington, D.C., who funded a few years of schooling before he, too, passed away. Henson then attended a Black public school for six years. A defining moment arrived at age ten, when he attended a ceremony honoring Abraham Lincoln and heard Frederick Douglass deliver a stirring call for Black Americans to pursue education and confront racial prejudice. By twelve, he had left for Baltimore and taken to sea as a cabin boy aboard the merchant vessel Katie Hines, sailing to ports in China, Japan, Africa, and the Russian Arctic, where Captain Childs took him under his wing and taught him to read and write.

First Man in the Arctic

In November 1887, while working as a salesclerk at the B.H. Stinemetz and Sons clothing store in Washington, D.C., Henson caught the eye of Commander Robert E. Peary, who was planning a surveying expedition to Nicaragua. Impressed by Henson's maritime background, Peary recruited him as a personal aide for the canal survey, where he supervised forty-five engineers. Henson's seamanship on that voyage earned him a permanent place in Peary's orbit; he became the explorer's "first man" for the decades that followed. Over nearly twenty-three years, the two undertook seven Arctic voyages, spending a combined eighteen years on expedition together. Henson immersed himself in Inuit culture, trading with local communities and mastering their language to the point that the Inuit called him Mahri-Pahluk. He was remembered as the only non-Inuit who became truly skilled in driving dog sleds and training dog teams in the Inuit manner. A gifted craftsman, he devised practical solutions for the team's needs in brutal Arctic conditions, including building igloos from snow as mobile shelter. Together, their dog-sled parties covered thousands of miles and pushed the "Farthest North" record for any Arctic expedition until 1909.

The Pole and the Doubt

Peary's eighth and final attempt to reach the geographic North Pole took place during the 1908–09 season. The expedition was enormous: when Peary and Henson boarded the ship Roosevelt off Greenland on August 18, 1909, they were accompanied by twenty-two Inuit men, seventeen Inuit women, ten children, 246 dogs, seventy tons of whale meat, the carcasses of fifty walruses, and tons of coal. In February the party departed Cape Sheridan on Ellesmere Island, with Inuit men and 130 dogs laying a supply trail ahead of them. On April 6, 1909, a small party of six—Peary, Henson, and four Inuit assistants—claimed to have stood at the pole. In later interviews Henson stated that he was the first member of that group to arrive at what they believed was the geographic North Pole. For decades the claim enjoyed widespread acceptance. Then, in 1989, Wally Herbert published research arguing that the expedition's records were unreliable, citing an implausibly high speed during the final push and suggesting navigational errors may have left the team thirty to sixty miles short of the true pole. The controversy has lingered ever since, casting a long shadow over what remains one of the most celebrated and contested episodes in polar exploration.

Recognition Across Generations

Henson's fame grew steadily after the pole expedition. In 1912 he published his memoir, A Negro Explorer at the North Pole, sharing his experiences with a wider audience. As he aged, his contributions received renewed institutional recognition. In 1937 he became the first African American to be elected a life member of The Explorers Club, and in 1948 he was elevated to the organization's highest tier of membership. That same era brought further honors: in 1944 he received the Peary Polar Expedition Medal, and he was received at the White House by both President Harry Truman and President Dwight Eisenhower. Henson passed away on March 9, 1955, but his legacy continued to grow. In 1988 he and his wife were re-interred at Arlington National Cemetery. The National Geographic Society posthumously awarded him the Hubbard Medal in 2000. In September 2021, the International Astronomical Union named a lunar crater in his honor, placing his name among the landmarks of the sky—a fitting final tribute for a man who had spent his life reaching toward the farthest edges of the known world.