In recognition of Black History Month, we are
posting weekly about the life and accomplishments of the first person to set
foot at the North Pole… It is Matt Henson Monday!
In 1891, Matthew Henson and Robert
Peary sailed North together on the first of six Arctic expeditions that they
would undertake together. The North Greenland Expedition of 1891-92 saw Matthew
Henson as Peary’s “assistant,” a title that he would keep for all six Arctic expeditions.
Henson proved his capability again in the Arctic, meeting the challenges of
Arctic survival and exploration as well as (perhaps better than) any other
southerner. Donald B. MacMillan described Henson as “the best field man aboard
ship.” Henson’s intelligence and talent
were enhanced by the many skills he learned from the Inughuit men and women,
whom Peary hired to support the expeditions.
More on this next week!
Not only did Matthew Henson excel as an
Arctic explorer, but he himself possessed a deep appreciation for the Arctic.
As he wrote in his autobiographic account of the 1908-1909 North Pole
expedition, A Negro Explorer at the North
Pole:
There is an irresistible fascination
about the regions of northernmost Grant Land that is impossible for me to
describe. Having no poetry in my soul, and being somewhat hardened by years of
experience in that inhospitable country, words proper to give you an idea of
its unique beauty do no come to mind. Imagine gorgeous bleakness, beautiful
blankness. It never seems broad, bright day, even in the middle of June, and
the sky has different effects of the varying hours of morning and evening
twilight from the first to the last peep of day… Artists
have gone with us into the Arctic and I have heard them rave over the wonderful
beauties of the scene, and I have seen them at work trying to reproduce some of
it, with good results but with nothing like the effect of the original.
P.S. Check out this great audio clip on Henson from AudioFile Magazine.