by Chris Wiegard

Created on: February 11, 2011   Last Updated: February 13, 2011

Matthew Henson is widely cited as an important figure of African American history, based on his co-discovery of the North Pole.  His life is actually more fascinating than this bare single fact reflects, opening windows of understanding to the complexities of racial relations in early twentieth century America.

Matthew Henson by all accounts had a tough childhood.  He was born in 1866 in Maryland on a farm along the Potomac River. Accounts differ regarding the chronology of his early days, but it is clear that his family moved to Washington D.C. where his mother died when he was young, and his father died a while later. Henson for a time lived with his stepmother whom he considered cruel, but ran away at age eleven to work as a kitchen helper in a restaurant in Washington. Henson was fascinated there by conversations with Baltimore Jack, as sailor who visited the restaurant, and at age 13 he walked to Baltimore to get work on the waterfront there, later signing on as a cabin boy on a merchant vessel. Henson served for six years on merchant vessels before returning to Washington where he met a U.S. Navy Lieutenant named Robert Peary. Peary hired Henson as a valet, and they went on various surveying expeditions together, including eventual efforts to reach the North Pole.  Henson worked with Peary for over twenty years, despite having no official status in the expeditions.

Peary clearly valued Henson’s contributions, at one time saying (according to another crew member) “I cannot make it without him.”  Beyond his various skills in dog training, hunting, and blacksmithing work, Henson was the only member of the group to learn the Eskimo language. That particular skill was clearly indispensable. The final effort of Peary and Henson to reach the North Pole included four Eskimos named Ootah, Egingwah, Seegloo, and Ooqeah.  The aftermath of the April 6, 1909 flag planting was strange in several ways. First, Peary gave no real credit to Henson despite Henson arriving at the site before Peary, behaving to some extent as a selfish glory hound. The Eskimos, essential members of the team, were not really credited. Finally there was controversy on the location of the flag planting - was it actually several miles away from the actual North Pole?  Even today, it is not clear that Peary and Henson actually reached the exact pole. It is even possible that a man named Frederick Cook, also aided by Eskimos, may have gotten there

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