8/13/2023 0 Comments Daily kos news community actionThe two quickly developed a long working relationship that spanned half a dozen epic voyages over two decades.Īfter returning from Nicaragua, Peary found Henson work in Philadelphia, and in April 1891 Henson married Eva Flint. At the time, Robert Peary was working on the Nicaragua Canal. Impressed by Henson's seafaring credentials, in 1887 Peary hired him as his valet for an upcoming expedition to Nicaragua. One of Henson’s regular customers was Robert Edwin Peary, an explorer and officer in the U.S. But i n 1884 Captain Childs died, and Henson eventually made his way back to Washington, D.C., where he found work as a clerk in a hat shop. During his time aboard the Katie Hines, Henson also saw much of the world, traveling to Asia, Africa and Europe. The ship’s skipper, Captain Childs, took Henson under his wing and saw to his education, which included instruction in the finer points of seamanship. After briefly working in a restaurant, he walked all the way from Washington DC to Baltimore, Maryland, and found work as a cabin boy on the ship Katie Hines. Henson’s father died there a few years later, leaving Matthew Henson and his siblings in the care of other family members.Īt the age of 11, Henson left home to fend for himself. When Henson was 4 years old, his father moved the family to Washington, D.C., in search of work opportunities. Matthew Henson was born in Nanjemoy, Maryland, to sharecropper parents who were free people of color before the Civil War. I was the only black kid on a frozen lake in NH and he wanted to make sure I knew I wasn’t the only black person who had “explored the frozen tundras” as he called our adventure. This friend was a history teacher who had worked with my mom, and knowing I had a love of history he always shared some tidbit of history with me. I first heard of Matthew Henson when I was a young child and I was taken ice fishing by a family friend. Henson’s lifetime achievements were largely ignored by the general public and the popular media because of his race. Henson said he was the first of their party to reach the pole. Henson is best known for his participation in the 1908-1909 expedition that claimed to have reached the geographic North Pole on April 6, 1909. Navy engineer Robert Peary on seven voyages to the Arctic over a nearly 23 year period. Matthew Alexander Henson (Aug– March 9, 1955) was an American explorer who accompanied U.S. Commentary: African American Scientists, Explorers and Inventors
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