DID YOU KNOW? for July 19 - August 1, 2022:  

Did You Know…Matthew Henson was an African American explorer best known as the co-discoverer of the North Pole in 1909 with Robert Edwin Peary. While Peary received much recognition for the accomplishment, Henson, as a black man, was largely ignored in press reports at the time. It took almost 30 years for him to receive the proper recognition.

Born to Maryland sharecroppers in1866, Matthew Henson was orphaned early and had to make his own way. He became a cabin boy on a ship where the captain mentored him in seamanship. Henson was working on land in a hat shop in Washington D.C. in 1887 when he met naval engineer and global explorer Robert Peary. Peary was impressed by Henson’s seafaring credentials and hired him as his valet for upcoming expeditions to Nicaragua, Greenland, and eventually the North Pole.

Over several years, Peary and Henson would make multiple attempts to reach the North Pole. Peary knew that the mission's success depended on his companion, stating "Henson must go all the way. I can't make it there without him."

On April 6, 1909, Peary, Matthew Henson and four Eskimo crew members finally reached the geographic North Pole — or at least they claimed to have (some controversy remains).

Learn More…

https://www.biography.com/explorer/matthew-henson