Matthew Henson was one of the era’s few African-American explorers, and he may very well have been the first man to reach the furthermost ends of the earth, the North Pole. Henson's gruelling land adventures alongside U.S. Navy Engineer Robert E. Peary, are chronicled in various books and articles - making them true legends of the land. 

Henson was born on 8 August 1866. Being an orphan, at age 13 he decided to become a cabin boy on a ship. The vessel’s Captain was drawn to young Henry and taught him to read and write. Later, while Henson was working as a store clerk in Washington, D.C. in 1887, he met Robert E. Peary. 

Henson was hired as a valet, and the two began a working relationship that spanned half a dozen epic voyages over two decades. In 1900, they went farther north than anyone had done before. They  broke this record a few years later. The dynamic duo explored Greenland and it is believed to have made it to the North Pole in 1909, accompanied by four Inuit men. Although difficult to validate, Henson believed he was the first to make it to the pole.

"I can't get along without him" Peary said of Henson, who was an expert dog-sledder, hunter, craftsman and navigator, who even became fluent in Inuit. Following his days of exploration, Henson worked as an official in the U.S. Customs House in New York City. This adventurer died in 1955, at the ripe old age of 89. 

In 1988, Henson and his wife were re-interred at the Arlington National Cemetery, alongside that of their long-time colleague and friend, Robert E. Peary. In 1996, an oceanographic survey ship was named the U.S.N.S Henson, in his honour. In 2000, Henson was awarded National Geographic’s highest honour of exploration, the Hubbard Medal.