Matthew Henson
Matthew Henson, one of five expedition members who claimed to reach the North Pole.
Matthew Henson was an African American explorer who accompanied Robert Peary on seven voyages to the Arctic. Originally from Maryland, he met Peary in 1887 and began joining him as his “first man.” During the North Pole Expedition, Henson was one of six men who claimed to have made it to the pole, and according to their records, Henson was the first to reach it. Henson scouted ahead to what was thought to be the North Pole site; he returned with the greeting, "I think I'm the first man to sit on top of the world," much to Peary's chagrin.
Henson received some recognition for his role in the Peary expedition. In 1912, he published a memoir, titled A Negro Explorer at the North Pole, which documented his experience on the expedition. Later, he received renewed recognition. In 1937, he became the first African American to be inducted as a lifetime member of The Explorers Club, and in 1948, he was promoted to the club’s highest level of membership. In 1944, he received the Peary Polar Expedition Member, and he posthumously received the Hubbard Medal from the National Geographic Society in 2000.