After both of Matthew Henson‘s parents died when he was a young child, he was sent to live with his uncle. Henson struck out on his own when he was only 11, traveling by foot from Washington, DC to Baltimore, where he found work on a ship, becoming a cabin boy. On the water, Henson not only learned how life on a ship worked, but became close to the ship’s captain, who taught him how to read and write. When the captain died, Henson headed back to land and took a job as a clerk in a furrier’s shop, where he met Navy lieutenant Robert Edwin Peary, who hired Henson to his crew.
As one of Peary’s crew members, Henson traveled to Greenland. The pair worked together for years. When Peary expressed interest in reaching the North Pole in 1908, Henson agreed to stand by his side. Knowing that other explorers had struggled with communicating with the native Inuit along the route, Henson learned their language so he could gain their trust.
The crew reached the North Pole, with Henson leading the charge. However, Peary was the first to touch land and planted the American flag, so he got the credit for the remarkable feat. This understandably was a source of tension between Peary and Henson, and the two were never able to repair their relationship.
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