For many years, credit for being the first person to reach the geographic North Pole was given to American explorer and naval officer Robert Peary. However, this claim has always been tinged with controversy, and there is evidence that Matthew Henson, Peary’s longtime assistant and a member of his 1908–1909 Arctic expedition, actually got to the Pole slightly ahead of Peary on April 6, 1909.
The history of early Arctic exploration features a long list of adventurers seeking acclaim as the first to reach uncharted territory. However, due to the harsh environment and the limited capability of navigational instruments at the time, it is difficult to verify some of their claims. While it remains uncertain who reached the North Pole first, anecdotal evidence supports the idea that Henson preceded Peary by around 45 minutes. Nevertheless, Peary received the vast majority of the credit when they returned to the United States, while Henson was largely overlooked due to racial bias against him as an African American.
Matthew Henson was born into a family of freeborn sharecroppers in Maryland in 1866, just a year after the end of the U.S. Civil War. Henson’s parents died when he was very young, and at age 12, he left school to become a cabin boy. Later, while working as a department store sales clerk in Washington, D.C., Henson had a chance encounter with Robert Peary and was hired as his assistant after Perry learned of his seafaring experience.
This encounter marked the beginning of a long friendship and a successful partnership in exploration. In a working relationship that lasted more than 20 years, Henson served as Peary’s “first man” and was Peary’s equal in many ways during their expeditions, which took them from Central America to Greenland and beyond.
In 1909, as part of a team of 24 men, 19 sleds, and 133 dogs, Peary and Henson embarked on their quest for the North Pole. Henson, skilled in dog handling, hunting, and survival, played a crucial role in the expedition's success. He was fluent in Inuit languages and adept at Arctic survival techniques. As the expedition dwindled to a select few, Henson found himself at the forefront alongside Peary and four Inuit companions during the final push to the Pole.
Henson's account suggests that he was in the lead sled when the party approached the North Pole on April 6, 1909. Interviewed in 1936, Henson recalled, “I sat down to wait for Mr. Peary. He arrived about forty-five minutes later, and we prepared to wait for the dawn to check our exact positions.” The next morning, the expedition checked their navigational tools and Peary concluded that they had successfully reached the North Pole.
Following the expedition, Robert Peary was widely credited as the “discoverer” of the North Pole, with Matthew Henson relegated to the secondary role of helper. Sadly, Henson and Peary's relationship soured, leading to estrangement after over two decades of exploration together. After publishing the memoir A Negro Explorer at the North Pole in 1912, Henson spent the remainder of his life predominantly outside of the public eye, working at the U.S. Customs House in New York City. It wasn’t until much later that his integral role in the discovery of the North Pole was truly recognized.
Belated recognition of an uncertain achievement:
- In the years immediately following the 1909 expedition, Matthew Henson was honored by numerous African-American organizations, but the official recognition was almost entirely focused on Peary, reflecting the racial biases of the time.
- In 1945, Matthew Henson was one of six men awarded the congressional Peary Polar Expedition Medal for their contributions to the 1908–1909 Arctic expedition.
- In 1954, Henson was invited to the White House to meet with President Dwight D. Eisenhower and receive a special commendation. He died the following year, at age 88.
- In the 1980s, the National Geographic Society, which had been Robert Peary’s financial backer, cast doubt on whether his 1908–1909 expedition had reached the North Pole or whether Peary had falsified records, including his expedition diary, to knowingly mislead the public. Though the facts remains murky, it’s possible that the explorers fell short of the Pole by some 30 to 50 miles (50 to 100 km).
