"When Commander Robert Peary reached the North Pole on April 6, 1909, one other American was with him - Matthew Henson, a black man from Maryland who has been Peary's faithful companion through twenty-two years of polar exploration. In fact, were it not for the lower status that Henson was forced to accept because of his race, he would be seen as the true hero of that successful journey. It was Henson who learned to speak the native tongue of the Eskimos (they called him "Matt the kind one"), Henson who handled the dogs and broke the trail, ...
"When Commander Robert Peary reached the North Pole on April 6, 1909, one other American was with him - Matthew Henson, a black man from Maryland who has been Peary's faithful companion through twenty-two years of polar exploration. In fact, were it not for the lower status that Henson was forced to accept because of his race, he would be seen as the true hero of that successful journey. It was Henson who learned to speak the native tongue of the Eskimos (they called him "Matt the kind one"), Henson who handled the dogs and broke the trail, Henson who built the sleds they traveled on. Due to a failed expedition a decade earlier, during which Peary lost nine of his toes to frostbite and had to be carried two hundred miles to safety by Henson, Peary was nearly a cripple for the final North Pole expedition and could do little more than ride on his sled behind the main party."--BOOK JACKET.
Robert Peary is remembered as the intrepid explorer who successfully reached the North Pole in 1909. Far less celebrated is his companion, Matthew Henson, a black man from Maryland. A Negro Explorer at the North Pole: The Autobiography of Matthew Henson, first published in 1912 and now re-issued, tells this unsung hero's story in his own words. Henson, who was paid only minimum wages throughout two decades of his association with Peary, was indispensable to the famous explorer's journey; he learned the language of the Eskimos, was an expert dog-sled driver and even built the sleds. But after they reached the North Pole, Peary stole the black man's photographs, barely spoke to him and refused to recognize his importance to the expedition. This edition contains rare photos of the journey and an introduction by S. Allen Counter, author of North Pole Legacy: Black, White, and Eskimo ( May) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.
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