Negro Explorer at the North Pole: The Autobiography of Matthew Henson

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Overview

"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, ...
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More About This Book

Overview

"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.
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Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly
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.
Commonwealth
Fascinating and exciting.
The New York Times
A really valuable addition to the literature of [polar exploration].... Filled with incident, occupation, description, emotion, [and] comment.
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Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9781931229012
  • Publisher: Invisible Cities Press Llc
  • Publication date: 5/28/2001
  • Pages: 240
  • Sales rank: 1,350,482
  • Product dimensions: 5.50 (w) x 8.50 (h) x 0.63 (d)

Meet the Author

Matthew Henson (1866-1955) accompanied Robert Peary on eight hazardous Arctic expeditions. Robert M. Bryce is the author of Cook and Peary: The Polar Controversy, Resolved. He lives in Monrovia, Maryland, near Washington, DC.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted April 21, 2002

    Negative Introduction

    This classic is ruined by the introduction. While famous men such as North Pole Discoverer Robert E. Peary and famous leader & educator Booker T. Washington made 2 or 3 page introductions this version has a new 38 page one. Why 38 pages of introduction? It is not really an introduction, but rather a put down of the great African American Matthew Henson. The point is to persuade the reader that Henson was too illiterate to have written his book. And equally unbelieveable is the assertion that they never reached the Pole! Is someone rewritting history to suit their own agenda? You may be right.

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