A handsome portrait of Matthew Henson (1866-1955), leaning against a dogsled aboard the SS Roosevelt.
The son of free Black sharecroppers, Matthew Henson was born in Maryland and orphaned at the age of eight. He was educated at N Street School in Washington, DC, and first went to sea at about the age of twelve. He spent six years on the Katie Hines under Captain Childs. After Child’s death, he worked onshore until his employer recommended him to Robert Peary in 1887. Henson accompanied Peary first as valet, to Nicaragua, though he was quickly promoted to Technical Assistant and his duties later encompassed those of sledge builder, driver, hunter, carpenter, blacksmith, cook and, having taught himself to speak Inuit, translator. They spent twenty-two years together over seven Arctic expeditions.
Having returned from the Pole in 1909, Henson accompanied Peary on the lecture circuit and published his own account Negro Explorer at the North Pole in 1912 which included an introduction by Booker T. Washington. Along with the likes of Olaudah Equiano (1745-97) and James Beckwourth (1799-1866), Henson was one of the few explorers of African descent to publish an account of their travels.
This is one of a series of images of Matthew Henson taken by the Brown Brothers after his return from the Arctic in 1909. Established in 1904, the Brown Brothers was the first stock photo agency in the United States.
