<\/em><\/p>\nAfter Childs died in 1884, Henson went back to Washington, D.C., where he began to work as a clerk at a hat shop.\u00a0\u00a0This is where he met Peary.<\/p>\n
Peary, impressed by Henson\u2019s knowledge on seafaring, hired Henson to be his valet on his expedition to Nicaragua.<\/p>\n
A long partnership between Pearson and Henson sprung from this, and they began navigating many lands together.<\/p>\n
For about 20 years, Henson and Peary worked together, exploring harsh landscapes.<\/p>\n
Reaching the North Pole was a mission that these two men were determined to accomplish. In fact, the men tried to reach it in previous missions, but had failed because of the harsh conditions.<\/p>\n
The final attempt Henson and Pearson made to reach the North Pole was in 1908.<\/p>\n
Henson, an expert dog sledder, hunter and craftsman, functioned as a guide and navigator during the expedition.<\/p>\n
Henson had also gained a relationship with the Inuit people who lived in these harsh conditions. He was so familiar with the Inuit that he became fluent in their language.<\/p>\n
The journey was harsh. They started off with 24 men and 133 dogs, but ended the journey with only six men, including Pearson and Henson and only 40 dogs.<\/p>\n
Although there is speculation surrounding this topic, Henson is believed to be the first man, black or white to reach the North Pole.<\/p>\n
During the journey, Pearson had fallen very ill, and may have stayed behind while Henson went on to place the American flag at the North Pole.<\/p>\n
After the expedition, Pearson was credited with reaching the North Pole, while Henson\u2019s part was fully ignored.<\/p>\n
For several years, Henson had not received recognition for what he did.<\/p>\n
In 1937, 70-year old Henson finally received some recognition and was accepted by the Explorers Club in New York as an honorary member. Also, in 1944, he received a Congressional Medal.<\/p>\n
Henson\u2014largely forgotten in history because of the prejudices that existed during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, contributed to future explorations in the North Pole.<\/p>\n
Henson should be remembered as a pioneer who paved the way for many African-Americans and explorers for years to come.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Zipporah Jones Staff Writer Most history books will note that the first man to reach the North Pole was Robert Peary, on April 6, 1909,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"editor_plus_post_options":"{}","editor_plus_copied_stylings":"{}","_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/jsuflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9709"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/jsuflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/jsuflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/jsuflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/jsuflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9709"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/jsuflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9709\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/jsuflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/jsuflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/jsuflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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