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May
6, 1856
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- Robert
Edwin Peary born to Charles and Mary Peary in Washington township,
Pennsylvania.
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1859
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- Father
Charles Peary dies, Mary Peary moves back to South Portland, Maine,
her birth home, with son Robert. She raises the boy herself in
a cottage on Cape Elizabeth, Maine.
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August
8, 1866
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-
In
a cabin near Nanjemoy, Charles County, Maryland. Matthew Alexander
Henson, born of Lemuel Henson's second wife. He is Lemuel Henson's
3rd child.
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1868
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- Mother
dies. Father marries third wife - Nellie, a widowed neighbor.
Lemuel Henson has a total of 2-girls and 4-boys. Matt Henson's
ancestors are not otherwise known. There was a rumor that Josiah
Henson was a close relative of Lemuel's. "Local legend had
it that Josiah Henson was the original model from whom Harriet
Beecher Stowe drew the immortal Uncle Tom. Josiah Henson was born
in Charles County, Maryland, and was a Negro overseer on the farm
of Francis Newman near Port Tobacco, but no on accurately could
say there was a blood tie between Lemuel and Josiah." (Dark
Companion)
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1874
(?)
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- Father
Lemuel dies. Step mother Nellie beats children.
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1877
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-
A
few months after his 11th birthday Matthew Henson decides to run
away after being in bed 3-days from a beating Nellie had given
him. He runs away at night and makes his way to Washington, DC.
He is taken in by Janey Moore of "Janey's Home-Cooked Meals
Cafe". Matt is cared for and paid for his work. A local sailor,
Baltimore Jack, fills Matt with stories of the sea and Matt determines
to go to sea.
-
Robert
Peary, 21, graduates from Bowdoin college with a degree in civil
engineering
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1878
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1883
1885
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-
In
December Captain Childs dies. Now age17 Matt leaves the Katie
Hines. For two years Matt works odd jobs in Boston, Providence,
Buffalo, and New York.
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At
age 19 Matt returns to Washington
-
Peary,
now an engineer for the Navy, returns to Washington from Nicaragua
after working on the Ship Canal survey.
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1886
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- Peary
makes his first trip to Greenland. With one companion he explores
120
miles into the interior of the glacial terrain at an altitude
of 7,500 feet. He returns to Washington and publishes a report
with a plan to traverse Greenland.
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1887
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- Lieutenant
Peary hires Matthew Henson as his valet for the second proposed
Nicaragua Canal route survey. (From Dark Companion:
"Matt's position as Peary's "man servant" was short-lived....the
survey company...thought (Peary's) reluctance to accompany the
expedition was due to the petty discomforts of jungle life. Thus
offering Peary the privilege of having a man servant...was an
attempt at appeasement by the company officials. Once...in the
field and Peary learned that Matt had been trained at sea, and
that (he) performed a hundred odd tasks with remarkable ingenuity
and dexterity, he was quick to realize Matt would be of greater
value assisting the survey party...Peary...promoted Matt to...the
transit crew, and from that time to the day Matt and Peary parted,
(he) never again actually held the title of "Peary's man servant."
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1888
1889
1890
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- The
Nicaragua survey party returns to Washington. With the job over
Matt goes back to work as a stock boy. Several
months later Peary finds a Job for Matt at the League Island Navy
Yard In Philadelphia as an errand boy in Peary's office.
Henson moves to join Peary.
- Peary
Plans to cross the northern tip of Greenland from West to East
coast.
- Peary is married.
- The
Navy grants Peary 18 months leave for his Greenland trip. Funds
have been privately raised. One member, geologist Verhoeff pays
$2,000 to come along.
Peary asks Henson to join the expedition although he can not pay
him. Matt volunteers along with the others.
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1891
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- The
expedition consists of Lieutenant Peary, his wife Josephine, and
Matt Henson. The volunteers were Eivind Astrup, Langdon Gibson, a
racist named John Verhoeff, and Fred Cook* a milkman from
Brooklyn, New York who claimed to be a doctor. They sail on the
ship Kite up
to Greenland and make their way into Baffin Bay by July. An accident
breaks Peary's leg, crushing two bones. But Peary heals his leg
and makes history the following spring by exploring unmapped
regions of Greenland.
*This man, Cook, became jealous of Peary. He spent his life
trying to imitate him. In 1909 Cook
lied by telling newspapers that he went to the North Pole before
Peary & Henson. Cook went to prison in 1922 for stock fraud.
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1893
- 1895
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- Kap/Cape
Henson (77 degrees, 23 minutes North [latitude], 71 degrees, 18
minutes West [longitude]) in Northwest Greenland, called "Igdlernorssuk"
in the Inuit language, is named as a tribute to Matthew Henson
by Robert Peary during his North Greenland expedition.
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1896-1902 |
-
Peary and Henson explorer Greenland, mapping the north coast.
The entire north tip of Greenland is named Peary Land.
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Using Ft. Conger as a base they try to find a way over the
arctic ocean to the Pole.
-
They learn that the only way to the Pole is over frozen ocean.
They become experienced trying to cross it. They learn how dangerous
it is, how the ice drifts, how it breaks open, etc. This will later
allow them to make successful expeditions farther and farther across
the ice.
-
Peary realizes that he needs a special ship to smash through the
summer ice along the west coast of Greenland to reach a position
where they can launch a spring expedition. But first he has to build
such a ship.
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Peary sets about raising money for his ship.
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Matt travels around America as a "porter" on the railroads. He
sees the lands he had only heard about, meets bitter racism in the
south.
-
Peary builds the Roosevelt, an amazingly strong ship that can
get them to the arctic ocean, something no one has ever done.
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1906
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- They make the second assault on the pole with teams. It is not
enough and the weather delivers storms that stop them. They make a
new record for "farthest north".
- Henson
Bay (81 degrees, 52 minutes North, 89 degrees, 25 minutes West)
in the Canadian Northwest Territories is named by Robert Peary
as a tribute to Matthew Henson.
- The ship is damaged when the rudder is smashed and the
propeller bent. They slowly steam home but the ship needs major
repairs.
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February
22, 1909
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- Peary's
party depart their anchored ship, USS Roosevelt, at Cape Sheridan
to make the remainder of the journey to the North Pole by dogsled.
24 Men, 130 dogs work as a team to lay supplies and make the trail
for Henson & Peary.
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April
6, 1909
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- Matthew
Alexander Henson is the first man to reach the North Pole during
the arctic expedition of Commander Robert Edwin Peary. Peary,
who arrived 45 minutes later with the rest of the polar party,
claimed the North Pole in the name of the President of the United
States.
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September
6, 1909
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- Commander
Peary announced from Indian Harbor, Labrador, that he and the
five members of his polar party - his assistant, Matthew Henson
and the four Inuits, Ootah, Egingwah, Seegloo and Ooqueah - had
reached the North Pole.
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1909
1910
1911
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- Peary's
claim to the North Pole was recognized by the National Geographic
Society. The investigation of his claim was lead by Henry M. Gannett,
geographer of the United States Geological Society, Admiral Colby
M. Chester, a navigation expert, and Otto H. Tittmann of the Coast
and Geodetic Survey.
- Henson writes his article about the North Pole trip in a
magazine called The Worlds Work.
- Henson makes lantern slides of his north pole photos and
delivers a coast to coast lecture tour.
- A number of American and foreign geographical societies, including
the Royal Geographical Society in London recognized Peary's claim.
- The
Congress of the United States also formally recognized Peary's
claim to the North Pole.
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February
1912
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- The
Frederick A. Stokes Co. of New York publishes Henson's autobiography,
A Negro at the North Pole, with a foreword by Robert Peary and
an introduction by Booker T. Washington. In this work, Henson
acknowledges that he was inspired by Frederick Douglass to make
an achievement in life that would bring recognition to all African
Americans.
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1920 |
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June
5, 1924
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- Morgan
State College confers Henson with a honorary Master of Science
degree.
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1937
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- Henson
is elected to membership in the Explorers Club based in New York.
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1938
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- Henson Gletscher/Glacier (82 degrees, 20 minutes North, 40 degrees, 00
minutes West) in North Greenland is named as a tribute to Matthew
Henson by Lauge Kock, a Danish geologist who made an aerial expedition
of northern Greenland.
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June
6, 1939
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- Howard
University confers on Henson a honorary Master of Science degree.
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1942
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- After
a five-year search, Herbert M. Frisby locates the cabin in which
Henson was born near Nanjemoy, Charles County, MD. While a schoolboy,
Frisby, a black Marylander, science teacher, researcher and explorer,
had been inspired by Henson's achievement
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1947
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- Bradley
Robinson publishes Dark Companion, Robert McBride & Co., a
biography of Matthew Henson.
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1948
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- The
Geographic Society of Chicago awards Henson with a gold medal
and cites him as "the first Negro in this country to be honored
for scientific achievement in the geographical field."
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April
6, 1949
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- U.S.
Department of Defense gives Henson a citation for his contribution
to the discovery of the North Pole
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1950
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- Dillard
University, New Orleans, LA, names its new gymnasium Henson Hall
after Matthew Henson. (Henson Hall still stands, but ceased as
a gymnasium once the Albert W. Dent Hall was dedicated on the
campus to serve that purpose, March 14, 1970.)
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February
9, 1953
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- The
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People presents
the Explorers Club with a bronze bust of Matthew Henson by John
LaFarge during a ceremony at the Wendle Wilkie Memorial Building
in New York City.
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April
6, 1954
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- Henson
is commended at the White House by the President of the United
States, Dwight D. Eisenhower, for his significant contributions
to the success of the discovery of the North Pole.
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March
9, 1955
1955
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- Henson
dies in New York City from a cerebral hemorrhage at the age of
88, survived by his wife, Lucy Ross Henson. He is buried in the
Woodlawn Cemetery, Bronx, NY.
- A
Memorial Resolution is passed by the Maryland General Assembly
commending the explorer and lamenting his death.
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August
12, 1956
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- In
recognition of Matthew Henson's achievement, another black Marylander
and explorer, Herbert M. Frisby, flies over the North Pole and
drops a steel box containing a U.S. flag, a Maryland State flag,
a photograph of Henson, two articles he had written about Henson
which appeared in the Afro-American newspaper and an inscribed
bronze memorial plaque to Henson.
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1960
-1970
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- The
civil rights movement led to interest in Black History studies
in colleges. Numerous books were published, including "Ahdoolo"
which plagiarized Matt's official biography. Lawsuit filed and
upheld by the court. Author Bradley Robinson receives settlement
for copyright infringement.
- Dark
Companion is republished in paperback by Fawcett.
- Several
derivative Henson books are written - the best one by Dolan.
- Matt's
own 1912 book, now public domain material, is republished in 1969.
Two other reprints will follow.
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1980
-1990
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- Dr. Allan
Counter locates Matt's Inuit descendants in Greenland.
- Dr. Counter
writes an article for the Centennial issue (1988) of National
Geographic.
- Dr. Counter
brings the Inuit relatives of both Peary and Henson to the United
States.
- Dr. Counter
is instrumental in the reinterment of Henson at Arlington National
Cemetery.
- A
1986 set of US Postal stamps features Henson and Peary's attainment
of the Pole.
- January,
1990: The National Geographic Magazine publishes the report by
Admiral Davies of the Navigation Foundation. Titled NEW EVIDENCE
PLACES PEARY AT THE POLE it shows previously unknown evidence
to prove that Henson & Peary reached 90 degrees North.
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1990
- 1999
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- Dark
Companion is republished by the biographer's son, Bradley Robinson,
and sold online at Amazon.com
- Henson
website created
- A
librarian temporarily confuses the media by releasing his 1,000 page tribute to North Pole hoaxer Fred Cook. The resulting backlash
begins the process of vilifying the criminal Cook once and for all.
- US
Navy names an oceanographic survey vessel after Matt - the USNS
HENSON
- The
Navy takes Henson relatives for a cruise on the HENSON.
- The
10th anniversary of Matt's reinterment is commemorated with a
wreath laying ceremony.
- Actor
Delroy Lindo portrays Matt Henson in TNT feature film, Glory
& Honor, about
Matt.
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Year
2000
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-
Widget Magic creates the first electronic form of Henson's famous 1912 book, A Negro Explorer At The North Pole. This marks the first
ever reprint not to tamper with the original text, or to "modernize"
the title. A PDF version is given away free on the Internet. A print version
is also sold at Amazon.com.
-
Paul Landry
reaches the North Pole by dog team within 4 days of the time it
took Henson in 1909. His remarkable sledding speeds prove all critics
wrong. He finds the Henson record very believable for a skilled
dog team driver to achieve.
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The highly
coveted and prestigious HUBBARD
MEDAL is awarded posthumously for the first time to Matthew
Henson.
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2001
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2001-2003 |
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More websites about Henson and Peary come online.
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More of Peary & Henson's books are republished.
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A Peary & Henson Foundation is formed to provide
educational materials about the great partnership these two men
formed and how it changed history.
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