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Onward : A Photobiography of African-American Polar Explorer Matthem Henson (National Geographic Photographer)
Onward A Photobiography of AfricanAmerican Polar Explorer Matthem Henson - National Geographic Photographer Author:Delores Johnson "Onward we forced our weary way." So wrote Matthew Henson in his 1912 autobiography, A Negro Explorer at the North Pole. The words followed months of Henson and his companions marching across moving ice, pushing sledges through the bitterest cold at the very far reaches of the Earth, doggedly pursuing an elusive goal: to be the first explorers t... more »o reach the North Pole. Matthew Henson was Admiral Robert E. Peary's companion on an ambitious Arctic expedition in 1909. It was the culmination of years of Arctic exploration, massive planning and preparation, careful navigation, and absolute grit and determination in a fight against nature in one of the most hostile regions on Earth. Somehow, they made it-or at least they thought they did. The conquest of the North Pole was an elusive, almost impossible goal at the beginning of the last century. There was no marker there to identify that the Pole had been reached, not even a landmass that could permanently hold any marker placed. The frigid, threatening Arctic Ocean lay underfoot under various layers of ice, and only if the ice shifted conveniently could any expedition drive northwards to the Pole. But a son of patrician parents, Robert E. Peary; and a son of sharecroppers, Matthew Henson; shared a dream of conquering the unconquered North Pole and were brave enough to risk their lives numerous times before they finally succeeded. Together Matthew Henson and Robert Peary used each other's abilities to achieve their mutual dreams of exploration. Henson's great physical stamina and his ability to speak Inuit and develop warm relationships with the Inuit were indispensable to the trip. Controversy surrounded the great achievement of reaching the Pole, as a rival explorer (with an unsavory reputation) claimed to have been there first. Exhaustive research and much debate have tended to bear out Henson and Peary's claim. This photobiography presents the incredible life of Matthew Henson from his poor and difficult childhood to his triumph in adding "to the sum of Earth's knowledge�[and proving] that the mind of man is boundless in its desire." Expedition photographs and Matthew Henson's own quotes accompanying the text, which is also supported by maps, a chronology, and a foreword from Mathew Henson's own descendant.« less
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