Speaker 1: The Quest for the North Pole is a production of
Speaker 1: I Heart Radio and Mental Floss. Picnic tables grown under
Speaker 1: platters of homemade barbecued chicken, corn bread and collar greens,
Speaker 1: a vast buffet of yams, corn rice and okra steams
Speaker 1: in the early summer afternoon cakes and ice cream a
Speaker 1: weight dessert. The whole spread, laid out in the elegant
Speaker 1: backyard of a home in Milton, Massachusetts, has been prepared
Speaker 1: to welcome visitors from a tiny village in northern Greenland.
Speaker 1: It's late May seven and the eighty year old sons
Speaker 1: of explorers Robert Peary and Matthew Henson, named Callie Peery
Speaker 1: and a Naucock Henson are in America to meet their relatives.
Speaker 1: Matthew Henson's great niece, all of Henson Fulton cooked the
Speaker 1: lunch for the family reunion and cousins friends all gather
Speaker 1: on the lawn to welcome their inuite kin. After introductions
Speaker 1: made through an interpreter, Kelly Analco, and their family members
Speaker 1: have their initial taste of soul food. They proclaim the
Speaker 1: chicken as tasty as Greenland birds and the ham as
Speaker 1: sweet as polar bear. They play music and dance to
Speaker 1: eighties pop, and the Inuite sang songs to thank their
Speaker 1: American hosts. They offer beautiful carvings and other crafts as gifts,
Speaker 1: while Fulton gives each of the men a combination radio
Speaker 1: and tape recorder so they can listen to a nooktone
Speaker 1: radio broadcasts back home. As the celebration winds down that evening,
Speaker 1: and now Cock's Sun remarks, this has been a great
Speaker 1: day for our family, perhaps the greatest ever. The cookout
Speaker 1: was the result of a huge multinational effort led by
Speaker 1: an unstoppable Harvard neuroscientist named sell Encounter to bring the
Speaker 1: Intuite and American branches of the families together for the
Speaker 1: first time. Here we're living, breathing representatives of Perry and
Speaker 1: Henson's history, making expeditions in the flesh. It was a joyous,
Speaker 1: unforgettable experience, but the occasion also brought up some painful
Speaker 1: memories and uncomfortable questions. From Mental Floss and I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: You're listening to the Quest for the North Pole. I'm
Speaker 1: your host, Cat Long, science editor at Mental Floss, and
Speaker 1: this episode is family reunions. In several episodes of the
Speaker 1: Quest for the North Pole. We looked at how Robert
Speaker 1: Perry engaged Inuite assistance to perform essential tasks on his trips,
Speaker 1: from sewing to building igloos to driving sleds. Women, usually
Speaker 1: the wives of the hunters, prepared furs for new clothing
Speaker 1: and were an omnipresent but under appreciated part of the expeditions.
Speaker 1: Perhaps it is not much of a surprise that the
Speaker 1: men on perious expeditions, including Henson and Perry himself, had
Speaker 1: relationships with Innuhite women. There's a long record of Arctic
Speaker 1: explorers having intimate relationships with women they met in the
Speaker 1: polar regions, going back at least as far as the
Speaker 1: British search for the Northwest Passage in the early nineteenth century.
Speaker 1: Many of those upright naval men were shocked at the
Speaker 1: relative freedom between Innuwit wives and husbands, and the ease
Speaker 1: with which husbands share their wives or wives chose to
Speaker 1: be intimate with white explorers. That trend continued into the
Speaker 1: twentieth century with Perry's quests to reach the poll Even
Speaker 1: before the first expedition, he was already mulling the dynamics
Speaker 1: between his crews of American men and the inuite women
Speaker 1: they did encounter in the Arctic. He wrote in his diary,
Speaker 1: it is asking too much of masculine human nature to
Speaker 1: expect it to remain in an Arctic climate, enduring constant
Speaker 1: hardship without one relieving feature. Feminine companionship not only causes
Speaker 1: greater contentment, but as a matter of both mental and
Speaker 1: physical health and the retention of the top notch of manhood,
Speaker 1: it is a necessity. Of course, these relationships were not equal.
Speaker 1: Perry's arrival in the inuite community meant a disruption to
Speaker 1: their daily life and sometimes to their family dynamics. Peary
Speaker 1: was seen as the man who supplied guns, knives, materials
Speaker 1: for sleds and homes, and many more essential goods. In return.
Speaker 1: As ken Harper mentioned in our previous Bonus episode, the
Speaker 1: inuite worked for Peery in whichever capacity he needed. Both
Speaker 1: Peery and the inuite seemingly viewed Perry's intimate relationships as transactional.
Speaker 1: None of this went over well with Josephine Debitch Perry,
Speaker 1: his wife, whom he married in Though she was just
Speaker 1: as adventurous as her husband and accompanied him on several
Speaker 1: of his expeditions, she also raised their two children, Marie
Speaker 1: and Robert Jr. In Washington when Peery was up North.
Speaker 1: Josephine was humiliated and crushed when she discovered her husband's
Speaker 1: infidelity with an inuite woman named ale Cassina, who had
Speaker 1: given birth to a son, A N. Alcock, not to
Speaker 1: be confused with Henson's son in d Ala. Cassina's second son, Callie,
Speaker 1: was born on the S S. Roosevelt in nineteen o six,
Speaker 1: suggesting that Peery maintained his connection with her over multiple expeditions.
Speaker 1: For many of his expeditions with Peery, Matthew Henson was single.
Speaker 1: He and his first wife, Eva Flint, divorced in and
Speaker 1: he married his second wife, Lucy Ross in en seven.
Speaker 1: He had no children with either woman, but in the
Speaker 1: ten year gap between marriages he had a relationship with
Speaker 1: an in a white woman named Akatingwa. Exactly when they
Speaker 1: met and how long the relationship lasted are unclear, but
Speaker 1: we do know that it was happening during Perry's second
Speaker 1: real attempt at the North Pole from nineteen o five
Speaker 1: to nineteen o six. Henson's son, an Alcock, was also
Speaker 1: born aboard the S. S. Roosevelt in nineteen o six,
Speaker 1: the year before Henson married Lucy Ross. He may or
Speaker 1: may not have known that he was An Alcock's father,
Speaker 1: and Alcock's children and their children are Henson's only direct descendants.
Speaker 1: Pierry and Henson returned to Greenland in nine eight for
Speaker 1: their final quest for the poll. When Peery declared that
Speaker 1: he had done what he had gone there to do.
Speaker 1: Neither men ever returned to Greenland or saw their sons again.
Speaker 1: Peery's son, Analcock, died when he was twenty seven. As
Speaker 1: Callie told the anthropologist Jean Mallory in nineteen fifty one,
Speaker 1: I never heard a word from my illustrious father, nor
Speaker 1: did I ever receive any money. All I have of
Speaker 1: his is a photograph I cut out of a magazine.
Speaker 1: Yet I remember him very well. We lived on his
Speaker 1: big ship with our mother, and he was nice to us.
Speaker 1: Mallorie met Kellie and Nalcock Henson while living among the Inuite,
Speaker 1: and found the fact that Peery and Sen where their
Speaker 1: fathers was no secret. Both sons peppered Mallory for information
Speaker 1: about their families in America. At the time, Matthew Henson
Speaker 1: was still alive and living in New York City, but
Speaker 1: Pierry had been dead for over thirty years. Mallory revealed
Speaker 1: the existence of Kellie and a Nalcock to the rest
Speaker 1: of the world in his best selling book The Last
Speaker 1: Kings of Tuli, but afterwards, seemingly no researchers contacted the
Speaker 1: explorers in Nui descendants until s Allen Counter went looking
Speaker 1: for them in the nineteen eighties. We'll be right back,
Speaker 1: The Amsterdam News called s Allen Counter the most interesting
Speaker 1: man in the world. Raised in a segregated neighborhood of
Speaker 1: Boynton Beach, Florida, Counter grew up on the grounds of
Speaker 1: the tuberculosis hospital where his mother worked. Perhaps that experience
Speaker 1: influenced his interest in studying medicine. He joined Harvard Medical
Speaker 1: School as a post doc, then rose up the ranks
Speaker 1: as a neurophysiologist. He also conducted field research in the
Speaker 1: Andes in the Amazon Basin as part of a wide
Speaker 1: ranging career at the university. In nine, Counter spearheaded the
Speaker 1: Harvard Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations, which promotes intercultural awareness.
Speaker 1: During his time as a visiting professor in Sweden, Counter
Speaker 1: began hearing rumors about Arctic descendants of Pierie and Henson
Speaker 1: from his colleagues. In his book North Pole Legacy, Counter
Speaker 1: writes that he read every book and article he could
Speaker 1: find about the explorer's descendants found nothing beyond rumor or innuendo.
Speaker 1: Apparently he missed Maori's account. He decided to go to
Speaker 1: Greenland to investigate a task that involved asking the Danish
Speaker 1: and US governments for permission to fly to Tooley Air Base,
Speaker 1: the northernmost American military base in the world, and then
Speaker 1: helicoptering to the tiny village of more Usuk and there
Speaker 1: he met a Nalco Henson and his large family, who
Speaker 1: assumed Counter was their relative because of his dark skin.
Speaker 1: A few weeks later, he met Kelly and his family
Speaker 1: in a village about forty miles away. Counter discovered that
Speaker 1: for generations, the Greenland descendants remembered and retold the stories
Speaker 1: of Pieri's in Henson's time in their communities. All were
Speaker 1: proud of their American heritage, especially an Alcock. Because the
Speaker 1: whole community held Matthew Henson in extremely high regard. They
Speaker 1: also expressed a strong interest in meeting their American half siblings, cousins, nieces,
Speaker 1: and nephews in the US. Counter decided to make it happen.
Speaker 1: He called the plan the North Pole Family Reunion. He
Speaker 1: promised an Alcock and Kelly that he would find out
Speaker 1: as much about their American relatives as possible. When he
Speaker 1: returned to the US and Cold called members of the
Speaker 1: American Henson's and Peery's, they had opposite reactions. Henson's great niece,
Speaker 1: all of Henson Fulton, and her family were ecstatic. As
Speaker 1: a young girl, Fulton told him she had been kicked
Speaker 1: out of class for telling everybody about her great uncle
Speaker 1: who had reached the North Pole. Her teacher had thought
Speaker 1: she was lying. The insult made her determined to share
Speaker 1: Henson's story with as many people as she could. When
Speaker 1: Counter told her of his discovery, she couldn't wait to
Speaker 1: welcome an Alcock and his family to Boston. The Peries
Speaker 1: reacted differently. A family spokesman seemed to suspect Counter of
Speaker 1: trying to call Peri's accomplishments into question, or, worse, stir
Speaker 1: up the bitter controversy between Peery and Frederick Cook over
Speaker 1: who conquered the North Pole first. They wanted nothing to
Speaker 1: do with their Arctic relatives. Edward Peery, Stafford the Explorer's
Speaker 1: grandson later told The Washington Post that the family was
Speaker 1: well aware of Peri's infidelity, but that obviously it's not
Speaker 1: something you talk about because it was very hurtful to
Speaker 1: my grandmother. Stafford added, Henson and Perry were up there
Speaker 1: at one time for four years. It's a miracle there
Speaker 1: was only one descendant of each. Human beings are human.
Speaker 1: You can't send a man into a situation like that
Speaker 1: and expect otherwise. Despite that lackluster response, counter went ahead
Speaker 1: with the reunion plans, and some of the Peries did
Speaker 1: join the festivities. When counter bypassed the family spokesman and
Speaker 1: called Robert Pery Jr. Directly, Robert and his wife agreed
Speaker 1: to a visit with his half brother, Calli and his
Speaker 1: family in their home in Maine. Two distant Peri relatives
Speaker 1: attended a reception with the Henson's and Arctic visitors before
Speaker 1: the big cookout. In the days following the party, Callie
Speaker 1: and a Naucock attended a lavish banquet in their honor
Speaker 1: at Harvard University, then traveled to important sites in their
Speaker 1: father's lives. They toured the Explorers Club and Harlem's Abyssinian
Speaker 1: Baptist Church to which Henson belonged. They visited Henson's birthplace
Speaker 1: in Nanjimoy, Maryland, and Peri's grave at Arlington National Cemetery,
Speaker 1: and now Cock paid his respects to his father at
Speaker 1: Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, where Henson was buried in nine.
Speaker 1: At each stop, throngs of dignitaries and invited guests welcomed
Speaker 1: the visitors and jostled to shake their hands while newspaper
Speaker 1: reporters and photographers clicked away. Their whirlwind tour lasted two weeks,
Speaker 1: after which the Inuite returned to their home villages in Greenland. Sadly,
Speaker 1: less than a month later, the Nalcock died of cancer.
Speaker 1: Counter continued his efforts to share Matthew Henson's story and
Speaker 1: give him the recognition he deserved. Before the north Pole
Speaker 1: family reunion took place, he had launched a campaign to
Speaker 1: have Henson's remains removed from Woodlawn Cemetery and placed next
Speaker 1: to Peery's in Arlington National Cemetery, and honor he felt
Speaker 1: was befitting a co discoverer of the North Pole, and
Speaker 1: to honor Henson's wishes, he promised a Nalcock that if
Speaker 1: he succeeded, his children and grandchildren would be there to
Speaker 1: see it. Counter wasn't the first one to try to
Speaker 1: make this happen. In nineteen sixty six, Senator Joseph Tidings,
Speaker 1: a Democrat from Maryland, introduced a bill to remove Henson's
Speaker 1: remains to Arlington. Evidently, it went nowhere. In five Counter
Speaker 1: had written to President Ronald Reagan and the military asking
Speaker 1: for permission for the reburial, and it was denied. He
Speaker 1: then wrote to the First Lady, Cabinet secretaries and the media,
Speaker 1: which got behind the idea, especially after a now Cox
Speaker 1: and Callie's visits to their father's graves. In October seven,
Speaker 1: the Department of the Army changed its mind and granted
Speaker 1: Counter's request. A group of Henson relatives and John H. Johnson,
Speaker 1: the publisher of Ebony and Jet magazines and a longtime
Speaker 1: admirer of Henson, joined Counter in organizing and planning the undertaking.
Speaker 1: They chose April sixth, the seventy ninth anniversary of the
Speaker 1: date PEERI claimed to have reached the North Pole for
Speaker 1: the ceremony, re entering Henson and his wife Lucy, who
Speaker 1: had passed away in three of a now Cocks sons
Speaker 1: and two grandsons, and Olive Henson Fulton represented the Henson family.
Speaker 1: Among the two hundred invited guests was civil rights leader
Speaker 1: Dorothy Height, a good friend of Lucy's, who delivered her eulogy.
Speaker 1: Members of the Peerie family were invited but couldn't make it.
Speaker 1: According to The New York Times, NASA astronaut Guy Blueford,
Speaker 1: the first black American in space, delivered a salute to
Speaker 1: the explorer who came before him next to the granite
Speaker 1: headstone featuring a likeness of Henson. The new burial plot
Speaker 1: was right next to Peery's resting place, marked by its
Speaker 1: huge globe shaped monument. Speaking for the in a white
Speaker 1: branch of the family and now Cock's youngest son, Kidlock, said,
Speaker 1: now the old friends are together again, they can talk
Speaker 1: about old times. The Quest for the North Pole is
Speaker 1: hosted by Me Cat Long. This episode was researched and
Speaker 1: written by Me, with fact checking by Austin Thompson. The
Speaker 1: executive producers are Aaron McCarthy and Tyler Klang. The supervising
Speaker 1: producer is Dylan Fagan. The show is edited by Dylan
Speaker 1: Fagan for transcripts, a glossary, and to learn more about
Speaker 1: this episode, visit Mental flaws dot com slash podcast. The
Speaker 1: Quest for the North Pole is a production of I
Speaker 1: heart Radio and Mental floss. For more podcasts from my
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