Speaker 1: Right now it is time for the Way Black History Fact.
Speaker 1: And Today's Way Black History Fact is sponsored by Major
Speaker 1: Threads for innovative, fashionable sportswear. Checkmajor threats dot com. And
Speaker 1: I'm going to share a writing from someone whose writings
Speaker 1: I like. His name is Carfrey J from hip Hop
Speaker 1: Public Health. And you know we've cross checked this, of course,
Speaker 1: but I like this writing, so I'm gonna share it
Speaker 1: with you. We're going to talk about perhaps the first
Speaker 1: man to make it to the North Hole. And the
Speaker 1: way the story sounds is like he was a black man.
Speaker 1: So follow me. In the long and brutal annals of
Speaker 1: American history, a few stories are more appalling than those
Speaker 1: covering the silencing of black excellence. From enslavement to Jim Crow,
Speaker 1: from systemic oppression to cultural erasure, the legacy of white
Speaker 1: supremacy has worked tirelessly to rop Black people of their
Speaker 1: rifle place in history. Among those most grievously wronged is
Speaker 1: Matthew Alexander Henson, a name that should be universally celebrated,
Speaker 1: but has instead been buried beneath white historians selected amnesia.
Speaker 1: Henson wasn't just a participant in the famed expedition to
Speaker 1: the North Pole. He was the first man to stand
Speaker 1: at that frozen frontier a black man, Yet for decades
Speaker 1: his contributions were dismissed, belittled, and outright stolen. At twenty one,
Speaker 1: Henson met US Navy officer Robert Peary, who would forever
Speaker 1: attempt to place himself as the sole hero of the
Speaker 1: North Pole expedition. Perry saw in Henson not an equal,
Speaker 1: but an instrument, a resource to be exploited. Yet it
Speaker 1: was Henson who mastered the art of Arctic's survival. He
Speaker 1: learned the Inuit language and formed close relationships with the
Speaker 1: Inuit people, adopting their methods to navigate the unforgiving ice
Speaker 1: and snow terrain. In contrast, Pury remained largely dependent on
Speaker 1: Hinson's skills, and his survival was often due to Hinson's
Speaker 1: guidance and ability to forge connections with the Inuit people
Speaker 1: who aided his team. The journey to the North Pole
Speaker 1: was a brutal, soul cut cresting odyssey, one that tested
Speaker 1: every ounce of human endurance, both physically and mentally. Matthew
Speaker 1: Henson wasn't merely a part of the expedition. He was
Speaker 1: its cornerstone. It wasn't just the cold they fought. It
Speaker 1: was the biting winds that cut deep like razors, the
Speaker 1: treacherous ice that threatened to swallow them whole, and the
Speaker 1: sheer oppressive weight of isolations at the ends of the earth. Henson,
Speaker 1: a master of Arctic survival, rose to the challenge time
Speaker 1: and again, his leadership and resourcefulness proving vital as Pieri
Speaker 1: and other struggle to adapt to the extreme condition. The
Speaker 1: team set out from Greenland in nineteen oh eight in
Speaker 1: July with a dream of becoming the first humans to
Speaker 1: reach the North Pole. While Pierri was the first was
Speaker 1: the face of the expedition, it was Henson who had
Speaker 1: earned the respect and admiration of the Inuit guides, who
Speaker 1: viewed him as one of their own due to his skill, courage,
Speaker 1: and humility. Henson fluency in the Inuit language and deep
Speaker 1: understanding of their techniques gave the team a crucial edge
Speaker 1: in navigating the Arctic's brutal environment. By the time they
Speaker 1: reached the final leg of their journey in March nineteen
Speaker 1: oh nine, Perry's health was deteriorating. His toes had become frostbitten,
Speaker 1: and he could no longer the group in the front.
Speaker 1: It was Henson who took charge, scouting ahead and blazing
Speaker 1: a trail toward their ultimate goal. Despite the overwhelming odds,
Speaker 1: Henson remained focused, his eyes locked on the horizon where
Speaker 1: the North Pole lay. On April sixth, nineteen oh nine,
Speaker 1: after a grueling final push, Matthew Henson became the first
Speaker 1: man to reach the North Pole, standing alone on its ice.
Speaker 1: His words, simple yet profound, reverberate through history. I think
Speaker 1: I'm the first man to sit atop the world. And
Speaker 1: indeed he was, But the glory that should have been
Speaker 1: his was cruelly stolen by the racism that would define
Speaker 1: the aftermath of his historic achievement. In the years that
Speaker 1: followed the expedition, Peery was celebrated and showered with accolades
Speaker 1: and hailed as a national hero. Henson, however, was relegated
Speaker 1: to the shadows. While Peery received promotions in financial rewards,
Speaker 1: Henson was forced to take menial job as a clerk
Speaker 1: at a federal customs office. Even in that position, he
Speaker 1: was treated with contempt, with white colleagues often sneering at
Speaker 1: his achievements, dismissing them as unimportant. Or fabricated. The White Press,
Speaker 1: of course, followed suit rarely mentioning his name or contributions.
Speaker 1: The erasure was deliberate,