so matthew henson was the son of sharecropper, was born in maryland, not so far from here, and he was orphaned at the age of about seven. he became a cat, ran away from home, became a cabin boy, sailed the world, and he ended up going on seven journeys to the north, towards the north pole. and the last one, he reaches the north pole with robert peary and henson is doing this all in the jim crow era. so he's overcome poverty, he's overcoming discrimination, you know, throughout his life, people said to him, you know, you're not the kind of person that can make it to the north pole because you're black. you can't withstand the cold, things like that. and you know, he was just determined to prove them wrong. and then when he came back, having most likely been ahead of peary in terms of reaching the geographic north pole first, or at least as close as the instruments of the day, it could have gotten him. so he comes back home and all the newspapers give all the credit to peary. so even after he's made this amazing accomplishment, you know, being fluent in the inuit language, learning how