Matthew Henson was born in Charles County, Maryland. Orphaned in his youth, Henson went to sea at the age of 12 as a cabin boy. He later met the explorer Robert E. Peary, who employed him on several expeditions. In 1909, Peary, Henson, and four Eskimos became the first men to reach the North Pole.

Henson's account of the journey, A Negro Explorer at the North Pole, appeared in 1912. The following year, by order of President William Howard Taft, Henson was appointed a clerk in the US Customs House in New York City, a post he held until his retirement in 1936. Henson received the Congressional medal awarded all members of the Peary expedition in 1944.