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Title: Dark Companion: The Story of Matthew Henson by Bradley Robinson, Matthew Henson ISBN: 0-9665762-8-4 Publisher: Widget Magic Pub. Date: 15 October, 1997 Format: Spiral-bound List Price(USD): $24.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.1 (10 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: An Inspirational Story
Comment: This is the life story of Matthew Henson, the Black explorer who went to the North Pole with Peary. The first-hand tales of Henson's Arctic exploits are told in straightforward prose, full of personal touches. One can almost see the twinkle in Henson's eye as he related these stories to listeners to whom the Arctic was as remote as the moon.
Henson was a key player on one Peary expedition after another from 1892 through 1909. He went with Peary virtually every step of the way on every expedition after Peary's first crossing of Greenland. Henson built sledges and other equipment, handled the dog teams, took his turn out in front by a day or more breaking trail, and, most importantly, developed a close working relationship with the Eskimos, whose assistance was the key to reaching the North Pole. Henson is not shy about his own contribution, and that view is supported by the three introductions to Dark Companion by Peary contemporaries MacMillan, Freuchen and Stefansson. These testimonials alone are reason enough to buy this book. MacMillan, a tenderfoot on the 1909 Peary expedition to the Pole and an Arctic explorer in his own right in later years, readily admitted that Peary took Henson to the pole because, with all of his experience and abilities he was the best man for the job. And Henson's courage -- whether pushing ahead with Peary despite lack of supplies, relying on hunting skills to avoid almost certain starvation, or facing constant danger from moving, crushing, and suddenly parting ice, or fighting walruses from kayaks -- is indisputable.
These Arctic accounts are available in other sources, including Henson's own book, a Negro Explorer at the North Pole, and books by Henson's fellow travelers, Peary, Bartlett, MacMillan and Borup. But only in Dark Companion can one read Henson's account of survival in another inhospitable environment -- late 19th and early 20th century America.
The Arctic was a place where Henson could contribute his full potential. Not because Peary or his white companions were civil rights crusaders, but because the environment of the north simply demanded too much to afford the luxury of limiting any person's contributions on arbitrary racial grounds. By contrast, Henson's life outside the Arctic was a struggle against diminished expectations and unspoken slurs at best and outright racial hatred at worst. But in telling the story, Henson focuses on the exception, the kindness of the sea captain who tutored him and taught him to read, as the defining influence in his life.
Upon returning to America after Peary's expedition to the pole, Henson's contribution went largely unrecognized. In fact, critics openly attacked Peary for taking a Negro on the final leg of the North Pole dash. Early on, the argument, by Cook supporters, was raised that Peary must have taken Henson because he didn't want a "credible" witness. This, the argument goes, would leave Peary free to make phony claims, since Henson would presumably be either too stupid to contradict Peary, would not dare to contradict him, or would be ignored.
Henson continues to be caught in the crossfire of modern Peary critics. To discount the possibility that Peary might have chosen Henson on merit, critics routinely have referred to him as Peary's manservant or valet. Yet Peary listed Henson as an assistant. Henson was only a "valet" once, when surveying in Nicaragua prior to 1892. Some recent critics disparage Henson's lack of "full literacy" and analyze his every statement looking for inconsistencies to prove him a "liar." Henson's recounting of his adventures to Robinson, some 40 to 50 years after the fact, does, to be sure, contain some inconsistencies in the details. Still, one wonders why some critics readily excuse what might charitably be called far greater memory lapses in the accounts of Frederick Cook, a "white man," while branding Henson's mistaken recollections as lies. But Henson never wavered on the essentials: Henson, with all his expert sledding experience, was confident that the expedition had covered the necessary distance from the last navigational observation to the Pole.
One cannot find fault with Robinson's editorial decision to let Henson's recollections speak for him. The opportunity to get Henson's detailed story, under oath, subject to cross examination, while it was fresh in his mind, was passed up when Congress, in its investigation of Peary's claim, did not bother to call Henson as a witness. History will never recover from that shameful oversight, and Robinson could not repair the damage.
This book is not about whether Henson actually stood at the pole, or only 5 or 20 miles from it. It is about one man's decision to be shaped by what was positive in his life. It is about having the courage to face every conceivable danger to participate in a great enterprise on an even playing field. It is about the satisfaction of seeing one's talents and experience put to good use, and of being the one called upon when the need was greatest -- in short, a hero. It is an inspirational story.
Rating: 5
Summary: MY SOURCE OF INSPIRATION
Comment: I was 14 years of age when I first read Dark Companion, and it set the course of my life. Being a black child, I, like other blacks, or Negroes as we were call then (1948) were told of the so many things we could not do. "White people would never allow you to do this, or that" we the youth were told by our (well meaning) elders. My childhood dreams would be shattered the moment I spoke them aloud,, that is until I read of Mr. Matthew Henson adventures. His life story blow my mind. And convinced me that black people could be heroes too.
After that reading experience, no one could convince me that I couldn't do the things, and live the life, I have lived. Proof, I am now the author of WHAT'S A COMMIE EVER DONE TO BLACK PEOPLE? (a Korean war memoir) Publish by McFarland Publishers 1997. Also, RETURN OF THE AFRICAN AMERICAN, by Kroshka Books, both are true life adventures. I am also nearing the completion of a series of African mythologies (illustrated books of children's stories) Stories I learn during my 11 years of living amongst the people of my ancestors in Ghana, west Africa, who adoptive me during my Sankofa there.
Alone with my grandfather, who was 12, when the civil-war begun, Mr. Matthew A. Henson memories will always remain with me. He was one of the first African-Americans, sources of inspiration to me. And I strongly encourage all to read his Dark Companion. I also salute Mr. Bradley Robinson, and his son, for their authorship.
Curtis J. Morrow Author
Rating: 4
Summary: A tale of unbelievable courage
Comment: This book is an inspirational read. I've always been fascinated by polar explorers (especially the early ones) because of the privations they suffered, and for nothing but recognition and desire to see what hasn't yet been seen.
Juxtapose the sub-plot of a noted Naval navigator, driven to make his mark in the world, forming a relationship with a black man (very free-thinking in those days) that made both men stronger than they would have been on their own, and you have a truly a fascinating story.
It's too bad that so much has to be made of the fact that Henson was a black man, but it mattered then, and sadly, it matters now. If Peary didn't think it was issue 80 years ago, why is race still an issue? This is the question that forms an undercurrent to the story in the book. Someday, perhaps, we'll talk of Peary and Henson's exploits, and the word "black" or "white" will only be relevent when disussing seal noses and snow....
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Title: A Negro Explorer at the North Pole by Matthew A. Henson, S. Allen Counter ISBN: 1931229007 Publisher: Invisible Cities Press Pub. Date: 01 May, 2001 List Price(USD): $24.00 |
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Title: A Negro Explorer At The North Pole by Matthew A. Henson ISBN: 0966576217 Publisher: Widget Magic Pub. Date: 06 October, 2000 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
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