Matthew Alexander Henson was an African American explorer and was a key member of the first successful expedition to the North Pole in the early nineteen hundreds and made seven separate voyages to the Arctic. It wasn’t until 1937 that he finally received long-deserved recognition. In 2000, Hensen was awarded the National Geographic Hubbard Medal years after his death in 1955. To this day Matthew Henson is revered as one of the greatest American Explorers and seaman.