Matthew Henson, noted African American explorer, traveled with Robert Peary and four Inuit guides, and became the first to set foot on the North Pole. Henson spent 18 years traveling with Perry, accompanying him on 7 Arctic voyages. was born in Nanjemoy, to sharecropper parents. He met Perry while working as a salesclerk in a department store in Washington DC and first served as Perry’s valet. On their first expedition, in 1891, Henson served as a navigator and craftsman.