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The history of exploration is replete with famous names everyone knows, like Robert Peary, the man most often credited with first reaching the North Pole. Those who work alongside the legends—doing the heavy lifting, saving lives, making essential calculations—tend to be forgotten or marginalized almost immediately in the telling of the story, especially when they don’t fit the profile for the kinds of people allowed to make history.
In Peary’s case, it seems that the most important member of his team—his assistant, African American explorer Matthew Henson—may have actually reached the North Pole first, along with four of the team's Inuit crew members.
