Matthew Henson was not meant to lead an ordinary life; his dreams had sails. Those dreams took him from the port of Baltimore and onto the sea, seeking adventures around the world. He may have started out as a cabin boy, but he did not set sail with Robert Peary just to launder shirts and cook meals–he meant to prove himself as an explorer. And after decades of danger and defying odds, Henson was part of a crew–one white man, one black man, and four Inuit men– who finally did what no one had ever done before: they made it to the North Pole.

Told in poetic first-person narration, this is the thrilling and inspiring story of a hidden figure from American history.