The Black Informant | African American Commentary, News and Community Building

(newyorker.com) “The American explorer Robert Peary reached the North Pole on April 6, 1909. With him were four Eskimos— Oatah, Egingwah, Seegloo, and Ookeah—and Matthew Henson, an African-American guide. To Barbara Hillary, Henson is both a hero and a goad. Hillary is seventy-five, and a resident of Arverne, Queens. On April 20th, she will disembark from the Borneo ice camp, towing a fifty-pound sled and the wish to become the first African-American woman on record to set foot on the top of the world.

Hillary—who has a squat build and a powerhouse smile—was born in the San Juan Hill neighborhood of Manhattan (now near the site of Lincoln Center) and brought up in Harlem. Her father died when she was a baby. While her mother cleaned houses to support the family, Hillary immersed herself in books about endurance under extreme circumstances. “Survival 101 was ‘Robinson Crusoe,’ ” she said the other day, before beginning her daily workout at the Cyberzone gym in Rockaway Park. (more…)

Good for her! I say she needs to leave something at the north pole to remind folks that a Black woman was there. Perhaps a pack of weave hair or something . This had me thinking this morning–what would the North pole look like if Black folks lived there?

(Just like it does right now because its too cold!)