(A)

Matthew Henson met Robert Edwin Peary in Washington D.C. in 1887. Peary had heard about Henson’s seafaring experience, and hired him to help with an upcoming expedition to Nicaragua. After returning from Nicaragua, Henson worked in Philadelphia for some time, but shortly thereafter Henson joined Peary again for an expedition to Greenland. While there, Henson learned the Inuit language and the natives’ Arctic survival skills.

(B)

Their next trip to Greenland came in 1893, this time with the goal of charting the entire ice cap. The two-year journey almost ended in tragedy, with Peary’s team on the brink of starvation; members of the team managed to survive by eating all but one of their sled dogs. Despite this perilous trip, the explorers returned to Greenland in 1896 and 1897 to collect three large meteorites they had found during their earlier quests.

(C)

The meteorites were sold to the American Museum of Natural History and the money was used to help fund their future expeditions. The Peary Arctic Club was also formed to raise more money. Over the next several years, Peary and Henson would make multiple attempts to reach the North Pole. Their 1902 attempt proved tragic, with six Inuit team members perishing due to a lack of food and supplies. They were blocked from progress north across the icepack by melting ice.

(D)

However, they made more progress during their 1905 trip. Backed by President Theodore Roosevelt and armed with a vessel that had the ability to cut through ice, the team was able to sail within 175 miles of the North Pole. Melted ice blocking the sea path hindered the mission’s completion, forcing them to turn back. Around this time, Henson fathered a son, Anauakaq, with an Inuit woman, but back at home in 1906 he married Lucy Ross.

(E)

The team’s final attempt to reach the North Pole began in 1908. Henson proved an invaluable team member, building sledges and training others in their handling. Of Henson, expedition member Donald Macmillan once noted, ”With years of experience equal to that of Peary himself, he was indispensable.”

Arthur Robert Ashe Jr. was born on July 10, 1943, in Richmond, Virginia as the elder of Arthur Ashe Sr. and Mattie Cunningham’s two sons. Arthur Ashe’s childhood was marked by hardship. Under his mother’s direction, Ashe was reading by the age of 4. But his life was turned upsidedown two years later, when Mattie passed away.
 About a year after his mother’s death, Arthur discovered the game of tennis, picking up a racket for the first time at the age of 7, at a park not far from his home. Sticking with the game, Ashe eventually caught the attention of Dr. Robert Walter Johnson Jr., a tennis coach from Lynchburg, Virginia, who was active in the black tennis community. Under Johnson’s direction, Ashe excelled. In his first tournament, Ashe reached the junior national championships. Driven to excel, he eventually moved to St. Louis to work closely with another coach, winning the junior national title in 1960 and again in 1961. Ranked the fifth best junior player in the country, Ashe accepted a scholarship at the University of California, Los Angeles, where he graduated with a degree in business administration.
 In 1963, Ashe became the first African-American to be recruited by the U.S. Davis Cup team. Thereafter, he continued to refine his game, gaining the attention of his tennis idol, Pancho Gonzales, who further helped Ashe improve his serve-and-volley attack. The training all came together in 1968, when the still-amateur Ashe shocked the world by capturing the U.S. Open title – becoming the first, and still the only, male African-American player to do so. Two years later, he took home the Australian title.
 In 1975, Ashe registered another upset by beating his fellow countryman Jimmy Connors in the Wimbledon final, marking another pioneering achievement within the African-American community – becoming the first male African-American player to win Wimbledon – which, like his U.S. Open victory, remains unmatched. That same year (1975), Ashe became the first African- American tennis player to be ranked No. 1 in the world. Ten years later, in 1985, he would become the first African-American man to be inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.