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| More Cloze Activities | EnchantedLearning.com Matthew Henson: Cloze Activity Fill in the blanks in the text below. |
Go to the Answers |
| published North Pole ship Congressional Peary's |
explorer Taft retired expeditions America |
people City Eskimos African-American mechanic |
Matthew Alexander Henson (Aug. 8, 1866 - March 9, 1955) was an _______________________ explorer and one of the first _______________________ to visit the North Pole. He was on most of Robert E. ______________________ expeditions, including the 1909 trip to the _______________________.
Henson's parents died when he was a young boy. He went to sea when he was 12 years old, working as a cabin boy on a three-masted sailing _______________________. He later became a clerk in Washington, D.C., where he met the Arctic _______________________ Robert E. Peary; in 1888, Peary hired Henson as a personal assistant for his expedition to Nicaragua, Central _______________________. Because of Henson's skills (Henson was an accomplished _______________________, navigator and carpenter), resourcefulness and strength, Peary chose Henson to accompany him on his next 7 _______________________ to the Arctic, from 1891 through 1909. Peary, Henson, and four _______________________ were the first people to reach the North Pole (in 1909).
Henson wrote "A Negro Explorer at the North Pole," which was _______________________ in 1912. US President William H. _______________________ appointed Henson a clerk in the U.S. Customs House in New York _______________________ in 1913; he held the post until 1936, when he _______________________. Henson was awarded a _______________________ medal in 1944 for his work on the Peary expedition.
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