This Week In Black History

Jet, Jan 29, 2001

January 27, 1973--

Joseph Lawson Howze was installed as the auxiliary Bishop of Mississippi, serving the Diocese of Natchez-Jackson on this day. Howze was born on August 30, 1923, in Daphne, AL. He attended Alabama State Junior College and received a BS degree from Alabama State University in 1948. He was ordained for the priesthood on May 7, 1959, for the Diocese of Raleigh, NC. In 1977 he was installed as the first Bishop of Biloxi, MS, and in March 1996, Bishop Howze became Bishop Promoter of the Apostleship of the Sea (AOS), in the United States. In every major country, a bishop serves as AOS episcopal promoter, working with local bishops to oversee the chaplaincies of seaports and assist them in developing their ministries.

January 28, 1944--

Matthew A. Henson, explorer and adventurer, received a medal by Congress on this day for his role in reaching the North Pole. It was the United States' first official recognition of the explorer who accompanied Naval Admiral Robert Peary on the historic expedition and became the first man to reach the North Pole. When Peary manned his second expedition to the Arctic region in 1891, he took Henson along as a friend. Henson became an expert in handling the equipment, dog sleds and in dealing with the Eskimos. And in 1900, 1902 and 1905 the two made repeated trips to reach the North Pole. In February 1909, they launched another expedition from Cape Sheridan, Greenland. Finally, on April 7, 1909, the two men were just 60 miles from their goal, but exhausted and suffering from snow blindness. Despite his condition, Matthew Henson went forth and became the first man to reach the North Pole. He published his account of the expedition in his book, A Negro Explorer at the North Pole.

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