Denali National Park & Preserve

Almost unbeknownst in mountaineering history is a man by the name of Charles Madison Crenchaw. On July 9, 1964, just a week after President Lyndon B. Johnson enacted the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Crenchaw, almost unassumingly so, became the first African American to reach the summit of Denali.

While most who visit and live in Alaska know of Fannie as the legendary pioneer who arrived in the Kantishna Hills during the 1905-06 gold rush, there is another side to Fannie’s extraordinary life that is not as well known—notably, her contributions to science and the local community.