Author: Eddy Harris
Mississippi Solo is a beautiful true-life American adventure about a black man paddling a canoe alone down the length of the mighty Mississippi River in the 1980s. During his at-just-the-right-speed paddling journey, the author, Eddy Harris, brings out unique observations about grassroots Americana through his encounters with people along the way, and he finds adventure and enchanting moments at every bend in the river.
This is a travelogue to be sure, but it is less focused on the River and Eddy’s experiences with his canoe. It’s really a story about discovery: the nature through which he travels, the people and cultures he experiences, and a good dose of self-discovery about Eddy’s own history and place in this country.
I read this book just prior to embarking on my own 2-month rowboat trip down the Mississippi, and it gave me wonderful insight to what I could expect along the same course. Eddy’s focus on the people he met, the River’s history, and the influence it has on the community around it helped open my eyes to the same as I slowly made my way 1,800 miles through ten states. I admire Eddy for several reasons. For one, his journey as a solo Black man in the 80’s was surely different, and arguably more gutsy, than mine. In his words, part of his experience was influenced by paddling from “where there ain’t no black folks to where they still don’t like us much.” Another reason I admire him is he wrote a wonderful book about his journey – something I had the ambition to do as well, but have yet to do so. And lastly, Eddy repeated his Mississippi River adventure a second time, 25 years after his first journey. I would love to do that as well.
A parting message of Eddy’s experience on the Mississippi, echoed by my own, is that America is a wonderful place, filled with kind and generous people tucked away in every corner of this country. One just has to be brave enough to step out there to explore and find them.