Mississippi Solo

Mississippi Solo is the book that launched the career of America's premier African American memoirist and travel writer. It is the true story of a young black man's quest: to canoe the length of the Mississippi River from Minnesota to New Orleans. The trip's dangers were legion for a black man traveling alone, paddling from (as a friend put it) "where there ain't no black folks to where they still don't like us much." He encounters barge wakes, wild dogs, and two shotgun-toting bigots who nearly end his life in the calm of an Arkansas dusk. Equally significant were the people who reached out to Harris and shared in his adventure. A towboat captain who begins by talking of "niggers" ultimately welcomes Harris as a friend. And from bridges and shorelines comes waves of encouragement as Harris tells onlookers he's "headed for New Orleans."