Indiegogo is committed to accessibility. If you have difficulty using our site, please contact support@indiegogo.com for assistance or view our accessibility notice by clicking here

🚚 Your Perfect Travel Mate - Back Roamate Now, Shipping Guaranteed!

This campaign is closed

Mississippi Solo Redux

An old black man and Old Man River. Solo by canoe down the Mississippi -- Again!

Mississippi Solo Redux

An old black man and Old Man River. Solo by canoe down the Mississippi -- Again!

3 Campaigns |

St. Louis, United States

$15,400 USD 39 backers

8% of $177,000 Flexible Goal Flexible Goal

Story

FAQ

Updates 8

Comments 15

Highlights

3 Projects 3 Projects

A Dream too good to just let it die!

An Old Black Man meets Old Man River
Down the Mississippi River by Canoe

If you don't think 60 years old is very old, try paddling 2500 miles/4000 kilometers at that age.

OUR GOAL & OUR PROMISE

We are committed to doing something extraordinary -- which is not merely canoeing the Mississippi River; many people have done it -- though not twice, I bet -- and many will continue to be inspired to do -- I hope. But what we will do is film the journey and tell the story of this river in a way that will be both spectacular and beautiful. The flora, the fauna, the dangers of the river, its history and its importance to America. In short, in a way that has not really been done before.

We will reveal its myth and majesty and it's meaning; in short, the Magic of the Mississippi!

Imagine. A front row seat to the extremely challenging and profoundly intimate 2500-mile journey of a Blackamerican who has been enthralled by this river since childhood, enthralled enough to want to canoe this river twice -- that's what we're offering. We are telling a story, of course, but also offering inspiration to others -- inspiration to all of us to challenge ourselves and go forth and make our own dreams come true.

I'm not very good at asking for help -- and certainly not good at asking for money. Not from friends, not from strangers. In fact, I hate it!

But you gotta do what you gotta do... And I have to get downriver... Again!

And your contributions are essential.

A good friend once said to me: "Lower your expectations." Very good advice. Sometimes. But I'm not good at doing that either.

What I can do, however, is restructure my goals and instead of swallowing the turkey whole, eat it in smaller bites.

Meaning: Step 1) Get downriver!

We can deal with Step 2 and Step 3 later ( turning the material into a film or short TV series). But first things first. Let's get that canoe from Lake Itasca in Minnesota down to New Orleans.

Together we can make this dream possible. We promise not to disappoint you!

OUR DREAM & OUR VISION

This journey is part of a personal quest, but it is so much more than that, much bigger -- one that touches the dreams of so many people: to challenge and test yourself, to have a grand adventure and to explore.

In a sense, it is what the American pioneer spirit is all about.

I canoed this river 30 years ago. I wrote about the experience and launched my career as a travel writer with Mississippi Solo -- solo because no one wanted to come with me.

With the success of that book and the response to it, it was clear that people did want to come along. So here I am, thirty years later, wanting to do it again, daring to do it again and wanting to bring the world along with me -- not via a book this time but with a powerful documentary film in which I will share my passion for this river and allow viewers to experience the life of the Mississippi and life along the river as if they were on the Mississippi themselves.

I'm inviting you to join me.

It's a dangerous journey, no doubt about it. Two young men, having read my book, came to me for advice. They wanted to try the Mississippi and did. They drowned in the process. Last time I made this journey, two men stumbled into my camp and threatened me while aiming their shotguns at me. There were wild dogs and the river itself and all that water -- nearly two miles wide in places -- and all that barge traffic. Towboats, huge locks and dams, unimaginably difficult currents. And of course my own inexperience.

I respected and feared this river more than I feared God -- from Mississippi Solo

I'm less inexperienced this time around, but the river is no plaything. It still frightens me. But I want to see if I can do it again. I want to see the river again and be on it in a very personal way and feel it the way I felt it before.

And I want to show, woven throughout this adventure, how the Mississippi and its towns and its people have changed over time -- and how I have changed too. I want to explore what these changes say about a changing America.

My vision is to celebrate the historical significance and the cultural importance and the diversity of life along the Mississippi -- one of the world's great rivers.

Dreams are delicate and made of gossamer... and this dream of mine, suspended on the breeze and as delicate as ever, was just as real as summer spider webs hanging in the air and just as clinging Once they attach themselves to you they are hard to get rid of. -- from Mississippi Solo

Eddy L. Harris
Canoeing the Mississippi is not so impossible or even rare. But I am likely the only black man to have done such a thing.

"From where there ain't no black folks to where they still don't like us much." Robert in Mississippi Solo

My being black is not the most important thing about me but it does offer an interesting perspective to the journey and to the way race might be a factor in the telling of the story.

I have followed the Blackamerican Diaspora from Native Stranger through South of Haunted Dreams and on to Still LIfe in Harlem and Paris en Noir et Black -- and even via the BBC documentary Roots in Wales. If you've read my books, you'll know that I don't always share the most common viewpoints or lines of thinking.

At every turn Harris challenges assumptions about race, challenging readers to examine their own minds.... The Los Angeles Reader

Harris is not your everyday tourist. His travels almost always have a purpose... USA Today

...these wandering have brought him to some fragile peace... People Magazine

[His journeys] are most noticeable for the bridges he builds with other people... San Francisco Chronicle

I continue to challenge myself and my own assumptions.

THE RIVER
One of the longest rivers in the world and without doubt one of the most important, the Mississippi River is part and parcel of the American character, its history and evolution.

The river divides the country East from West, joins it from North to South. The river carries sins and salvation, myth and power, legend and literary legacies and America's cultural heritage and its history. From Mark Twain to BB King and Elvis Presley and Louis Armstrong. From French fur trappers and Native American civilizations and settlements, to Spanish explorers and pioneers settling the West. From steamboats carrying slaves and cotton riverboat gamblers to barges transporting corn, wheat and soybean, iron and steel to the rest of the world, coal and petroleum products to the upper MidWest. The Mississippi has been the transmitter of Blues and Jazz, has been a escape route for runaway slaves, has been a pathway north during the great migration, is still one of the world's most important commercial arteries. It is one of the mainstays of the meaning of America -- past present and future.

Cleaner now than when I made my first journey along its length -- due to organizations like Living Lands and Waters and the Sierra Club -- the Mississippi is nevertheless threatened. The invasion of the Asian carp leaps first to mind, but there is agricultural runoff to deal with, industrial waste, urban pollution, deforestation and fish kill. Half of the freshwater mussel species found in the Mississippi are in danger of extinction. And let's not forget the huge dead zone at the mouth of river in the Gulf of Mexico. The river needs our help and we intend to raise awareness of the environmental issues facing the Mississippi. This project will be a way to draw attention to that need.

Nevertheless the Mississippi River remains a beautiful thing, surprisingly wild in places. Spilling out of Lake Itasca as a narrow creek it quickly grows into a .mighty river. Along its course it is home to beavers and snapping turtles and muskrats, and there are timber wolves running along its shores. When asked about some of the most beautiful places I have seen in my travels around the world, the Mississippi River always comes to mind.

I love this river. I always have.

THE PROJECT

Sadly, this is flyover country for a lot of people, a part of America most people don't know.. We hope to change that.

Our goal is to put a canoe into the headwaters of the Mississippi at Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota and aim for New Orleans.

Four months on the river, journeying and filming, time enough to capture the river's splendor and its truths, from mid-August 2014 (in time to film the Native Americans during the harvesting of wild rice) to mid-December.

Once again I will be solo in the canoe -- paddling and camping the entire way. Our camera crew, headed by 6-time Emmy Award Winner Neil Rettig (www.neilrettigproductions.com) will follow along in a houseboat and in vans, filming as we go, capturing interviews, talking to people who depend on the river, who live along the river, who love the river -- and people who simply have a story to tell.

This is going to be a great way to see and know the country.

Ideally we will have three camera crews filming various aspects of the river and journey -- plus a camera in the canoe for critical shots from the canoe's point of view and in case I fall overboard. We wouldn't want to miss that!

We need the crews, of course, but also vans and drivers and a houseboat and someone to drive that boat, a smaller boat for filming on the river and someone to operate it. We'll need camera equipment and sound gear and an assistant or two, meals and sometimes lodging for the crew.

We need a lot of help and we need a lot of money.

Primary objective for now is to get downriver. When we are done we will have a mountain of material -- enough for a feature film for festivals and perhaps a theatrical release, as well as enough for a short series on television. There is great potential for commercial interest but we have our on the educational appeal of this project too.

But we have to get downriver. That is Step 1.

Step 2 will be post-production. With the material we will end up with, we should be able to find the wherewithal for Step 2.

THE BIG INDIEGOGO IF...

IF we do not reach our goal, we hope to raise enough money to enable us to continue the search for funding via other avenues -- which we are doing in conjunction with this campaign.

IF necessary we will indeed lower our expectations. Two camera crews instead of three, for example. Fewer vans. Fewer crew members.

Our number one hope is to raise enough money to get downriver. But we will not rest until we have made this journey and gotten the Mississippi River on film with enough material to craft the story we believe is worth telling -- a story worthy of the Mississippi.

OUR INCREDIBLE TEAM

We have on our team a very talented group of motivated professionals who are as impassioned by this project as I am:

Neil Rettig -- Emmy Award Winner six times and one of the world's best nature cinematographers, he has filmed eagles in their nests and wolves in their lairs. He has trained geese. He has traveled the world for National Geographic and the BBC, but his home is in Wisconsin. He lives only a few miles from the Mississippi River. www.neilrettigproductions.com

Mary Olive Smith -- also an Emmy Award Winner, she is the producer and director of A Walk to Beautiful, the remarkable story of five Ethiopian women making the long journey toward independence. www.maryolivesmith.com

John Freeburn -- senior editor and post-production guru best known for his work on the National Geographic WILD projects, he has won numerous awards in both the US and in the UK for his work.

OUR GIFTS TO YOU

We have a wonderful assortment of incentives, from bumper stickers and posters to coffee mugs and environmentally friendly waters bottles, from days on the river with us to nights in luxury hotels. We have agreements with the French Quarter Ritz-Carlton in New Orleans (www.ritzcarlton.com) and with the kind folk at the Nottoway Plantation Resort (www.nottoway.com). At proper pledge levels, but of course without including holiday time or peak periods, we can make rooms available for whatever period suits you -- not necessarily times associated with our filming or with our partying at journey's end. We want you to be happy.

We will be working with other suppliers to offer for purchase outdoor equipment related to our journey. T-shirts, caps and jackets, for example. Project sponsored tents and camping gear.

Step beyond the contribution levels listed and we will offer an original lithograph numbered and signed by Belgian artist Nele Boudry

And as a special treat, above the $10,000 level we have a limited number of four day Writer's workshops available. Groups of four maximum, to take place in the city of your choice.

We will work with you and try to accommodate you no matter what your level of participation. We want to find the incentive that, within reason, will work for you and make you happy.

Come aboard, join this adventure by contributing -- $5, $10, $150 or more. And tell everyone you know to do the same.

There is a "share Indiegogo" button. Use it. Email it to everyone. Shout it out. Even if you can't contribute, you can help; you can be part of the journey by spreading the word.

Let's make this dream a reality. Step 1. Help us get downriver.

THANK YOU

Eddy L. Harris --

for he entire Mississippi Solo Redux Team

Looking for more information? Check the project FAQ

Let us know if you think this campaign contains prohibited content.

Choose your Perk

Paddle power

$5 USD

Receive a great digital photo of Eddy in his canoe, emailed straight to your inbox. And, of course, our gratitude. Your contribution will provide power to every stroke of Eddy’s paddle as he makes his way downriver.

Estimated Shipping

June 2014

0 claimed

Basic thanks

$10 USD

Receive a downloadable personalized certificate of thanks and a great deal of gratitude for your support. We'll make sure you get the photo, too

Estimated Shipping

June 2014

$6,500 USD

Come be a part of what we do for a week and learn as you go, tutored by one of our award-winnig cinematographers or in the editing room with our post-production guru John Freeburn. Four persons max for each resume-building week. Meals and lodging with the crew of course and all the goodies. As per choice of week: First come first served. Sign up early. Or, skip the workshop and just hang with us for a week, help out if you want, or just enjoy the river and the trip.

Estimated Shipping

December 2014

0 out of 40 of claimed

Relax and Party

$7,500 USD

You and a guest will spend two glorious days at the magnificent Nottoway Plantation Resort right on the River (http://www.nottoway.com). We'll also put you up for two nights at the French Quarter Ritz-Carlton (www.ritzcarlton.com). Come party. Get your friends to give at this level and make an event of it. Transportation is not included but all of the goodies are - including a duffel instead of a tote AND a limited edition lithograph from which the poster was pulled. Hotel stays to be determined

Estimated Shipping

December 2014

1 claimed

Tags for this project