Source To Sea ~ The First Black Woman Solo Paddle of the Mississippi River

Our most recent stop on the Blackwaters Film Tour brought our team to the Minnesota twin cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul. Invited by our friend Anthony Taylor, the founder of the active lifestyle engagement organization Melanin In Motion, we screened our flyfishing documentary at three locations on both sides of the Mississippi River. Though our teammates Chad Brown and Alex Bailey where unable to join us, Jahmicah Dawes, Nick Brooks, our cameraman Dudley Edmondson and I were on hand to share our experiences in the wilds of Alaska. As always, we aimed to inspire the interests of all people to enjoy the wonders of nature.

As it happens, our story of adventure on the Kobuk River in Gates of the Arctic National Park aligns with similar efforts to encourage people of color especially to build relationships with the land and water resources near the places where they live. On this occasion in Minneapolis, we shared the stage with another adventurer who also embraces our mission through a project of her own. This week Devin Brown begins her journey to become the first Black woman to paddle the 2350-mile length of the Mississippi River from Lake Itasca, Minnesota to New Orleans, Louisiana and the Gulf of Mexico.

“When I do this trip, I will be the first black woman on record,” she told NBC news affiliate KARE 11 in an interview. “I like to say ‘on record’ because we know that enslaved people have made this journey up and down the river. So, part of it is to honor ancestors.”

In a journey called Source to Sea, Brown says this ambitious experience is an expression of her passion for paddling and spending time in communion with the outdoors.  “You know life is short and I think we try so hard to find purpose, meaning, and joy in life and kayaking is something that gives me,” she said. “The Mississippi River is a piece of nature that I’ve fallen hopelessly in love with and to spend that time learning all of her bends while also learning about myself a little bit more just seems right.”

The history of Black explorers on the Mississippi River goes back more than 400 years. People of African descent played a significant role in the Hernando de Soto expedition, which explored parts of what is now the southeastern United States in the 16th century, including the Mississippi River. De Soto’s expedition, which began in 1539, included several Africans, both enslaved and free.

One notable Black participant was an enslaved man named Juan Garrido, who had previously participated in Spanish expeditions in the Caribbean and Mexico. Garrido was among the first known Africans to set foot in North America, and his experience and skills were vital to the expedition.

Another key figure was Estebanico, also known as Esteban the Moor. Though not directly associated with De Soto, Estebanico was an enslaved African who had explored the region earlier with the Narváez expedition and had extensive knowledge of the area, which indirectly influenced subsequent explorers, including De Soto.

In the 19th century, shortly after American Revolutionary War and the formation of the United States, an enslaved Black American man, known only as York, played a pivotal role in the Lewis and Clark Expedition(1804-1806), which explored the newly acquired Louisiana Territory, including the Mississippi River. Owned by William Clark, one of the expedition leaders, York was the only Black American member of the Corps of Discovery and made invaluable contributions throughout the journey.

Four decades later, it was along the Mississippi River where Dred Scott and his wife Harriet were enslaved at Fort Snelling at the convergence of the Minnesota River near St. Paul. Though the institution of slavery had been outlawed in the Wisconsin Territory under the provisions of the Missouri Comprise of 1820, the legal status of the Scott family that also included two daughters, Eliza and Lizzie, was called into question. The trial of Dred Scott V.S. Sanford was held in St. Louis at the Old Courthouse in 1846.

The initial trial ended inconclusively, but in a retrial in 1850, a Missouri court ruled in Scott’s favor. However, this decision was later reversed by the Missouri Supreme Court, leading to Scott’s eventual appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. In a landmark decision, the justices ruled 7-2 against him. The majority opinion written by Chief Justice Roger Taney, stated that people of African descent “are not included, and were not intended to be included, under the word ‘citizens’ in the Constitution, and can therefore claim none of the rights and privileges which that instrument provides for and secures to citizens of the United States.” Additionally, the Court declared the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional, stating that Congress could not prohibit slavery in the territories.

The Dred Scott Decision fueled the political tensions that ultimately sparked the American Civil war. Located just a few blocks from the Mississippi River, the Old Courthouse stands beneath the Gateway Arch in St. Louis. The journey that Devin Brown aspires to undertake will trace a path not only through the lush ecosystem of a great American river, but she will also paddle through centuries of our history. The National Park Service includes locations along her route that are part of the U.S. Civil Rights Trail. Other sites along the Mississippi include the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968 and William Franz Elementary School in New Orleans where in 1960, six-year-old Ruby Bridges became the first Black child to attend classes in Louisiana under the mandates of the Brown V.S. Board of Education decision of 1954.

Though certainly a daunting physical endeavor, Devin Brown’s paddling expedition represents as well, the realization of the civil liberties necessary for Black Americans to simply travel freely through our own country. Through the courage of her convictions, Brown is putting into action the ideals of personal sovereignty and making manifest the dreams of her highest aspirations. To be the first Black woman on record to make this journey demonstrates to others the notion that we can overcome the limitations that we impose upon ourselves that might prevent anyone to go places and do things that have never been done before.

“We have people telling us or showing us that we don’t belong on land that belongs to nobody. It just takes people seeing people that look like them out there doing these things for them to take interest,” Brown said. “And throughout this summer I have connected with community to get people that look like me in different shades of brown out on the river as well and that has just been out of this world amazing.”

Brown anticipates her journey will take her about six weeks to complete. She doesn’t have a fully set itinerary because, as she says, “the river keeps changing”. You can follow along via Instagram at @afrodiskayak and here at the Joy Trip Project we’ll post periodic updates on her travels. You can support her efforts through a financial contribution at Go Fund Me.

The Joy Trip Project is proud to support the Source to Sea Expedition of Devin Brown. Our storytelling efforts are encouraged by the National Park Service, the National Geographic Society and Minnesota Parks Foundation.