Searching for Solid Ground: A Memoir

by Reggie Harris, Linda Hansell (With)

Overview

An inspiring narrative of bridge-building, hope, and resilience from a beloved folk musician.

Before renowned musician Reggie Harris was a sought-after performer, educator, cultural ambassador, and civil rights advocate, he was a low-income Black kid in Philadelphia with a love of music. He was transported by the vibrant sound that filled the air in his church, the voices calling out with passion, the rhythm and the release, and the powerful sense of community.

Searching for Solid Ground is a captivating and deeply personal chronicle of Harris’s extraordinary life, from his early years, when his love of music was fueled by singing everywhere he could—at home, at church, and in the school choir—to performing across the world for over forty years as one half of the folk duo Kim and Reggie Harris, to his current work blending his musical gifts with a commitment to promote justice and peace and heal the racial divide.

Harris shares his triumphs and his struggles, his hard-won wisdom and insights, including the challenges he faced launching a career in folk music as a Black musician, his transformative experience hearing James Baldwin speak and the beginnings of his own justice work, and a harrowing journey back to health through the gift of a liver transplant, among many other remarkable moments.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781558969254
Publisher:	Unitarian Universalist Association
Publication date:	04/16/2024
Pages:	270
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.00(d)

About the Author

Reggie Harris is a musician, storyteller, and educator. A winner of the 2021 Spirit of Folk Award and the 2021 W.E.B. Du Bois Legacy Award, Harris is also a teaching artist in the Kennedy Center’s Changing Education Through the Arts Program and co-president and director of music education for the Living Legacy Project. Known for over forty years as one half of the folk duo Kim and Reggie Harris, he continues to inspire audiences with the message of joy, unity, and peace through his powerful live performances.

Linda Hansell is an educator and writer who collaborates with individuals to write their memoirs. She also writes literary nonfiction. Her essays have appeared in literary journals and anthologies such as Emerald Coast Review, Wising Up Anthology, Months to Years, and Hippocampus Books. In addition to writing, she has created and directed innovative urban education programs and taught at the University of Pennsylvania.

Read an Excerpt

Preface

Every now and then I step out of the day-to-day busyness (and business) of my life —rushing from one gig to another, writing and researching songs, scheduling new performances, leading civil rights tours through the South with the Living Legacy Project—and reflect on the fact that for the last forty-eight years, I have managed to make my living as a full-time touring musician, educator, and cultural ambassador. And I realize how extraordinary it is that I, an African American man from “da hood” in North Philadelphia, have been able to live this life of travel and performing, gaining access to a platform that makes an impact in the lives and perspectives of people all over the world. It has been an incredible journey. And it has not been an easy journey.

Performing as half of the duo Kim and Reggie Harris for forty-two years and then as a solo performer for the last six, there have been many triumphs and joyful moments—and many challenges and heartbreaks as well. The realities of racism and the uncertainty of “Touring While Black” made it necessary to face the cruelty and the stress of prejudice and racial hatred head-on. I’ve been put at risk and been disheartened by the relentless, insidious weight of oppression. I’ve had to gain skills to cope, navigate, negotiate, and educate, all in the effort to survive. The wounds are real and the cuts are deep, and the effort of surviving and trying to thrive as a Black man in America remains one of the most painful and enduring challenges of my life.

But through it all, I’ve also learned something about the power of resilience, the strength of community, and the soulful, inexhaustible brilliance of my people. As I reflect on my career, I’m aware that I have been driven by an invisible force that comes through my ancestors and allows me to use my musical gifts to be a bridge builder, a connector, and a promoter of justice. My family and my community raised me to understand that I had within me the creativity, grit, fortitude, and wisdom to withstand the fierce winds of derision and doubt and counseled me on ways to keep my essence and will intact. Their faith in me, and my cultural grounding, lit the flame that burns brightly in every fiber of my body, a flame that echoes those of Harriet, Frederick, Rosa, Martin, Ella, Malcolm, and so many less well known sisters and brothers who paved the way before me.

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said that he was a drum major for justice. In that same spirit, I have come to embrace the fact that I am a cultural ambassador for music, healing, and hope. Through sharing my music and my stories, and sometimes simply by being present in the room, I’ve been able to plant seeds of hope in the world. From a young age, I have sought to build bridges among people of different races. From the schools I attended, to the sports teams on which I played, to the places I have chosen to live, to the work that I have chosen to do, I have tried to build unity and impart hope.

Songs and stories are my method of spreading hope. They inform us, reconnect us to who we are, and connect us to each other. They impart lessons that make our lives more meaningful. And with context and reflection, they can show us what we might become: a society in which people of all races are treated with justice and dignity.

I love being a musician. I love the joy and power of singing and performing to create understanding among people. And I enjoy using music, when necessary, to disrupt the comfortable stasis that can cause us to settle into patterns of defensiveness and complacency. I try to do this respectfully, in an effort to encourage all of us—myself included—to consider and reconsider our points of view and hopefully to heal ourselves and our nation.

Music is the vehicle that re-energizes and reconnects me to the struggle and the joy. Music gives voice to the will and the wisdom of those ancestors on whose shoulders I stand. I sing so that others can find peace in their hearts and know that they are not alone. I sing because it is the balm that heals and makes us whole.

Table of Contents

A Note on Language

Preface

1. Let There Be Music

2. Across the Great Divide

3. Pickle in the Middle

4. A Detour, and a Taste of Freedom

5. Finding My Musical Path

6. A Way Outta No Way

7. A Cultural Ambassador for Music, Healing, and Hope

8. “Are These Stories True?”

9. O Say, Can You See?

10. Touring While Black

11. Out in the Country

12. I Have No People . . . or Do I?

13. A Second Chance at Life

14. Hickory Hill

15. Deeper Than the Skin

16. The Living Legacy Project

17. The Balsam Guys

18. Toward Solid Ground

19. Sankofa

Editorial Reviews

In Searching for Solid Ground, Reggie Harris gifts us with a fascinating and uncompromising account of a life lived in the service of songs' capacity to cross racial boundaries and foster understanding between human beings.” —Gustavus Stadler, author of Woody Guthrie: An Intimate Life

“Many of us have applauded the joyous musicianship of Reggie Harris; few of us knew the man. This memoir takes us on his rollercoaster journey from poor roots to celebrity, but, more importantly, exposes a person struggling to heal his personal and racial crises while embracing a greater mission of exorcizing the demons of this conflicted nation. Singing the passion of our history, Harris becomes a prophetic healer. The man is a blessing.” —Robert Shetterly, artist, Americans Who Tell the Truth

“It’s everything you would expect from this astonishing human being and so much more. Honest, joyful, brave, funny, and absolutely inspiring. This has my highest recommendation!” —Matt Watroba, producer and host of Folk With Matt Watroba Michigan State Public Media and member of the International Folk Alliance DJ Hall Of Fame

From the Publisher