Crossing Bok Chitto: A Choctaw Tale of Friendship & Freedom

Crossing Bok Chitto: A Choctaw Tale of Friendship & Freedom

 

by Tim Tingle

 

 

 

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Tingle, Tim. (2006). CROSSING BOK CHITTO: A CHOCTAW TALE OF FRIENDSHIP &
       FREEDOM. Illus. by Jeanne Rorex Bridges. El Paso, TX: Cinco Puntos Press.
       ISBN 978-0-938317-77-7.

PLOT SUMMARY:
This stunning picture book tells of the friendship between the Choctaw people who live on one side of the river Bok Chitto in Mississippi, and the African American slaves who live on the other side on their masters' plantations. Young Martha Tom ventures across Bok Chitto in search of blackberries, although she is not supposed to. When she gets there, she witnesses a moving and forbidden slave church service. She is touched by the music. A young African American boy named Little Mo is told to help her get back home. After they cross the invisible stone bridge under the water, they come upon a drum circle, chanting, and a wedding ceremony. He is touched by the beautiful sounds he hears. Martha Tom's mother tells her to take Little Mo back to the river. Thus begins a long and lasting friendship that eventually leads to the Choctaw people helping Little Mo and his family escape from their slave owners by crossing Bok Chitto. The story is a celebration of Martha Tom's bravery, Little Mo's faith, and the strength of those who walked on water to their freedom.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS:
This lovely book was written by Tim Tingle who is a member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma and illustrated by Jeanne Rorex Bridges who is of Cherokee ancestry. The illustrations show the Choctaw people and the African American people in the mid-nineteenth century and the depictions of the Choctaw native dress and the African American dress are appropriate to the time period and the setting. The skin color and features of both the Choctaw and African American people are depicted in a realistic manner with no evident stereotyping or distortions. Both cultures are touchingly represented by their music and their ceremonies: Martha Tom by the slave church in the woods, and Little Mo by the drumming and chanting of the wedding ceremony. "We are bound for the Promised Land!" and "Way, hey ya hey ya/ You a hey you ay/ A hey ya a hey ya!"  When Little Mo's mother is sold and in danger of being taken away, the family decides to make the journey across Bok Chitto to freedom and safety. As they make the perilous journey, the slaves remember, "Not too fast, not too slow, eyes to the ground, away you go!" It is almost like a protective spell that renders them invisible to the guards and the dogs. As the runaway family crosses the invisible bridge and the guards are at their heels ready to shoot, the Choctaw women greet them at Bok Chitto dressed in luminous white gowns. They are holding candles and lighting the way to freedom. This image is one of the most startingly beautiful images in the book--the women glowing in the darkness under the full moon greeting their new friends to a new life.
In addition to the folktale, the book also includes a section called Choctaws Today: Two Prosperous Nations, One Strong People. This section provides a brief history of the Choctaw Nations and the current situation for Choctaws. There is also a section called A Note on Choctaw Storytelling that gives a beautiful history of the story and of the oral tradition for this native people. Tim Tingle points out, though, the importance of writing these stories in book form so that the stories can be shared with non-native people so that there is more sharing and understanding. "As long as our stories are told, we can be Choctaw forever."

AWARDS:

Jane Addams Peace Award Honor Book

American Indian Library Association (AILA) 2008 Award for Best Picture Book

American Library Association Notable Children's Book 2007

ALA—Book Links: Lasting Connections Pick, 2006

Texas Institute of Letters Best Children's Book of 2006

Texas Bluebonnet Master List 2008-09

Oklahoma Book Award for Best Illustrations, 2007

Oklahoma Book Award for Best Children's Book, 2007

Nominated for the 2008-2009 South Dakota Prairie Pasque Children’s Book Award

Teddy Award, Texas Writers League, 2005

Paterson Prize

Skipping Stones Honor Book

Anne Izard's Storytellers' Choice Award

2007 Mississippi Children's Book Selection

REVIEW EXCERPTS:
School Library Journal: "Dramatic, quiet, and warming, this is a story of friendship across cultures in 1800s Mississippi. While searching for blackberries, Martha Tom, a young Choctaw, breaks her village's rules against crossing the Bok Chitto. She meets and becomes friends with the slaves on the plantation on the other side of the river, and later helps a family escape across it to freedom when they hear that the mother is to be sold. Tingle is a performing storyteller, and his text has the rhythm and grace of that oral tradition. It will be easily and effectively read aloud. The paintings are dark and solemn, and the artist has done a wonderful job of depicting all of the characters as individuals, with many of them looking out of the page right at readers. The layout is well designed for groups as the images are large and easily seen from a distance. There is a note on modern Choctaw culture, and one on the development of this particular work. This is a lovely story, beautifully illustrated, though the ending requires a somewhat large leap of the imagination."

Booklist Starred Review: "In a picture book that highlights rarely discussed intersections between Native Americans in the South and African Americans in bondage, a noted Choctaw storyteller and Cherokee artist join forces with stirring results. Set "in the days before the War Between the States, in the days before the Trail of Tears," and told in the lulling rhythms of oral history, the tale opens with a Mississippi Choctaw girl who strays across the Bok Chitto River into the world of Southern plantations, where she befriends a slave boy and his family. When trouble comes, the desperate runaways flee to freedom, helped by their own fierce desire (which renders them invisible to their pursuers) and by the Choctaws' secret route across the river. In her first paintings for a picture book, Bridges conveys the humanity and resilience of both peoples in forceful acrylics, frequently centering on dignified figures standing erect before moody landscapes. Sophisticated endnotes about Choctaw history and storytelling traditions don't clarify whether Tingle's tale is original or retold, but this oversight won't affect the story's powerful impact on young readers, especially when presented alongside existing slave-escape fantasies such as Virginia Hamiltons's The People Could Fly (2004) and Julius Lester's The Old African (2005).

CONNECTIONS:
The author's website: http://www.timtingle.com/

The illustrator's website: http://www.rorex-art.com/

Choctaws of Mississippi: http://www.choctaw.org/

Choctaws of Oklahoma: http://www.choctawnation.com/history/

For more reviews and a teacher's guide: http://www.cincopuntos.com/products_detail.sstg?id=100