CROSSING BOK CHITTO: A CHOCTAW TALE OF FRIENDSHIP & FREEDOM

Tingle, Tim.  Ill. by Jeanne Rorex Bridges.  Crossing Bok Chitto:  A Choctaw Tale of Friendship & Freedom.  El Paso, Texas:  Cinco Puntos Press, c2006.  ISBN 978-0-938317-77-7.


Plot Summary

Martha Tom, a young Choctaw Indian, ventures across the Bok Chitto River.  She befriends Little Mo, a young African American enslaved boy, and later helps his entire family escape from slavery.

  

Critical Analysis

Tim Tingle is a member of the Choctaw tribe and gives a brief history of his people in the back of Crossing Bok Chitto:  A Choctaw Tale of Friendship & Freedom.  The story takes place prior to the Civil War in Mississippi, along the Bok Chitto River.  On one side of the river the Choctaw Indians lived in wood-framed houses with stone chimneys.  On the other side of the river lived the plantation owners and their slaves.  The slaves also lived in wood-framed houses with stone chimneys.  If a slave was able to get across the Bok Chitto River he would be a free man.  In Tingle's notes, he visited with the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians and, during that trip, he saw a house which was once owned by Choctaw Indians who helped slaves gain their freedom.  Tingle mentioned there is a long history of the Choctaw people helping slaves.  Today, according to Tingle, there are many African Americans who have a mixed heritage with the Choctaw Indians.

Tingle uses simple phrases to evoke emotion and help the reader experience what the character felt.  For example, "Little Mo heard the sound of chanting.  He thought it must be the heartbeat of the earth itself."  Another example would be when Martha Tom was discovered listening to the secret slave service in the woods.  "She looked up to see the biggest man she had ever seen, his chest so big it was about to pop the buttons off his shirt!"  Little Mo's father tells his son how to be "invisible" to the plantation owners as he helps Martha Tom find her way back home.  "You move not too fast, not too slow, eyes to the ground, away you go!"  When Little Mo's mother is about to be torn away from her family, these words are repeated from son to father, and they spur the family to take action in an attempt to escape across the Bok Chitto River.  "They walked into the circle of lanterns, but the light shone right through them."

The illustrations are by Jeanne Rorex Bridges, who is of Cherokee ancestry.   She paints in an Oklahoma Flat Style.  "In the Oklahoma Flat Style, you apply solid color in the shape of what you’re drawing. Think, for example, of a woman in a blanket. To create that initial shape, you must understand the position of her shoulders, her arms and back under the blanket. Pure Indian art would only allow fine lines of another color and/or gradual changes of flat colors to “shade” the blanket. Over the years, I have developed my own style by keeping the basic Flat Style while adding background work and shading. I have always mixed my own colors from tube paints because I like lots of color but muted, softer colors," according to Bridges (http://www.cincopuntos.com/artists_detail.sstg?id=12).  Bridges uses a lot of browns and grays in her illustrations.  All of the illustrations have a very warm, subdued tone.

Bridges' illustrations show Martha Tom in a reddish-brown prairie dress, tan pinafore with a large bow tied in the back, and tan moccasins.  The men are dressed in tan cotton or linen shirts and brown pants with either moccasins or moccasin boots.  The women are dressed for a wedding.  They all have on long, flowing white robes.  One is cinched with a leather belt, one is tied with a white bow, one has a waist-length white cape over hers, and Martha Tom's mother has a white shawl with brown polka dots over hers.  Their hair is black and long which is either worn loose or is braided.  All of the men are clean shaven.  The skin tones are a very light-brown to a medium-brown complexion.

Little Mo, or Moses, is dressed in a tan shirt and brown pants with no shoes.  His dad has a black coat over his tan shirt, brown hat, brown pants, and lace-up black boots. His mother is wearing a brown with red polka dotted prairie dress, tan pinafore, and a multi-colored head wrap.  The other members shown in the congregation are dressed similarly.  The hair is either covered or worn in a short afro hair style.  All of the men are clean shaven.  The skin tones are a medium-black to a dark-black complexion.

The plantation owners' outfits are more colorful with four of the six dressed in purple.  The women are in long floor-length dresses.  The men have on knee-length boots, pants, shirts, velvet-looking coats or capes, and have various weapons:  a whip, a knife, and a long rifle.  The women have their hair tied in a bun at the nape of their necks.  The men's free-flowing hair is about shoulder-length and all of them have either a beard or goatee.  The skin tones are pale to an olive complexion.

Throughout the story, Tingle subtly emphasized that, although Martha Tom and Moses were from two different cultures, they had similar thoughts and feelings.  When Martha Tom happened upon the forbidden slave church, she heard the people sing with music she had never heard before.  As she visited Little Mo's church services over the years, she would sing the songs in English with the congregation and then sing the songs in Choctaw on her way back home.  "Nitak ishtayo pikmano; Chissus ut minitit.  Umala holitopama; Chihot aya lashke!  We are bound for the Promised Land!"  Little Mo heard music he had never heard before when he visited Martha Tom's village.  During the wedding ceremony, the Choctaws sang this song:  "Way, hey ya hey ya; You a hey you ay; A hey ya a hey ya!  Way, hey ya hey ya; You a hey you ay; A hey ya a hey ya!"  Both Martha Tom and Little Mo were deeply touched by the music they heard from each other's culture.

Crossing Bok Chitto:  A Choctaw Tale of Friendship & Freedom is a Choctaw story that has been passed down from generation to generation.  It is truly a story of friendship and the breaking down of racial and cultural divides in order to help our fellow man.  Readers of all ages and cultures can appreciate this historically-inspired tale, and perhaps be encouraged to look beyond our differences to see how much the different cultures in the world have in common.

Awards and Honors

 

American Indian Youth Literature Award, 2008 Winner Picture Books United
    States

Anne Izard Storytellers' Choice Award, 2007 Winner United States

Best Children's Book, 2007 Winner United States

Friends of the Austin Public Library, 2007 Winner Best Children's Book United
    States

Oklahoma Book Award, 2007 Winner Children Oklahoma

Oklahoma Book Award, 2007 Winner Design and Illustration Oklahoma

Paterson Prize for Books for Young People, 2007 Winner Grades 4-6 United States
Skipping Stones Honor Award, 2007 Winner Multicultural and International
     Awareness Books United States
Teddy Children's Book Award, 2006 Winner Short Work Texas 

 
 

Review Excerpts

“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." ~ Jennifer Mattson, Booklist, April 15, 2006

"Crossing Bok Chitto is very highly recommended for all young readers as a celebration of diversity, acceptance, and unity in a remarkable production of expert authorship and invaluable illustrations.” ~ Midwest Book Review, July 2006

"Tom Tingle, a member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, tells a very moving story about friends helping each other and reveals a lesser-known part of American History: Native Americans helped runaway slaves." ~  Elizabeth Fronk, Children's Literature


Other Books Written by Tim Tingle

Saltypie:  A Choctaw Journey from Darkness Into Light, illustrated by Karen
     Clarkson
Walking the Choctaw Road
When Turtle Grew Feathers:  A Folktale from the Choctaw Nation, illustrated by
     Stacey Schuett

Visit his website for more information:  http://www.timtingle.com/


Book Connections

When I Crossed No-Bob by Margaret McMullen
The Choctaw:  Stickball Players from the South by Rachel A. Koestler-Grack

The Devil's Highway by Stan Applegate and illustrated by James Watling


Connection Activities

• Lead a book discussion using the study guide questions from the Cinco Puntos Press located at:   http://www.cincopuntos.com/pdf/crossing_bok_chitto_guide.pdf. 
• "Basket weaving was an important part of the Choctaw culture. Have students create their own baskets that weave together the past and present. Have them cut out strips of paper. They should write facts about the cultural information of the Choctaw Indians on some of the paper and facts about their own culture on others. Have them put these strips of paper together to create a basket. Explain the similarities and differences of the cultures to the class."  This activity is from "Cultural Activities & Games on the Choctaw" by Jen Marx, eHow contributor.
  Read more:  http://www.ehow.com/info_8443095_cultural-activities-games-choctaw.html.