BIBLIOGRAPHY
Tingle, Tim. 2006. Crossing Bok Chitto: A Choctaw Tale of Friendship & Freedom. Ill. Jeanne Rorex Bridges. El Paso, TX: Cinco Puntos Press. ISBN 9780938317777
PLOT SUMMARY
Here is a story of a friendship between a young Choctaw girl and a black boy who is a slave. Martha Tom is sent out to gather blueberries by her mother. Not finding any, Marhta Tom, crosses the Bok Chitto river, which is forbidden, and stumbles upon a hidden slave church. This experience will change her life. She makes a new friend, Little Mo, which ultimately leads to the women in Martha Toms’ village helping slaves escape across the river. The law states that once a slave is across Bok Chitto river, he is free and the slave owner could not follow. This is a story of courage, hope and freedom.
CRITICAL ANALYSIS (INCLUDLING CULTURAL MARKERS)
Crossing Bok Chitto is set in Mississippi during the 1800’s before the War Between the States and the Trail of Tears. The Bok Chitto is a river that sets the boundary between the Choctaw land and the plantation owner’s property. The law states that if a slave crosses over the river into the Choctaw land then they are free. This story is about a friendship between two children, one Native American Indian and one African American slave. Crossing Bok Chitto began as a song retelling the story of the Choctaw women helping slaves cross the river to freedom. The Choctaws place rocks under the water forming a hidden walkway. The story goes on to tell how the white people witness seven black spirits, walking on the water – to their freedom.
This story is an excellent book for learning about the Choctaw Indians’ role in helping black slaves escape to freedom. The cultural markers cover both Choctaw Native Americans and African Americans. Martha Tom has the round face with defined cheek bones and almond shaped dark brown eyes. Her hair is black and very long and braided. She is dressed in a simple, long cotton dress with an apron, carrying a basket with Native American designs and traditional moccasins. The women in Martha Tom’s village were shown wearing the traditional wedding ceremony white cotton long dresses with their shiny black hair falling well below their waists. The men were attired in nondescript pants and long sleeved cotton shirts. Their faces were round with the high, defined check bones, some with long braided hair and others with shorter hair. Their moccasins were both the shorter ones and the high calf boots. Here are the elders chanting the Choctaw wedding song:
“Way, hey ya hey ya
You a hey you ay
A hey ya a hey ha!
Way, hey ya hey ya
You a hey you ay
A hey ya a hey ya!”
The African American women were dressed in long cotton dresses in varying colors and they all had scarves covering their hair. The men were in jackets, cotton shirts, pants, boots and had work hats on. The children were all dressed similar to the adults. The facial features were the most prominent cultural marker showing larger noses and heavy features. The hair was cut short for the men and showed the course, curly distinction for African Americans of this timeframe. Some of the African American children were barefoot. The plantation owners showed a little better quality of dresses and the men sported nicer hats. Martha Tom’s village was made up of small log cabins, the African American living quarters were not shown and the plantation home had the large white columns with the long porch including rocking chairs. I felt like the reference to the way to not being noticed - “It’s like you’re invisible. You move not too fast, not too slow, eyes to the ground, away you go” - indicated cultural markers that the African American slaves were looked upon as invisible, not important, so were not noticed.
Crossing Bok Chitto is a great story on how humans from all cultures help each other. This story should be used not only for Native American Indian awareness, but also for studies on African American history and for non-Indians. This is about courage, faith and freedom.
Choctaws Today: Two Prosperous Nations, One Strong People is a short informational page about the Choctaws today including a picture of Choctaws walking a memorial walk on the Trail of Tears at the end of the book.
The author has an extensive note at the end titled A Note on Choctaw Storytelling about his heritage and a wonderful poem. Here is a quote from his note. Tim Tingles says, “We Indians need to continue recounting our past and, from this book, non-Indians might realize the sweet and secret fire that drives the Indian heart. We are proud of who we are. We are determined that our way, shared by many of all races, a way of respect for others and the land we live on, will prevail.”
"As long as our stories are told, we can be Choctaw forever." Tim Tingle
Jeanne Rorex Bridges, a Cherokee, illustrated this book using acrylic pictures that truly capture the heart of the people depicted in this story. The reader is able to feel the emotions portrayed in the faces of the Native Americans and African Americans.
REVIEW EXCERPTS
Booklist starred (April 15, 2006 (Vol. 102, No. 16))
Gr. 2-4. 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 Fly0 (2004) and Julius Lester's The Old African 0 (2005).
Library Media Connection (November/December 2006)
Tingle, a superb storyteller, tells a tale of friendship and freedom about the great river, Bok Chitto, that divides two very different worlds prior to the American Civil War. One Sunday morning in preparation for a Choctaw tribal wedding Martha Tom searches for blackberries. Against her mother's instructions, she crosses the deep, brown water on stepping-stones and enters the woods where black slave families gather for worship and celebration. She becomes disoriented and Little Mo, a young slave, guides her through the woods to the banks of Bok Chitto. Together they cross the river to visit the Native American families. This friendship grows until Little Mo's mother is scheduled to be sold. Late that night Martha Tom's community of women lead Little Mo's family across the river's invisible path and down the road to freedom. Through the poetic cadence of oral storytelling and a quiet, yet penetrating voice, Tingle brings this early American tale to print as a strong read- aloud for young or middle level students or for a great quick read for older readers. The language is vividly brought to life through rich earthen-toned illustrations by Jeanne Rorex Bridges. Recommended. Donna Steffan, Director of Library Media, Beaver Dam (Wisconsin) Unified School District
Publishers Weekly (March 13, 2006)
Bridges, a Cherokee artist making her children's book debut, joins Tingle (Walking the Choctaw Road) in a moving and wholly original story about the intersection of cultures. The river Bok Chitto divides the Choctaw nation from the plantations of Mississippi. "If a slave escaped and made his way across Bok Chitto, the slave was free," writes Tingle, "The slave owner could not follow. That was the law." But Bok Chitto holds a secret: a rock pathway that lies just below the surface of the water. "Only the Choctaws knew it was there, for the Choctaws had built it," Tingle explains. When a slave boy and his family are befriended by a Choctaw girl, the pathway becomes part of an ingenious plan that enables the slaves to cross the river to freedom-in plain view of a band of slave hunters during a full moon. Bridges creates mural-like paintings with a rock-solid spirituality and stripped-down graphic sensibility, the ideal match for the down-to-earth cadences and poetic drama of the text. Many of the illustrations serve essentially as portraits, and they're utterly mesmerizing-strong, solid figures gaze squarely out of the frame, beseeching readers to listen, empathize and wonder. Ages 5-up. (Apr.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
AWARDS/HONORS
No awards for this book.
CONNECTIONS
Tim Tingle: www.choctawstoryteller.com/
Jeanne Rorex Bridges: http://www.rorex-art.com/
http://www.cincopuntos.com/pdf/crossing_bok_chitto_guide.pdf
http://suzyred.com/2008crossingbokchitto.html
Other Books by Tim Tingle:
When Turtle Grew Feathers: A Folktale From the Choctaw Nation. ISBN 9780874837773.
Walking the Choctaw Road. ISBN 9780938317746.
Crossing Bok Chitto is a great story on how humans from all cultures help each other. This story should be used not only for Native American Indian awareness, but also for studies on African American history and for non-Indians. This is about courage, faith and freedom.
Choctaws Today: Two Prosperous Nations, One Strong People is a short informational page about the Choctaws today including a picture of Choctaws walking a memorial walk on the Trail of Tears at the end of the book.
The author has an extensive note at the end titled A Note on Choctaw Storytelling about his heritage and a wonderful poem. Here is a quote from his note. Tim Tingles says, “We Indians need to continue recounting our past and, from this book, non-Indians might realize the sweet and secret fire that drives the Indian heart. We are proud of who we are. We are determined that our way, shared by many of all races, a way of respect for others and the land we live on, will prevail.”
"As long as our stories are told, we can be Choctaw forever." Tim Tingle
Jeanne Rorex Bridges, a Cherokee, illustrated this book using acrylic pictures that truly capture the heart of the people depicted in this story. The reader is able to feel the emotions portrayed in the faces of the Native Americans and African Americans.
REVIEW EXCERPTS
Booklist starred (April 15, 2006 (Vol. 102, No. 16))
Gr. 2-4. 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 Fly0 (2004) and Julius Lester's The Old African 0 (2005).
Library Media Connection (November/December 2006)
Tingle, a superb storyteller, tells a tale of friendship and freedom about the great river, Bok Chitto, that divides two very different worlds prior to the American Civil War. One Sunday morning in preparation for a Choctaw tribal wedding Martha Tom searches for blackberries. Against her mother's instructions, she crosses the deep, brown water on stepping-stones and enters the woods where black slave families gather for worship and celebration. She becomes disoriented and Little Mo, a young slave, guides her through the woods to the banks of Bok Chitto. Together they cross the river to visit the Native American families. This friendship grows until Little Mo's mother is scheduled to be sold. Late that night Martha Tom's community of women lead Little Mo's family across the river's invisible path and down the road to freedom. Through the poetic cadence of oral storytelling and a quiet, yet penetrating voice, Tingle brings this early American tale to print as a strong read- aloud for young or middle level students or for a great quick read for older readers. The language is vividly brought to life through rich earthen-toned illustrations by Jeanne Rorex Bridges. Recommended. Donna Steffan, Director of Library Media, Beaver Dam (Wisconsin) Unified School District
Publishers Weekly (March 13, 2006)
Bridges, a Cherokee artist making her children's book debut, joins Tingle (Walking the Choctaw Road) in a moving and wholly original story about the intersection of cultures. The river Bok Chitto divides the Choctaw nation from the plantations of Mississippi. "If a slave escaped and made his way across Bok Chitto, the slave was free," writes Tingle, "The slave owner could not follow. That was the law." But Bok Chitto holds a secret: a rock pathway that lies just below the surface of the water. "Only the Choctaws knew it was there, for the Choctaws had built it," Tingle explains. When a slave boy and his family are befriended by a Choctaw girl, the pathway becomes part of an ingenious plan that enables the slaves to cross the river to freedom-in plain view of a band of slave hunters during a full moon. Bridges creates mural-like paintings with a rock-solid spirituality and stripped-down graphic sensibility, the ideal match for the down-to-earth cadences and poetic drama of the text. Many of the illustrations serve essentially as portraits, and they're utterly mesmerizing-strong, solid figures gaze squarely out of the frame, beseeching readers to listen, empathize and wonder. Ages 5-up. (Apr.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
AWARDS/HONORS
No awards for this book.
CONNECTIONS
Tim Tingle: www.choctawstoryteller.com/
Jeanne Rorex Bridges: http://www.rorex-art.com/
http://www.cincopuntos.com/pdf/crossing_bok_chitto_guide.pdf
http://suzyred.com/2008crossingbokchitto.html
Other Books by Tim Tingle:
When Turtle Grew Feathers: A Folktale From the Choctaw Nation. ISBN 9780874837773.
Walking the Choctaw Road. ISBN 9780938317746.
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