Crossing Bok Chitto

Bibliography

Tingle, Tim. 2006. CROSSING BOK CHITTO: A CHOCTAW TALE OF FRIENDSHIP & FREEDOM. Ill. By Jeanne Rorex Bridges. El Paso: Cinco Puntos Press. ISBN 9780938317777

Summary

This Choctaw story is about how two children from different cultures form a friendship and help each other out. Set in Mississippi, a river called Bok Chitto separated the Choctaw from the plantation owners and their slaves. Both had an agreement not to cross the river. While picking blackberries one day, Martha Tom, a young Choctaw girl, crossed the river and stumbled upon a group of slaves. Martha Tom was led back home by a boy named Little Mo. This began a beautiful friendship.

One day Little Mo’s mother was told that she was going to be shipped off to another plantation and would not be with her family any longer. Brave Little Mo led his family at night to the Bok Chitto River and with the help of the Choctaw women, the family crossed over the river to freedom.

Critical Analysis

Crossing Bok Chitto was set in Mississippi before the Civil war and the Trail of Tears. The Choctaw people lived on one side of the river and plantation owners and their slaves lived on the other side. There was a law that if a slave escaped and made it across the river, they were free. It is also said that the Choctaw built a secret path across the Mississippi river.

This story is filled with cultural markers that represent both Native American and African American culture. When Martha Tom crosses the river and stumbles upon the clearing, she discovers a secret forbidden slave church. She also discovered a hundred slaves appearing from the trees calling out “We are bound for the Promised Land!” The man began to preach and the slaves began to sing. Martha Tom was moved by the music because she had never heard anything like it before. When Little Mo’s father found Martha Tom and told his son that he would need to lead Martha Tom back to the river, he told his son how to move so the owners would not hear him. “You move not too fast, not too slow, eyes to the ground, away you go!” This phrase was also used again when Little Mo’s family escaped from the plantation to cross the river.

When Little Mo and Martha Tom crossed over to the Choctaw side the first time, Little Mo heard chanting, something he had never heard before. “He thought it must be the heartbeat of the earth itself.” This was the sound of men calling all of the Choctaw to the wedding. Tingles’ describes the wedding ceremony. The women were in white cotton dresses, “their shiny black hair fell well below their waists, as they formed a line and began a stomp dance to the beat of the chanting.” Tingle also describes the wedding song that the men would sing. This song is still sung in Mississippi and Oklahoma today.

“Way, hey ya hey ya Way, hey ya hey ya

You a hey you ay You a hey you ay

A hey ya a hey ya! A hey ya a hey ya!”

When Little Mo led his family to the river, he was afraid to cross it at night. Little Mo’s father told him to be brave because his name was Moses. So Little Mo crossed Bok Chitto and went to Martha Tom’s home. After explaining his story to Martha Tom’s mother, she quickly went to every home in the village and gathered all of the women to perform a ceremony. She told each woman to wear a white dress and bring a candle. As the women lined the edge of the river with the glow of their candles, Martha Tom walked across the water and led the family to freedom. As she led them, she sang the song she had heard the slaves sing at church, but this time she sang it in Choctaw.

Bridges does a beautiful job matching her illustrations to the story. On the cover of the book, four women are in white flowing gowns holding candles. The three women in the back have strong faces with black hair accented with silver. The front girl must be Martha Tom, a younger version of the ladies. At the beginning of the story, Martha Tom is wearing a red dress with a cover apron and leather shoes. Her hair is pulled back in a long braid. The men in the Choctaw tribe are wearing pants, shirts, and boots. One man also has braids while another is wearing a hat. This hat is also worn by the African Americans and the plantation owners. The skin tones used on the people of all backgrounds is represented well. The most moving illustration is the last one. It is the scene of the Choctaw women leading the seven slaves across the river. The women are glowing, giving the appearance that they are angels.

Following the story is a three page spread on the history of the Choctaws today and of the past. Tingles describes how this story, which began as a song, was created.

Reviews

School Library Journal review: “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.”

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.”

2008-2009 Bluebonnet Nominee

2006 Teddy Award for Best Children's Book from the Texas Writer's League

Texas Institute of Letters Best Children's Book of 2006