Crossing Bok Chitto: Choctaw Tale of Friendship & Freedom
Bibliography
Tingle, T. 2006. CROSSING BOK CHITTO: CHOCTAW TALE OF FRIENDSHIP AND FREEDOM. El Paso, TX: Cinco Puntos Press. ISBN 139780938317777
Plot Summary
Martha Tom is a young Choctaw Native American, who is given the task to find blackberries. Unable to find any, she ventures across the Bok Chitto river. It was there that she witnessed how the African American people were kept in slavery. It was there that she met Little Mo (Moses). Because she didn’t belong on that side of the river, Little Mo was given the task to take her back across the river. It was there that he was made aware of the stones in the river used by the Choctaw people to cross the river. It was until Little Mo’s mother was sold into slavery and had to leave her family that Little Mo told his father about a way to escape across the river. Once across the river, Little Mo’s family asked the Choctaw people to help them escape their captives. The Choctaw women devised a plan to help them escape. The women dressed in their wedding attire and had Martha Tom walk on the river and cross his family across the river, therefore reaching freedom.
Critical Analysis (Including Cultural Markers)
CROSSING BOK CHITTO: CHOCTAW TALE OF FRIENDSHIP AND FREEDOM’s genre is historical fiction. It was mostly intended for young adult audiences, but it can be used for lower grade as a read aloud. The title follows the regular literary elements. The author included characters, settings, conflict and resolution. The reader can conclude the time period is the 1800s. The text structure that the author followed for this title is the problem and solution. The theme the author implies in the story is that of friendship and being helpful.
CROSSING BOK CHITTO: CHOCTAW TALE OF FRIENDSHIP AND FREEDOM includes many Native American culture markers. The author used text references that are connected to the Choctaw group and African Americans. The identification of Martha Tom made by an African American slave. He mentioned, “You’re Choctaw, from across Bok Chitto?”. The author also identified the characters as belonging to the Choctaw in the beginning of the story. For example, the author mentioned, “On one side of the river lived the Choctaws, a nation of Indian people. Throughout the book the author makes more references to that specific Native American group. Therefore the reader is able to know which Native American group the book is about.
Another Native American culture marker is the in text language. The author uses the Native American language during the Choctaw wedding. “Way, hey ya hey ya, You a hey you ay, A hey ya hey ya!”. The author also included another song that the main character translated from English to her native language. “Nitak ishtayo pikmano chissus ut minitit. Umala holitopama Chihot aya lashke!”.
The illustrator of the story is Jeanne Rorex Bridges. She utilizes many Native American culture markers in the illustrations. The first Native American cultural marker that she uses is the home built by the Choctaws, which were log cabins. It is important to mention that during that time period the Choctaws transitioned from “Chukka” (grass like huts) to log cabins. The next Native American culture marker in the illustrations were the moccasins that Martha Tom and the other Choctaw characters were wearing. The traditional wedding attire used by the women is another Choctaw tradition. The illustrations depict Choctaw women wearing white long dresses.
The skin tone and facial features of the Choctaw are also a cultural marker connected to Native Americans. The illustrator captured the brown skin tone and facial features that connect to the Native Americans. Because the story connected two cultures, the illustration also captured the skin tone and facial features of African Americans. Another important feature is the hair color and texture that were depicted for the Native Americans. The illustrations show dark, long color hair on the Choctaw main character and women.
The one Native American celebration that was depicted in the story also connects to the Choctaw group, which was the wedding celebration. The role of the men and the role of the women in the celebration are shown in the illustrations, as well as in the text. It is important to note that the author does clarify that such a wedding celebration is also done the same way today. The author does this clarification at the end of the book in the note section.
The author is also able to give the reader a modern day factual note about the Choctaw Native American group at the end of the book. It also includes photographs of today’s Choctaw people.
Overall the story depicts in text and illustration Native American cultural markers that connect to the Choctaw people.
Review Experts
American Indian Youth Literature Award
ALSC Notable Children’s Book
Jane Addams Children’s Book Award Honor
Publisher’s Weekly: 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.)
Connections
Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People To Freedom by Carole Boston Weatherford
The teachers and librarians are able to use this book and conduct a theme assignment using a graphic organizer with the events of the book.
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