Bok Chitto Reading

“Crossing Bok Chitto”, written by Choctaw storyteller, Tim Tingle is read by Ashleigh Brickley of Rockford University who is the Graduate Assistant at Rockford University’s Jane Addams Center. Brickley is studying to be a teacher.

Bok Chitto is a river that cuts through Mississippi.  In the days before the Civil War and the Trail of Tears, Bok Chitto was a boundary.  On one side lived the Choctaws, a nation of Indian people.  On the other side lived the plantation owners and their slaves.  If a slave escaped across the Bok Chitto, the slave was free.  The book tells the story of Martha Tom and Lil Mo - young and unlikely friends from each side of the river who braved friendship and trust to help Lil Mo’s family. 

This book has won many awards, including the Jane Addams Peace Award Honor Book.  

Additional Resources:

Grayhawk Perkins is an award winning Tribal storyteller living in Louisiana.  His roots are Choctaw and Houma. He is a master storyteller, musician and all around “renaissance man”.  This interactive song is sung in the Mobilian jargon which was a trade language used by many Native American tribes in the gulf coast region. Listen and learn some words in the Mobilian language.

Listen below to Grayhawk Perkins perform a Choctaw song.