>> From the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.
[ Silence ]
>> Thea Austin: Good Afternoon, welcome I'm Thea Austin,
the public events coordinator of the American Folklife Center
at the Library of Congress and on behalf of our entire staff I'd
like to welcome you to the latest concert in our 2011 Homegrown Music
of America Concert Series.
The Homegrown Series was designed to feature the very best
of traditional music, dance and storytelling from around the nation.
The Folklife Center works with many talented
and dedicated state folk arts coordinators from across the country
who helped-- help us select the very best
and the most exciting performers from their communities.
This allows us to bring important and representative traditions
from around the country right here to Washington
and we work collaboratively with the Millennium Stage
at the Kennedy Center to make that possible.
Today's performance will be recorded for the permanent collections
and the webcast will be put up on our website as a webcast as well,
which reminds me that we'll call--
this is a good time to turn of your cell phones if they're on.
Otherwise, they will be recorded for posterity.

Today we have a very special concert of storytelling and flute music
from the Choctaw people who now reside largely in Oklahoma,
but in a few other states as well.
Making this concert possible technically,
I want to thank Solomon Haile Selassie from the music division
for doing our lights and Chris Kovsloski and Liz Casey
from National Sound for doing the sound for us today.
In the American Folklife Center we have one
of the world's largest collections of early native American recordings
of music and speech, including what we consider, what we believe
to be the first ethnic graphic field recording ever made
by Jesse Walter Fuchs in 1890 on wax cylinders; the recordings
of Passamaquoddy speakers in Maine.
We've repatriated many of our recordings back to tribes
to have contributed them and we continue to work
with American Indians from all over the country who are doing research
in their own languages and traditions.
We're very happy to have this concert be a part of that effort.
We'd now like to welcome Rodger Harris
of the Oklahoma Folklife Council who well tell you a little bit
about the concert today and introduce our performers.
Rodger Harris.   [ Sound effects ]

>> Rodger Harris: Thank you.   Thank you.

Good afternoon everybody and welcome.
I'd like to introduce two of my friends, Choctaw friends,
one from Oklahoma and one who spends his time in Oklahoma but lives
in Texas part of the time, shamefully so I'm afraid.
First, from Oklahoma, D. J. Battiest-Tomasi.
D. J.   [ Sound effects ]

>> Rodger Harris: And Tim Tingle.   [ Sound effects ]

>> Rodger Harris: Well, what we want
to know are there any Choctaws in the audience.
What do we say to them?   [Background sound effects]

>> D. J. Battiest-Tomasi: Halikto.   [Assumed spelling]

>> Tim Tingle: Halikto.   Chama Chikma.

[Assumed spelling]
>> D. J. Battiest-Tomasi: Chama Chikma.
>> Rodger Harris: We didn't hear that response very good.
>> D. J. Battiest-Tomasi: Halikto.   >> Tim Tingle: Halikto.

Halikto.   >> Halikto.

>> D. J. Battiest-Tomasi: Hello.   >> Rodger Harris: Thank you.

Well, I'm gonna talk for just a moment to kind of introduce
who the Choctaw people are and then Tim will tell a story
and I'm gonna be talking about how the Choctaw people came to live
in the place called Oklahoma.
And in the early 1800s there was a lot of strife in the United States,
especially in the south east,
a concern about those non-Indian peoples who wanted to live
where these Indian peoples lived and that resulted
in an ultimate decision on the part of the federal government
to move several tribes from the southeast,
to move them out to what is presently Oklahoma.
That was around 1830 or so when they began to move
and in particular the Choctaw people who lived
in Mississippi began moving around 1832.
They were not well provisioned.
In fact, one of the tribes who moved were well provisioned
and so they ended up traveling a very difficult road
and that difficult road is sometimes called, "The Trail of Tears."
Many of their family members and friends were lost in route
and it was a very sad time still mourned by the peoples who came
on the different roads to what is now Oklahoma.
The Choctaws left in about 1832 and they crossed over land on foot.
A little bit of aid from a few wagons to carry a supplier to,
but for the most part it was only what they could carry
on their backs.   It was a very, very difficult time.

When they arrived in this area that's called Oklahoma,
it had no name then and the federal government did not have it on a map.
It had no name it was simply west of Arkansas territory.
So, you could imagine these were not just being relocated.
These were people being sent to exile in the west somewhere
where very few people knew much about.
In that place that they landed, they started new homes,
built them themselves of course, from native materials.
They started schools, cooperated with mission churches
and established churches.
They also established their own government, their own constitution
and just before the civil war, they were thriving.
Agriculture was good.
Transportation on the two main rivers, the Red River
and the Arkansas was good, and people were doing very well.
And then the Civil War devastated Oklahoma or Indian Territory,
as it was called then, more
so than any other place in the United States.
That's a little known fact I think outside of Oklahoma.
In any case, it was a tough time again for the same peoples.
And then, they were also subjected to a lot of government changes
and how the treaties were interpreted and then they began
to send young Indian children to Indian boarding schools.
And the boarding schools forbade the language that they learned to speak
as a child in their family and we'll talk a little bit more
about that a little later.
And then they divided the lands that had been held in common up
and to make matters worse, they ended tribal governments in 1907
when Oklahoma became a state.
You would think that would have devastated the people; it did not.
They still could not vote although they could joint the military
and fight for the country and many did.
In fact, World War I Choctaw code talkers were great champions,
especially in the European theater where they did extremely well
and again in World War II in the European theater.
And then, by the middle part of the 20th Century the Choctaws began
to reconstitute themselves, and once they did it took them about 20
or thirty years to begin to really get everything back in order.
During that time the folks who had held on to the old ways,
the traditional ways, were the ones who were relied on the most.
And these two folks that are here today are some of those people
who have held on to grass from the elders
and are now passing it on to others.
And so we're gonna start by asking Tim
if he will tell us a story, please Tim.
>> Tim Tingle: I'll be glad to.
First, I want to acclimate you to old American Indian tradition
that we think might be multi-ethnic because we feel
like it didn't necessarily origin itself from Indian culture.
But the tradition is this, and I welcome you to take part in it.
When speakers introduced just as I was, audience will clap.
[ Sound effects ]
>> Tim Tingle: So now you've taken part in Indian ritual.
Yea, which is to say in a [Inaudible] way,
that we have our roots very deep in Choctaw tradition,
but we're doing fine in modern USA, as well.
We have acclimated.
I want to share a story that my mentor, Charlie Jones,
who is our official tribal storyteller
for almost half a century; an amazing man traveled all
over the world sharing Choctaw culture, very distinguished.
He could walk into his room.
Distinguished is a strange word, because he was a very funny man.
He was very Choctaw, but he took me--
he kind of took me and taught me stories, taught me stories.
And one thing he said is he realized I was devoting;
I was getting very serious.   I was learning the stories.

We had a moment in which I have been telling for maybe 10 years
and Charlie had been telling before our chiefs,
we are a strong government now.
Our chiefs annual state of the nation address,
before 90 thousand people in a little town to Tuskahoma,
which normally has 200; 90 thousand people descend for almost a week
on this town, 90 thousand Choctaws from all over the world.
And for almost half a century Charlie Jones had told the
traditional story before the chief gave his annual state
of the nation address and they had called me about six months before
and they said, "He has Alzheimer's.   He is not able to do it.

Again, he'll be on the stage with the Supreme Court,
the tribal council, the Chief, the assistant but you tell the story."
And again, I was so honored and so happy and thinking about Charlie,
of course, I was so happy.
And I was sitting at a fry bread stand at Labor Day,
the before the speech would happen and a friend came by, sat down
and said, "So, I hear you're gonna tell the story."
And I said, "Oh, yea."   "What story are you gonna tell us?"

And I told him and he said, "Oh, this is so cool to see you.
I'm really excited about those people,
a big screen TV, this will be cool."
And then what are the chances on a place
with 90 thousand people spread out, how many acres,
that at that moment Charlie Jones and old councilman would walk
around the corner of the trailer and not see me, but they were this close
and his friends said, put his arm around him and said, "So,
Charlie I hear you're not gonna be telling this year.
We're gonna miss you."
And Charlie said, "Well, I'm gonna miss it too.
I guess I'm just too old."
And then they walked on, and it made everything different for me.
It was a sacred moment and all the pride and all
of that was gone, all of that was gone.
And when I told my story he got up and he had a beautiful gift to give
to me and I took it as a passing on and I know
that some day I will stand up and I will approach someone
and I will give them a special gift as I sit down
and someone else becomes the storyteller.
That's how it is.   It's the passing on.

And one of the things that Charlie told me is
that he realized this would be a career
and this would be something I was doing.
He said, "There will be a time when you will speak at a special place
and you'll be speaking in lots of different auditoriums and places,
and they'll be a time when there will be as many empty,
maybe more seats as there are filled seats."
And he said, "That is the time to smile and know.
It doesn't mean that people don't want to see you,
it means that the elders,
the shalombush [Assumed spelling] the walking people, the dead
and gone but still with us people haven't heard you tell enough
stories lately and they've created situations on earth
so so many other people will leave so many empty seats
so there will be plenty of seats for the elders.
So when you look out, don't see empty seats,
see members of your family who have passed on.
See members of your family who you have never seen
that passed on, but are there.
See members of the family of the audience so they can feel that next
to them and what they think is an empty seat is someone they care
deeply about too."   [ Sound effects ]

>> Tim Tingle: And there was another side of Charlie Jones [Laughter]
and this was the first story he ever taught me.
Long, long, way back long ago in the land
of the Choctaws there was rabbit.
Now, oh, I'm sorry I almost forgot to tell you,
when I do there was rabbit, you have to make rabbit ears.
Everybody and I have an interesting definition of the word everybody;
it simply means you [Laughter] especially the kid sitting next
to his big sister that chewed the bubble gum and swallowed it.
[Laughter] Okay are you ready.
Long ago, in the land of the Choctaws there was rabbit, good.
And rabbit had one problem; rabbit just wouldn't stop talking.
Let's all say it.   Rabbit just wouldn't stop talking.

He went on and on and on and there was also fox.
And fox had a regular house; four fox children and his fox wife
and every morning fox would go down to the river and fish for catfish.
He would sling that fish line out [Sound effects] plop; reel it in.
[Sound effects] Here we go.   We all get the fish.

Are y' all ready?
[Sound effects] Oh, wait a second, I'm sorry.
Is it okay to say y' all here?   Do they know what that means?

[Laughter] Y' all is like you pleural, okay.
[Laughter] Okay here ya go, everybody.
[Sound effects] Plop.   [Sound effects] Plop.

[Sound effects] Plop.
[Sound effects] Now since most of you were raised in Greek or Roman,
Judaea, Christian, Western European, Scientific, World view you
with traditional folk tale expect there to be three slingings
of the catfish line, three jobs for the prince to do--
to rescue the princess; three, three, three,
but this is Indian culture and the number is four.
[Laughter] So we will swing the catfish line one more time.
Are you ready?   Here we go.

[Sound effects] Plop.   [Sound effects] Good.

Now on the day of the story he had caught just enough catfish
to feed his family and he knew his wife would have
that cornbread batter.   She would make homemade hushpuppies.

She would get the skillet popping hot.
She'd cornbread-- ew it would be good.
But along came trouble and the trouble is this,
once you catch catfish before you fry it,
it smells pewy bad, let's all say that.
Pewy bad. That was good.
[Sound effects] And that fishy smell worked itself all the way--
let's all do this, all the way around the nose of that old rabbit.
Keep your ears up now cause the rabbit's gonna talk.
He said, "Smell like fish to me."   Y' all ready?

Smell like fish to me.
So rabbit went, hip hoppity, hip hoppity, hip.
You know y' all get to do that and remember it's not shoulder hoppity,
shoulder hoppity, its hip hoppity, hip hoppity.
Here we go.   Are y' all ready?

Here we go.   Hip hoppity, hip hoppity.

[Laughter] That's good.
[Laughter] And he jumped right in front of that fox
and he said, "Gimme me that fish."   Can y' all say that?

Gimme that fish and the fox said, "No way."
Here we go, no way.   But you know rabbit, he just said,

say it with me, wouldn't stop talking.
He went on and on and on and on and finally fox realized the only way
to get rid of that rabbit was to trick--
oh, almost forgot to tell ya [Laughter] this was back
so far long ago that rabbit had a long beautiful bushy tail.
Here we go; a long beautiful bushy tail.
[Laughter] Not at all like that powder puff of a tail
that he's got today and I'm glad I 'membered 'cause this is how it got
that way.
Fox took one look at that tail and said, "Rabbit ya wanna go fishing.
You go on down to the icy part of the river, you throw a rock,
chuck it, bust a hole in the ice
and you stick your tail down in the ice water."
And rabbit said, "Won't that be cold?"
See, they always take pictures when I'm looking like a fool.
Can't you take it [Laughter] when I'm-- mercy me.

[Laughter] Here we go.   Won't that be cold?

Good. No go right ahead, it's natural what can I say?
And the fox said, "Yea, it'll be cold, but with your tail dangling
down there the water, the fish will grab a hold of it.
All you have to do is go flip in your tail
and the fish will go flopping on the shore.
You'll get all the fish you want."
Rabbit said, "I can"-- here we go, "I can do that."
Fox said, "I bet you can't."
He picked the fish up and [Sound effects] here we go.
[Sound effects] Don't you want to take that one?
Yea, there you go [Sound effects] right.
So rabbit said, "Oh, better go fishing."
Hip hoppity, no we've already done that, never mind.
He went down to the icy part of the river, stood on the river banks
and he was just-- he chucked the-- and he busted the--
and just about to step when he realized he was barefoot.
He was gonna have to sit on that ice on his bare bottom.
Don't you be laughing.
You don't want to sit ice on your bare bottom, I don't think so.
And then he heard it.
[Sound effects] And he knew who this was.
Two American Indian people
and others too it is he who rules everything.
[Sound effects] It was tummy growling.
[Laughter] He who rules all, and he thought I better step.
It's gonna be cold.
And he tiptoed out and he got ready to sit
down on his bare bottom, oh it was cold.
I know it made him jump, just like you did ma'am.
It made him [Sound effects] and then he heard it again.
[Sound effects] And little by little he sat down.
He put his tail down in the ice water.
It was cold and the fish were swimming; they were biting
and it got to be-- and then for the narrative arc of the story,
pay real close attention to the next line, it got to be freezing cold.
Something grabbed a hold of his tail.
He said, "Oh, I got me a fish.   What am I?"

[Sound effects] But his tail--
[Laughter] don't get ahead of me now sir.
His tail [Laughter] stayed right where it was.
He said, "Oh, I caught a big fish.   I better go flip him."

Y' all don't know what it is do you?
He went [Sound effects] and his tail stayed right where it was.
He said, "Oh all I have to do is count to three, jump up,
I'll bust the fish through the ice and I'll never have to work again."
So, let's all count together.
Here we go, one, two, three, don't be jumping now.
Just say one, two, three, don't want to bust the chairs
in this beautiful old auditorium.   Okay, here we go.

Achaffa-- I bet you count English.
Yea, okay you get to count English; I'll count Choctaw.
Here we go nice and loud, Achaffa.
You're supposed to say like one, two, three okay.
[Sound effects] Do they not give an IQ test with people
when they come-- is the mic working here?
>> Yea.   >> Tim Tingle: Okay, here we go.

One, two, three, he jumped up and he said, "Oh, I've got my fish.
I'll never have to work again.
I got my-- but wait, I don't see a fish."
And he was wondering what could have gone wrong
when he felt the cold breeze back
where he'd never felt the breeze before.
He said, "Ew, that's really funny
because my tail all-- where is my tail?"
And there he saw it, that's right.
Frozen solid underneath the river of ice leaving rabbit with nothing
but that little powder puff of a tail just like he's got today.
And all because he just wouldn't stop talking.
And sometimes people will say, "Well, people don't have tails."
And I say, "That's because every one
of us have a little bit of rabbit in us.
There are times when we just won't stop talking."
But it's time for me to do so.   Yakoki. Thank you very much.

You're a wonderful audience.   Thank you.

[ Sound effects ]
>> Rodger Harris: Well, I wanted to ask what did he mean by yakoki?
Is that right?
>> D. J. It's the word for thank you.
In Choctaw it's how we say thank you.
Yakoki or yakoki.
>> Rodger Harris: So there are a lot of Choctaw words that are used
by people who don't really know anything about the Choctaw people
or the culture or anything like the name of the state we come from.
That's a--
>> D. J. Battiest-Tomasi: That's a Choctaw word.
Oklahoma divided in two works like Okla is
for people, homa is the color red.
So it is a land of the red man or the red people.
>> Rodger Harris: And the most common phrase that folks use,
a one word phrase that we think comes from Choctaw,
there might be some arguments is what?
>> D. J. Battiest-Tomasi: Hokay.   H-O-K-A-Y.

Hokay.   >> Rodger Harris: Hokay, yea.

>> D. J. Battiest-Tomasi: Hokay.
>> Rodger Harris: So if you know Choctaw
and you thought everything was going well you could say, "Hokay."
>> D. J. Battiest-Tomasi: Chikma is good and Hokay is well.
Chikma Hokay.   >> Rodger Harris: Yea.

>> D. J. Battiest-Tomasi: We got hokay,
everything is hokay, it's good.
>> Rodger Harris: You know, the languages almost died
and perhaps D. J. will tell us a little more about that in a bit
and they died of course, because the government felt
that it was a threat.
They thought that all of the native people should learn to speak English
and should become red white people
or white red people, however you think of it.
And of course, that didn't work all
that well although some thrived, most had some troubles.
Well, the Choctaws thrived mightily
and today are a major political force in Oklahoma
and to some extent in our country.   So, tell us about your family

because you have a very interesting Choctaw background.
>> D. J. Battiest-Tomasi: Thank you Rodger.
Well, Halite.
The Trail of Tears Walk of 1832, I was raised to believe and taught
that my great-grandmother Silfa Harrison Kusher,
her Choctaw name was Desihia [Assumed spelling] which was
like the messenger that brought like the message, maybe storyteller shows
to the villages or the travel village, the community.

Her parents, and she was 115 when she passed,
we figured in our family some years ago in the 70s;
her parents were survivors, small children on the Trail of Tears
that was in a blizzard, force to walk in a blizzard,
never told before and only said right now,
but the Mississippi Choctaws have taught me was at gunpoint,
where six thousand Choctaws were massacred.
None of their families survived.
As children that made it to Oklahoma;
the story that Ed-- Rodger had said.   My family kept asking the soldiers,

"When will we get to Indian territory?"
We'll tell you.   We'll tell you.

And as soon as we got to the line, Arkansas
and Oklahoma they actually stepped one step over and said,
"We will move no further."
In that area was my great-grandmother
who didn't speak English.   She understood it a little bit.

And then one day the government came in and assist--
and in giving her assistance she didn't know she would lose
her children.
But because they didn't speak English they were put
in a boarding school called Dwight Mission.
My mother said she wasn't frightened
because her dad had worked on a train.
So she wasn't afraid of trains but her uncles
and aunts had never seen a train, and they were terrified.
Before they got to Dwight Mission, which by the way you know
as a good thing in that the missionaries--
Choctaws were first met with the Cumberland Presbyterian became
acceptance of each, because the prophecies,
which our tribe have done for thousands of years and still do,
our different tribes on this land still have different prophecies,
had said that these people would come
and they would have a similar story.
The story I was told is that the elders waited to hear the story
of the blood and said these are our people, these are our relatives.
We welcome them, akinami noma [Assumed spelling] all
our relations.
So back to the school, I said, "Momma what did you do?"
She was about 5th grade; she said most children didn't teach any
English at all.
So they were punished if they were caught speaking their language.
They were Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek, Seminoles, Catawba, Comanches,
Chihuahuas, lots of different tribes,
mostly Cherokee in that part.
She said she was around Cherokee's so much and heard the language,
she thought she was Cherokee.
There were Choctaw and Chickasaw or Chikta, [Assumed spelling]
which is the way you pronounce it and Chicksaw who were brothers.
I said, "What was your primary-- what was your English book?
What did you study?"
She said, "It was only a-- it was a Bible, the King James version
of the Bible was our English book."
I couldn't imagine getting through all those begats,
even as a child in a second language.
She said three hours a day they were taught
with the Bible, six days a week.   They didn't on Sunday.

She said, "But we were punished
if we were caught speaking our language."
And they kids thought they were kind of clever so what they did,
they waited until the lights were out at night
and she said languages would just rattle all
through the dorm beds, the little bunk beds.
And then the matrons came in and said,
"Let's call one for all and all for one.
If one of you speaks your language, then all of you will be punished."
Some were whipped, but the last time she remembers the punishment,
she said it was just that they got them up in the early morning
like two or three in the morning
and had the children scrubbing wooden floors with toothbrushes
on their knees until breakfast, but they didn't talk,

and they were quiet it seemed,
though we do talk a lot probably don't we Tim?
They were quiet and she said what they try--
they wanted to learn this language now
because this is what was being forced to them and punished
if they didn't and so maybe they need to try to learn this language.
But some of them, they couldn't get it all and one would know this word
and a few would know this word and so they decided to try
to put their words together, but they had to sneak off you know
like under the hedges or trees or the fence line where the matrons
or ladies or people of authority couldn't hear them.
And all these little kids got together and they said,
"What do you think they want us to know?
What are they trying to teach us?   What is the message?"

They said, "We think it's that they want us to get God in our heart."
They're saying, "Get God in your heart."
Jahoa [Assumed spelling] is God.   Get God in Shalom, which is spirit.

Get God in your heart; well when did he get out?
[Laughter] They didn't know that.   They said, "We're Choctaw.

We're Indian people.   He doesn't ever leave us.

God never leaves us.   This creator never leaves us.

Is that why they're different?   Is that why they're mean to us?"

My mom said we thought maybe that's what had happened to them,
and they wanted God back in their heart.
So she said, "We pray for them to get God back in their heart."
And we think it did and when we finish this story we say, Aho.
[Assumed spelling] So we're going to say, and I play the flute.
I'm an oboist by 22 years ago and I have to have notes.
So with my eyes closed I will be playing in spirit, that Shalomish.
And we say Holy Topa [Assumed spelling] for Holy Spirit.
And if you want to say directly to them or speak directly to them--
to the Holy Spirit we say, "Ma" at the end.
Shalomish Shali Topa Ma and Yakoki.   [Assumed spelling]

[ Sound effects ]   >> D. J. Battiest-Tomasi: Yakoki.

[ Sound effects ]   >> Rodger Harris: Thank you.

It's restful.
It took my voice down about a half an octave I think.
Well, we're gonna ask Tim to come up now
and tell you a little bit more about Tim.
By way of introduction, Tim is one
of the nation's best performance storytellers and does other kinds
of material besides just strictly material related
to the Choctaw people.
And also, Tim is a really fine writer.
My favorite book that he wrote is called, "Walking the Choctaw Road."
I recommend to anyone.
It's a good read regardless of your interest, but especially if you want
to know a little more about the Choctaw people
or about Native America in general.   The other book that I have of Tim's

that is a favorite is a children's book called, "Crossing Bokchito."
And I'll let Tim talk a little bit about that,
but both of those books are available probably
in every library in the United States.
So, go home and find one or buy one.   >> Tim Tingle: Thank you.

Thank you.
I started collecting stories from Choctaw elders of 1988 all
over Texas, Oklahoma [Background sound effects] and back
to our homeland in Mississippi.
And the story I want to share with you is told by a man who passed
on about three years ago.
His name is Archie Mingo and he lived
in the Neshoba County not too far from our sacred mountain,
Ninah Waya, which is still our sacred place.
It's the origin mound in central Mississippi close
to Philadelphia, Mississippi.
There's a river called Bokchito that cuts through Mississippi.
In the days back before the Trail of Tears,
Bokchito River was a boundary river.
On one side lived the Choctaws and the nation of Indian people
on the other side, plantation owners with their slaves
and if a slave escaped and made his way across that river,
the slave owner could not follow; that was the law.
And so it was that long ago and far away,
when the river was the boundary,
when Sunday morning a Choctaw mama woke her little daughter up saying,
"Marthatom [Assumed spelling] you lazy little girl.
You, you get yourself up out of bed.   I have a wedding to come for today.

You take this basket and pick some blackberries.
Go now." Marthatom threw her clothes on, grabbed that basket
and she was gone to the river.
She filled that basket with blackberries
and then realized she hadn't had breakfast yet.
She sat down and she ate every berry in the basket
and there were no more berries on her side of the river.
So she did something she had been told never, ever to do.
She went crossing Bokchito to the slave's side; for the only way
to cross that river in those days was a stone path just beneath the
muddy surface of the water and only the Choctaws knew it was there
because they had built it.
And when the river flooded they built the stones up
and when the river sank in times of drought they built the stones done,
always seen beneath muddy waters.
She crossed that stone on slippery stone at a time and went
into those woods and filled that basket with berries.
Then she was lost.
She followed people moving thinking she was going to the river;
she was going still deeper into those woods.
She came across a clearing headed by a stump covered in grapevines
and logs rolled out almost like they were benches.
Then she heard someone coming.
She jumped behind that stump and stepping
out of the woods behind her she saw a skinny little black man
with a bushy head of white hair hobbling with a cane,
looking like [Sound effects] don't you be laughing there,
you'll be old some day young man, don't you laugh.
It's not nice to make fun of old people.
I saw you.
And so she scooted around that stump and here he come trying


[Sound effects] We talked about that.
[Laughter] And then that old man he put his cane down
and started stepping up on top of this stump and Marthatom realized
that if that man steps on top
of the stump he's gonna be able to look down and see me.
I better get into the grapevines.
So Marthatom jumped into those grapevines
and I know-- she had to do it though.
I didn't mean to startle you,
but for the narrative she really had to get there in a hurry.
That's the only reason I did that ma'am.
And she looked through the leaves and that old man started stomping
and clapping and calling out to the woods.
We are bound for the Promised Land
and what happened next changed her life forever.
For a hundred voices came unseen
like spirits voices shivering the low-hanging moss in the trees
and responding we are bound for the Promised Land.
Marthatom didn't see a soul.
That old man, he started stomping and clapping again and he said,
"Who will come and go with me?"
And it looked like his fingers were lifting people right
out of the dark dirt of Mississippi as a hundred slaves stood
up from the bushes where they were hiding.
It was the calling together of the Forbidden Slave Church deep
in those Mississippi woods.
And they said, "We will come and go with you.
We are bound for the Promised Land."
They began to sing that beautiful song.
Marthatom had never heard music like this before,
but it touched her deeply.   Then something else touched her.

It came slithering through the grapevines; it was a man's hand.
It tapped-- she looked up to see the biggest man she'd ever seen
in her entire life.
His chest was so bit it was about to pop the buttons right off
of his shirt and he said, "You're lost little girl."
And Marthatom said, "Um huh huh."
He said, "You're Choctaw from across that river."
"Um huh huh."   "You're scared.

You wanna go home."   "Um huh huh huh."

He said, "What's your name little girl?"
She said, "Um huh huh huh."
He said, "I never met a little girl named uh huh huh huh."
[Laughter] She said, "Mister my name is not uh huh huh huh.
My name, by now she was laughing so hard, she said,
"My name is" [Laughter] He said, "I should have a little girl
with a name like [Laughter] She said,
"Mister, my name is Marthatom."
And he said, "Well at least you're laughing hon.
Because when I first saw you, you were so scared your teeth were
about to chatter right out of your skull."
And she laughed, she slapped his britches again
and she said, "I'm Marthatom."   And he said, "I'll get my son.

He'll get you to the river."   "Little Moe", he called out.

There appeared a thin little boy of about ten.
His daddy said, "Little Moe, this here's Marthatom and she's Choctaw.
You need to get her back to the river."
Little Moe said, "I better not dad,
the people in the plantation house they're always telling us
if we're seen playing too close to the river,
they think we're trying to escape."   Our whole family gets in trouble.

His father was undaunted.
He knelt down and he said, "Son, there's a way to move amongst them
where they won't even see ya.   Here's what you do son.

You move not too fast, not too slow, eyes to the ground, away you go.
You be invisible son.
Now get this little girl to the river."
Well, it sounded like a fun game to play so he took Marthatom
and off they went; not too fast, not too slow,
eyes to the ground, away you go.   They soon arrived at the river

and Marthatom thought this would be a fun game to play.
She knew he couldn't see the stones.   She put him right there by the path.

She said, "You looky what I can do."   And she took off walking.

She turned around about ten steps later
and took off running to the river.
He said, "Looky little girl, there's no boat or bridge."
She jumped from the shore.   She landed on the water.

She stood up, he jumped back.
He said, "Little girl, little girl what kind of a witch are you?"
She said, "I'm not no kind of witch.   Come on, you can do it too."

He said, "I ain't."
She said, "Go ahead, put your toe in.
You see it's a test.   It'll be safe."

"Well what if I put my toe in
and a big old snapping turtle comes and bites my toe off.
That's not safe."   She laughed.

She said, "Oh, its safe you can trust me.
Your father saved me life.
If your father hadn't found me, but the people
in the plantation house found me" she said,
"They would never let me go home.
I would be their little inside-the-house worker girl
until I had to work in the fields like your family does."
And then she said something that caught Little Moe
and most Americans by surprise.
She said, "Who do you think were their slaves before they brought
your people here?   It was us.

I would never hurt your family.   I want you to meet mine."

And Little Moe looked at her and he decided
to do something he had never done before.
He decided to trust someone of a different color.
And when he put his foot through the water he didn't now what it would
touch, but as so many people say where I come
from when his foot touched this stone, it was, "Comi Lagro."
[Assumed spelling] It was Comi Lagro.
Every step was a miracle.
And he reached the center of the river he squeezed her hand and said,
"How long has the path been here."
She said, "I don't know, maybe forever."
And he thought to himself,
"So the path to freedom is always there if you learn to see it."

The path to freedom is always there if you learn to see it.
And even before they step from the stones to the earth,
they could hear the old man beginning the old wedding chant
to call everyone together.
[Background sound effects] They saw people stepping from log homes
for we Choctaws we had log homes in 1491.
We already had them.
The old man began to sing the old wedding chant--
[ Sound effects and singing ]
>> Tim Tingle: This began a friendship that would last for years
as every Sunday morning Marthatom would cross that river.
She would sit with Little Moe and his family
and learn those songs in English and Choctaw.
She would sing em every Sunday, [Background sound effects]
on her way home and then trouble came.
There was a slave sale and twenty slaves were sold
to go to New Orleans.
The very next morning before sunrise and the only name on that list
from Little Moe's family was his mother.
And that night at the supper table she began to cry and shake her head
and she said, "I'll grab my clothes.   I'll run to the woods."

His father said, "You don't want the children
to see the dogs drag you back."   And then Little Moe stood up.

He said, "Daddy, we can stay together as a family.
I know the Choctaw path across the river."
His father said, "They'll have the dogs out tonight
to prevent the crossing."
And Little Moe said, "Just like you taught me dad; not too fast,
not too slow, eyes to the ground, away we go.
We'll be invisible.   We have to try."

And for the first time the father saw the faith in his boys face.
He grabbed pillow cases, tossed one to every member the family.
He said, "Run to your corners and pack quick, hurry."
And they packed quick, but not quick enough.
The men in the plantation house saw them working late.
They surrounded that little house in the woods with dogs and lanterns
and guns, tossing their jackets over the lanterns so they hid
in the darkness lifting their loaded shotguns
to both front and back door, to both.
With his family around him Little Moe's father said looking
to the back door, "We could go out that way.
It might be dark and safer there.
But his night's journey is not about darkness.
It is not about safety.   It is about faith and freedom.

We will go out the front door.   And so they did.

And when they pushed that door open the men saw the crack of light.
They tossed the jackets.
The lantern light spread into the clearing, but a miracle happened.
No people they beheld.   This family became invisible.


[Sound effects] Walking so close even the dogs they didn't know they
were there.
They came to the banks of the river and looked
to Little Moe to lead them.
He said, "I've never been here at night.
I can't find the way."   But his father was undaunted.

He lifted the boy, balanced him on his hip to their skin touched.
He said, "Little boy, little boy.   You know what your name is.

Little Moe, but that's not your real name, son.
I know now why we named you this, the hour's at hand son.
Your name is Moses; now Moses get us across that water."
Up and down the river he found the stones finally and he dashed
across into Marthatom's house.   He said, "I'm sorry.

I know you're sleeping but it's me.   It's Little Moe.

My mamma's been sold.   They're after us.

Can you help me?
It's, it's, it's Moses can you give me a hand here?"
She jumped up.
She threw her clothes on and she said, "Get back across that river.
Hide your family in the tall river cane.
You'll know when it's safe to cross now go."
And he did.
And here come the dogs and the lanterns
and they were hiding in the cane.
On the Choctaw side she went to every house.
She flung the doors open.
She said, "Women, put on your white dresses.
Bring a lit candle.   Meet me at the river.

We're having a ceremony tonight."
[Background sound effects] "The crossing kind."
And when everything came to pass just as I told you those men
on the slave side of the river with the dogs and lanterns and the guns,
they saw emerging from the Choctaw fog what looked to them like a band
of angels and then not ten feet in front of them, they saw them sending
up and shimmering and shining, coming to life before their eyes.
They saw them, seven runaway slaves.
They lifted their shotguns and point them to the backs.
[Background sound effects] Their fingers froze on the trigger.
For stepping out of the Choctaw fog came the most beautiful little angel
of them all.   Her right hand held a candle.

Her left hand was outstretched.
It was Marthatom and she was walking on the water
and singing a song they'd heard the slaves sing many times
in the fields, but never in the language she sang it.
She sang--   [ Sound effects ]

>> Tim Tingle: [Background sound effects] We are bound
for the promised land.
She took Little Moe by the hand and he took his mother
and she took her husband and he took the children and together all seven
of them went crossing Bokchito.
When they reached the fog on the Choctaw side they blew the candles
out and disappeared into the lightness of it all,
never to be seen on the plantation side ever again.
But in the Neshoba County Mississippi
where I first heard this story, they'll still talk about the bravery
of that Choctaw Marthatom.
They still talk about the faith of that boy they've come to call Moses,
but maybe the best version of this story is told by the descendents
of those men with the dogs and the lanterns and the guns.
[Background sound effects] For they tell
about the night their forefathers witnessed seven black spirits
walking on the water to their freedom, to their free.
That's why we gathered together to celebrate our cultural diversities.
We've come to call them,
but we should always remember we gather together for in a deeper,
finer place we are no different.
We all seek the same things; safety and joy for those we know and love.
[Music] We're all members of a human walk.
It never was a race.   There's no competition here.

Closer and closer we come to the house, to the house we seek.
Step by step, stone by stone, book by book, hope by hope,
story by story, song, dream, book, stone, closer and closer
and closer we come to the house of everybody.
To the house of every, every, everybody;
to the house of everybody is welcome here.

Freedom. Yakoki.   Thank you.

[ Sound effects ]
>> Rodger Harris: [Music] Thanks Tim.
A little more by way of introduction for D. J; D. J. is a counselor
and at an Indian Health Clinic in Oklahoma City.
A very large clinic; very, very successful treating
about 17 thousand patients, different patients each year,
some of them of course treated multiple times.
And so that's an amazing accomplishment
and they have done all this as a non-profit organization.
She works as I said as a counselor and so she has to deal
with multiple tribes and multiple ways
and different views of the world.
And part of what she does is incorporate old ways, traditions
and so forth and her visiting with other people,
and part of the old ways include the flute.
[ Sound effects ]
>> D. J. Battiest-Tomasi: All my relations, Aki doma noma.
[Assumed spelling]   [ Sound effects ]

>> Rodger Harris: D. J. and Tim and I want to express our appreciation
to the Library of Congress for letting us come
and visit with you today.
I hope you had a nice time and go out and read a little bit
and listen a little bit and learn a little more
about Choctaws and other folks.   Goodbye.

[ Sound effects ]
>> D. J. Battiest-Tomasi: Oh there's no goodbye.
There's no goodbye in Choctaw,
unless you mean it forever and eternity.
So we say, later in English later or Chapita La Chaki.
[Assumed spelling]
>> [Sound effects] Thea Austin: Tim Tingle,
D. J. Battiest-Tomasi and Rodger Harris.


[ Sound effects ]
>> This has been a presentation of the Library of Congress.