Krak Teet: A Catalog of Black Savannah's Biographies

by Trelani Michelle, Xavier Hutchins (Illustrator), Roland Nash (Photographer)

“Krak Teet” is a Gullah Geechee phrase meaning “to speak.” And the first-hand accounts in this book are transcribed directly from the grandchildren of the enslaved who laid the city’s treasured cobblestone roads and introduced its famous red rice and deviled crabs. Those who lived through what can be considered the country’s second wave of the #BlackLivesMatter movement.Krak Teet catalogs stories of struggle—Ms. Madie’s family of sharecroppers fleeing after her father sold a pig without permission, Mr. Roosevelt stuffing his mother’s stab wounds with cobweb to stop the bleeding, and Ms. Florie marching Broughton Street twice a day to protest segregation—alongside stories of success—Queen Elizabeth Butler becoming Savannah’s first black woman to own a car, Ms. Sadie making over $500 a week running numbers, and the city’s desegregation eight months before the Civil Rights Act passed.In the oral history tradition of Drums and Shadows, Krak Teet repositions Savannah’s black history as the basis for the whole versus a historical sidebar.

214 pages, Paperback

Published November 26, 2019

Reviews

[Cece Harbor · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. What a wonderful way to remember the ancestors and honor the living elders. Trelani does a great job of weaving stories together to provide a different view of Savannah. There's an energy that pulses throughout the city and it's often the forgotten and overlooked places that hosts the richest elements of that great city.

[Ty · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. Typically I shy away from historical books because they read like a tedious list of information but Trelani Michelle did an amazing job of intertwining research, interviews and research. This book did an amazing job of mimicking the oral history it derived from. I found myself re-reading sections just to savor the imagery .

[Elle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I generally don’t care for non-fiction but this was well researched. The information was well conveyed and not boring. Being from Savannah, I’m amazed (and ashamed) at how much I didn’t know about my own city. I’m so glad I went outside of my comfort zone & read this book. I have been recommending it to all of my friends, especially those from Savannah. I didn’t want it to end. I can’t wait for her next book!