Dates: Tuesday 8/25
Time: 2-3p
Age Group: Adult
Program Location: Online
Registration: Register & Submit Author Questions HERE.
Description:
Join us for a riveting conversation with award-winning biologist Beronda Montgomery as we discuss her book, When Trees Testify: Science, Wisdom, History, and America’s Black Botanical Legacy.
The histories of trees in America are also the histories of Black Americans. Pecan trees were domesticated by an enslaved African named Antoine; sycamore trees were both havens and signposts for people trying to escape enslavement; poplar trees are historically associated with lynching; and willow bark has offered the gift of medicine. These trees, and others, testify not only to the complexity of the Black American narrative but also to a heritage of Black botanical expertise that, like Native American traditions, predates the United States entirely.
In When Trees Testify, award-winning plant biologist Beronda L. Montgomery explores the ways seven trees, as well as the cotton shrub, are intertwined with Black history and culture. She reveals how knowledge surrounding these trees has shaped America since the very beginning. As Montgomery shows, trees are material witnesses to the lives of enslaved Africans and their descendants.
Combining the wisdom of science and history with stories from her own path to botany, Montgomery talks to majestic trees, and in this unique and compelling narrative, they answer.
Register today for this insightful discussion about Black history and botanical mastery.
Author Bio:
Beronda L. Montgomery, PhD, is a writer, researcher, and scholar who pursues a common theme of understanding how individuals perceive, respond to, and are impacted by the environments in which they exist. Her primary laboratory-based research has been focused on the responses of photosynthetic organisms (i.e., plants and cyanobacteria) to external light cues. Additionally, Beronda pursues this theme in the context of effective mentoring and leadership of individuals, and the role of innovative leaders in supporting success.
Beronda is author of two books When Trees Testify: Science, Wisdom, History, and America’s Black Botanical Legacy (2026, Henry Holt and Co.) and Lessons From Plants (2021, Harvard University Press).
Registration: Register & Submit Author Questions HERE.
UDPL's Distinguished Author Series - Bestselling authors share their books with you in a live, virtual forum. Real-time Q&A. Participate from anywhere you can connect. This series is generously sponsored by the Friends of UDPL with support from the Robert V. Stutz Distinguished Authors Fund.
This series is presented in collaboration with the Library Speakers Consortium.
