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Virtual Author Talk with Plant Biologist Beronda Montgomery

When Trees Testify

Virtual Author Talk with Award-Winning Plant Biologist and Author Beronda Montgomery. When Trees Testify: Reclaiming 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. 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.

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About the Author:

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).

For upcoming author talks, visit https://libraryc.org/santacruzpl/upcoming.

SCPL's Virtual Author Talks are made possible by the Friends of the Capitola Library.