By Lookout Staff

August 18, 2026 – Did you know sycamore trees were havens and signposts for slaves trying to escape, or that pecan trees were domesticated by an enslaved African named Antoine?

Those are among the fascinating facts in award-winning biologist Beronda Montgomery's book, "When Trees Testify: Science, Wisdom, History, and America’s Black Botanical Legacy," which she will discuss at Santa Monica College (SMC) next Tuesday.

The Author Talk will take place at the SMC Library from 11 a.m. to noon. To register click here.

"The histories of trees in America are also the histories of Black Americans," event organizers said. Certain trees add "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," Montgomery "explores the ways seven trees, as well as the cotton shrub, are intertwined with Black history and culture" and "reveals how knowledge surrounding these trees has shaped America since the very beginning."

As Montgomery shows, trees -- like the poplar trees historically associated with lynching or the willow whose bark is used in medicine -- "are material witnesses to the lives of enslaved Africans and their descendants."

A writer, researcher and scholar, Montgomery's primary laboratory-based research has been focused on the responses of photosynthetic organisms to external light cues, organizers said.

"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."