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When Trees Testify: Science, Wisdom, History, and America’s Black Botanical Legacy
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50 copies available
U.S. only
How the Word Is Passed
meets Braiding Sweetgrass in a cultural and personal reclamation of Black history and Black botanical mastery, told through the stories of long-lived trees.
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 way 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.
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 way 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.
320 pages, Hardcover
Expected publication January 20, 2026
5382 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
September 30, 2025
When Trees Testify is Beronda L. Montgomery’s exploration of trees that are a prominent part of Black history in the United States.
Montgomery delves into a mix of personal connections to these selected species of trees, Black history connected to them, and information about the scientific makeup of the trees themselves.
Over the course of the book she introduces us to the pecan, sycamore, willow, poplar, mulberry, oak, and apple trees as well as the cotton shrub. Some of these trees share many similarities, some are very different. Many can be found not just in the southern United States but across the country and in other parts of world. They all have a shared history with those who breathed the oxygen they respirated, something given freely that was one of the only things given to Black people that suffered the indignity of having so much taken away.
Montgomery explores how the trees could bring Black people together and drive them away. How Black people used their knowledge for better farming and harvesting practices that often didn’t benefit them and medicinal and healing practices that did. Stories about the man who grafted pecan trees to commercialize them, how enslaved women would use parts of these trees to prevent pregnancy, the massacre of a Black community in Arkansas, and Blackdom, a community of Black people in New Mexico who grew apples as part of their crops are all fascinating stories.
Throughout the book she provides personal touches, tying in her own memories of gathering pecans and mulberries, holiday fruit bags with apples and oranges, and hiding away under a massive willow tree appropriately named Willow. I have my own memories of an apple tree that I was devastated to see die the first year it bore fruit. A maple tree I grew from a seed that had grown massive by the time we moved away from my childhood home. The blossoms and picking cherries from the cherry tree in our front yard. The oak tree my grandfather put a wooden swing on, and a pine tree near my grandparents’ home my brother and I would hide under, nestled in the fallen needles and enjoying the scent of the tree mixed with the nearby honeysuckle.
Occasionally it does feel like Montgomery strays too far away from the interconnected theme of trees to focus more heavily on Black history or her own personal connection to a tree. The chapter on poplars, I suspect, was particularly difficult to write and features heavily on the tree’s close connection with the many lynchings that have taken place over the years. It doesn’t seem to explore the tree itself to the same detail as other chapters.
In the chapter about apples and the conclusion, Montgomery starts exploring the role of Black people and their relationship with trees in modern times. I think doing this for each type of tree, as a form of looking to the future while exploring the past and present would have added an extra layer of depth that would have made the book even more interesting.
You probably weren’t expecting a book that combines trees and Black history, but this book makes it work, providing a unique approach to learning more about a group of people who haven’t often had their story told.
A complimentary copy of this book was provided by the publisher. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Montgomery delves into a mix of personal connections to these selected species of trees, Black history connected to them, and information about the scientific makeup of the trees themselves.
Over the course of the book she introduces us to the pecan, sycamore, willow, poplar, mulberry, oak, and apple trees as well as the cotton shrub. Some of these trees share many similarities, some are very different. Many can be found not just in the southern United States but across the country and in other parts of world. They all have a shared history with those who breathed the oxygen they respirated, something given freely that was one of the only things given to Black people that suffered the indignity of having so much taken away.
Montgomery explores how the trees could bring Black people together and drive them away. How Black people used their knowledge for better farming and harvesting practices that often didn’t benefit them and medicinal and healing practices that did. Stories about the man who grafted pecan trees to commercialize them, how enslaved women would use parts of these trees to prevent pregnancy, the massacre of a Black community in Arkansas, and Blackdom, a community of Black people in New Mexico who grew apples as part of their crops are all fascinating stories.
Throughout the book she provides personal touches, tying in her own memories of gathering pecans and mulberries, holiday fruit bags with apples and oranges, and hiding away under a massive willow tree appropriately named Willow. I have my own memories of an apple tree that I was devastated to see die the first year it bore fruit. A maple tree I grew from a seed that had grown massive by the time we moved away from my childhood home. The blossoms and picking cherries from the cherry tree in our front yard. The oak tree my grandfather put a wooden swing on, and a pine tree near my grandparents’ home my brother and I would hide under, nestled in the fallen needles and enjoying the scent of the tree mixed with the nearby honeysuckle.
Occasionally it does feel like Montgomery strays too far away from the interconnected theme of trees to focus more heavily on Black history or her own personal connection to a tree. The chapter on poplars, I suspect, was particularly difficult to write and features heavily on the tree’s close connection with the many lynchings that have taken place over the years. It doesn’t seem to explore the tree itself to the same detail as other chapters.
In the chapter about apples and the conclusion, Montgomery starts exploring the role of Black people and their relationship with trees in modern times. I think doing this for each type of tree, as a form of looking to the future while exploring the past and present would have added an extra layer of depth that would have made the book even more interesting.
You probably weren’t expecting a book that combines trees and Black history, but this book makes it work, providing a unique approach to learning more about a group of people who haven’t often had their story told.
A complimentary copy of this book was provided by the publisher. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
October 19, 2025
I have not read this book, but I’m giving it 5 stars in anticipation of a fantastic read. Trees are the unsung heros of our planet and the stories of those who tend to them are always interesting.
October 20, 2025
Review: When Trees Testify by Beronda L. Montgomery
Publisher: Henry Holt
Format: ARC courtesy of the publisher
Montgomery’s When Trees Testify is part memoir, part botanical history, and part cultural reclamation, an elegant and meaningful examination of the way America’s trees carry the untold stories of Black survival, ingenuity, and resistance.
The premise is deceptively simple: explore the ties between eight species of trees (and one shrub) and Black history. But the result is something expansive and resonant. Montgomery treats each tree as a witness, letting its presence in history shape the narrative. The pecan becomes a symbol of both agricultural mastery and economic theft. The poplar, in contrast, is a silent onlooker to horrific violence. The sycamore, willow, cotton shrub, each adds another layer, another thread in this rich tapestry of memory and loss.
What makes this book particularly effective is Montgomery’s ability to blend scientific insight with personal reflection. She brings academic rigor, yes, but also deep vulnerability, folding in childhood stories, ancestral echoes, and generational wisdom. There’s a rhythm to the writing that feels meditative and at times elegiac. Some chapters, like the one on poplars, are emotionally heavy, intentionally so. Others, like the one on apples or mulberries, offer space for sweetness and personal connection.
If the book falters, it’s only in moments where the narrative meanders slightly away from its botanical anchors. A few chapters spend more time on the sociopolitical context than the tree itself, but this seems more a reflection of how entwined human history is with landscape than a structural misstep. Still, there’s a sense that even more future-facing reflection, especially in relation to climate justice and modern Black communities, could have rounded the work more fully.
When Trees Testify is not a fast read, but it is a necessary one. It asks us to listen not just to people, but to the land. To remember that what grows beside us holds memory, too.
If you’re drawn to books like How the Word Is Passed or Braiding Sweetgrass, this belongs on your shelf.
Recommended for: Readers interested in nature writing, Black history, and cultural studies.
Not recommended for: Those expecting a pure botany or science-forward nonfiction read without narrative elements.
Rating: 4.5 stars
Publisher: Henry Holt
Format: ARC courtesy of the publisher
Montgomery’s When Trees Testify is part memoir, part botanical history, and part cultural reclamation, an elegant and meaningful examination of the way America’s trees carry the untold stories of Black survival, ingenuity, and resistance.
The premise is deceptively simple: explore the ties between eight species of trees (and one shrub) and Black history. But the result is something expansive and resonant. Montgomery treats each tree as a witness, letting its presence in history shape the narrative. The pecan becomes a symbol of both agricultural mastery and economic theft. The poplar, in contrast, is a silent onlooker to horrific violence. The sycamore, willow, cotton shrub, each adds another layer, another thread in this rich tapestry of memory and loss.
What makes this book particularly effective is Montgomery’s ability to blend scientific insight with personal reflection. She brings academic rigor, yes, but also deep vulnerability, folding in childhood stories, ancestral echoes, and generational wisdom. There’s a rhythm to the writing that feels meditative and at times elegiac. Some chapters, like the one on poplars, are emotionally heavy, intentionally so. Others, like the one on apples or mulberries, offer space for sweetness and personal connection.
If the book falters, it’s only in moments where the narrative meanders slightly away from its botanical anchors. A few chapters spend more time on the sociopolitical context than the tree itself, but this seems more a reflection of how entwined human history is with landscape than a structural misstep. Still, there’s a sense that even more future-facing reflection, especially in relation to climate justice and modern Black communities, could have rounded the work more fully.
When Trees Testify is not a fast read, but it is a necessary one. It asks us to listen not just to people, but to the land. To remember that what grows beside us holds memory, too.
If you’re drawn to books like How the Word Is Passed or Braiding Sweetgrass, this belongs on your shelf.
Recommended for: Readers interested in nature writing, Black history, and cultural studies.
Not recommended for: Those expecting a pure botany or science-forward nonfiction read without narrative elements.
Rating: 4.5 stars
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews