Beronda L. Montgomery is a writer, researcher, science communicator, and professor at Michigan State University and Grinnell College. With a PhD in Plant Biology, her research has centered on how photosynthetic organisms adapt to changes in their environment.
On this episode of Nature Revisited, Montgomery explores the intersection of trees in America and Black History & Culture. Pecan trees were domesticated by an enslaved African; sycamore trees were both havens and signposts for people trying to escape enslavement; poplar trees are historically associated with lynching. Montgomery explains how knowledge surrounding these trees has shaped America since the very beginning and are material witnesses to the lives of enslaved Africans and their descendants.
