When Trees Testify: Science, Wisdom, History, and America’s Black Botanical Legacy

Plant biologist Montgomery (Lessons from Plants) mixes memoir, history, and science in this unique examination of the significance of trees in Black history. Trees have traditionally served the Black community as shelters, community gathering places, and centers for education, activism, and worship, Montgomery explains. Sycamores, whose massive trunks become hollow with age, once served as hiding places for enslaved escapees, and part of the Underground Railroad was known as the Sycamore Trail. Some trees have tragic and traumatic associations: poplars, for example, have a history as lynching trees, immortalized in Billie Holiday’s 1939 protest song “Strange Fruit.” In the West African kingdom of Dahomey, an oak tree became known as the “Tree of Forgetting” after the practice of marching captives around it several times to stress the importance of forgetting their homes before departing for a life of slavery in the New World. Other trees have inspirational associations: the Emancipation Oak on the grounds of Virginia’s Hampton University was the site of the first reading of the Emancipation Proclamation in the South in 1863. Throughout, Montgomery weaves in her scientific expertise and her experiences growing up around trees in Arkansas to deliver a poignant and singular retelling of Black American history. This will resonate with fans of Robin Wall Kimmerer’s Braiding Sweetgrass. (Jan.)