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Trailblazers in Conversation with Dr. Beronda Montgomery

Join LA County Librarian and Director, Dr. Skye Patrick, in conversation with scientist and author Dr. Beronda Montgomery to discuss When Trees Testify: Science, Wisdom, History, and America’s Black Botanical Legacy.

The history of American trees is deeply intertwined with the history of Black people in America, and Dr. Montgomery's work reminds us that the past is never truly past, so long as a witness remains. We'll explore the role of early Black Americans in cultivating the trees we know and rely on today, discover the ways that trees and plants have shaped Black culture, and learn not just how to talk to trees, but to listen to what they have to say.

Beronda L. Montgomery is writer, science communicator, and plant biologist. She has been named one of the journal Cell's Inspiring Black Scientists in America and was awarded the 2022 Cynthia Scott Science Writing Award, 2022 Adolph E. Gude, Jr. Award for outstanding service to the science of plant biology, and 2023 Hutchinson Medal of the Chicago Horticultural Society. Dr. Montgomery is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Society of Plant Biologists, the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and the American Academy of Microbiology. In 2025, she received a Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring, the Nation's highest honors for mentors. She is the Sally Starling Seaver Fellow at the Harvard University Radcliffe Institute for 2025–2026. Dr. Montgomery is author of Lessons from Plants (Harvard University Press, 2021) and When Trees Testify (Henry Holt, 2026).

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