George Washington Carver was born into slavery but went on to become a famous agronomist and helped poor people in the South improve their lives and soils by planting peanuts and other legumes. This week, he comes back from the past in the form of actor and playwright Paxton Williams. As “George Washington Carver” Williams talks to Host Steve Curwood about the future of modern-day agriculture and intersections between racial dynamics and agricultural development.

When plant biologist Beronda Montgomery sat down to write what became a personal memoir mixed with a botanical history of African Americans, she found her research as a PhD lab scientist had brought her squarely into the world of social science as well. From her studies of how plants respond to light during photosynthesis, she started shining a light on the history of extensive plant cultivation by African Americans, including those who endured forced labor. Beronda Montgomery joins Host Steve Curwood to discuss her book, When Trees Testify: Science, Wisdom, History and America’s Black Botanical Legacy.

Host Steve Curwood and author Beronda Montgomery continue their conversation about her book, When Trees Testify: Science, Wisdom, History and America’s Black Botanical Legacy. They discuss abolitionist Harriet Tubman’s use of the sycamore tree to help guide enslaved people to freedom, how an enslaved man named Antoine made a breakthrough to graft a successful variety of pecan tree, and the significance of trees as physical companions and powerful metaphors for resilience as we celebrate Juneteenth and remember the end of slavery.