alt Hacker NewsIs this article missing opening context?
First line:
>Pecan nuts were already a dietary staple for Native Americans in various parts of what is now the United States before Antoine’s innovation established the basis for a commercial pecan industry
Who is "Antoine"? Is it a first name? A last name? It doesn't ever seem to say.
Replies
At the bottom of the article, it says:
> From When Trees Testify: Science, Wisdom, History, and America’s Black Botanical Legacy by Beronda L. Montgomery. Copyright © 2026. Available from Henry Holt and Co., an imprint of Macmillan
Usually this means that the article is actually a book excerpt (often the first chapter of the book), and in this case we can find online the book's table of contents:
Preface
Introduction: Life as Testimony
1. Pecan Trees and the Roots of Stolen Botanical Knowledge
2. Sycamore Trees as a Path to Freedom
3. The Secret Lives of Willow Trees
4. Poplar Trees Bear Strange Fruit
5. The Sweeping Promise of Mulberry
6. A Haven for Community in Historic Oak Trees
7. Cotton Shrubs and Seeds of Subversion
8. The Gift of Apple Trees
Conclusion: Black Botanical Legacy Reclaimed
This article from 2017 goes over the same story but provides better context: https://www.zocalopublicsquare.org/slave-gardener-turned-pec...
The missing context is the title.
https://www.kalzumeus.com/2010/06/17/falsehoods-programmers-...
A lot of slaves had no last name, or only their owners’.