Claude and Beccye Fawcett!

Join us to learn more about these two prominent local community members presented by Brenda Cave-James.

Early "movers and shakers" of Black Binghamton (and more often than not- Trinity AME Zion members) certainly included Claude and Beccye (Boyd) Fawcett. The Fawcett's celebrated achievement, excellence, and Black history before it was common to do so.

Beccye proudly held the title of many "firsts" as a Black woman in the Triple Cities. Claude was a sought-after chef/caterer and avid photographer. Their blended life story in Binghamton is quite fascinating (as was their "cutting a rug" on many a dance floor).

Brenda Cave-James and her late Husband Freddie James were honored to care for Mr. Fawcett in his last years of life. They were blessed to "inherit" his vast photograph collection with papers and artifacts from Beccye and Claude's full lives.

Brenda Cave-James is a poetess, playwright, and short story writer. She often mixes presentations of the same with stories and freedom songs of the Underground Railroad and related history. Being a 4th generation member of her AME (African Methodist Episcopal) Zion Church, she speaks to the anti-slavery and abolitionist past of the organization at large and Binghamton's own Trinity AME Zion's part in the same.