Mary James Broadnax Faulcon

 

Biographical Database of Black Woman Suffragists

Biography of Mary James Broadnax Faulcon, 1870-1928

By Hope Smalley, undergraduate student, Rosemont College, Rosemont, Penn.

Mary James Broadnax was born around 1870 in Virginia to William and Sallie Mayfield Broadnax. On August 22, 1894, she married Edward Luther Faulcon in Brunswick, Virginia. By 1900, the couple had moved to Brooklyn, New York, where they spent the rest of their lives. Edward Faulcon worked as a clerk for the post office, and Mary Faulcon was a seamstress. They had no children.

Mary J. Faulcon was active in her church community, serving on the Board of Deaconesses at the Concord Baptist Church in Brooklyn and performing many charitable endeavors. In June 1905, Mary Faulcon was selected to give the welcome address to the annual session of Sunday Schools at the New England Baptist Missionary Convention, which was held at the Concord Baptist Church. In addition to her work with her church, she also served as secretary for the Long Island Branch of Women's American Baptist Home Missionary Society and for the Auxilium Social, Literary, and Industrial Club.

In August 1905, Mary J. Faulcon went to Boston to attend the annual convention of the Northeastern Federation of Colored Women's Clubs. She served as one of the representatives from New York to meet with other African American club women. Many of Faulcon's clubs, including the Dorcas Home Missionary Society of the Concord Baptist Church, promoted women's rights, especially suffrage and the rights of middle-class African American women. Faulcon was also a delegate to the 1913 Empire State Federation of Women's Club convention in Buffalo, where she served as treasurer. The convention endorsed women's suffrage, with a strong emphasis on African American women's suffrage. Faulcon also became involved with the Lincoln Settlement House operated by the Brooklyn Urban League as well as the Equal Suffrage League.

Mary J. Faulcon became ill in 1926 and died in Brooklyn on November 30, 1928. She was buried in the Lincoln Memorial Cemetery in Portsmouth City, Virginia, alongside her husband.

SOURCES:

“Afro-American Notes.” Brooklyn Daily Eagle (Brooklyn, NY). Mar. 24, 1904. Newspapers.com.

“Benj. B Overton Heads Songs of North Carolina.” New York Age (New York, NY). Apr. 4, 1931. Newspapers.com.

“Brooklyn Urban League Notes,” New York Age(New York, NY). Nov. 12, 1921. Newspapers.com.

“Concord Baptist Church.” New York Age (New York, NY). Apr. 3, 1926. Newspapers.com.

“Concord Baptist Church Planning to Build.” New York Age (New York, NY). May 15, 1913. Newspapers.com.

“Female Smokers Are Criticized: Empire State Federation Also Protests Against the Chewing of Gum.” New York Age (New York, NY). Jul. 10, 1913. Newspapers.com.

Find a Grave. Edward L. Faulcon. December 25, 2014. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/140441545/edward-l_-faulcon.

Find a Grave. Mary J. Faulcon. December 25, 2014. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/140441554/mary-j_-faulcon.

“Members of Dorcas Home Missionary Society to Hold Annual Fete.” Brooklyn Daily Eagle (Brooklyn, NY). Apr. 18, 1910. Newspapers.com.

“Mrs. Talbert Re-elected.” Buffalo Morning Express (Buffalo, NY). Jul. 6, 1913. Newspapers.com.

New York, NY, Extracted Death Index, 1862-1948. Mary Faulcon, November 30, 1928, Kings, NY. Ancestry Library Ed.

Taylor, Clarence. “Driven by the Spirit: African American Women and the Black Churches of Brooklyn.” In The Black Churches of Brooklyn, 165-88. New York: Columbia University Press, 1996.

“Twelfth Convention Marked by Helpful, Practical Discussions.” New York Age(New York, NY). Jun. 22, 1905. Newspapers.com.

United States Census 1880, s.v. “Mary Broadnax, South Hill, VA.” HeritageQuest.

United States Census 1900, 1910, 1920, s.v. “Mary J. Faulcon, Brooklyn, Kings, NY.” HeritageQuest.

Virginia, Select Marriages, 1785-1940, Mary James Brodnax, Brunswick, VA, August 22, 1894. Ancestry Library Ed.

“Women's Club Federation.” Brooklyn Daily Eagle (Brooklyn, NY). Aug. 6, 1905. Newspapers.com.

 

Related Writings in Database

View works by

View works about

 

 

 

Back to List of Black Woman Suffragists
back to top