Join actual descendent of the Brickell family and a historian who has dedicated the last quarter century of his life so that Mary Brickell gets her true role clarified. Enjoy a talk about the Orange Blossom 2.0 project and reflections of old Miami with the great-granddaughter of Mary Brickell and historian, Cesar Becerra. Light refreshments will be served. Ages 19 yrs.+. Registration is required. For more information, please contact the branch at 305-375-2665 or Hinzes@mdpls.org.
To request materials in accessible format, sign language interpreters, and/or any accommodation to participate in any Miami-Dade Public Library System sponsored program or meeting, please call Monica Martinez at 305-375-5094 or email programs@mdpls.org five days in advance to initiate your request. TTY users may also call 711 (Florida Relay Service).
Cesar A. Becerra is a South Florida historian who’s taken part in chronicling and sharing the stories of the region for two decades. He is the author of half a dozen books ranging from hiking the Appalachian Trail to the logging history of the Big Cypress Preserve. He is the former publisher of The Everglade Magazine, an award winning publication printed during Everglades National Park’s 50th anniversary. He has walked, hiked, slogged, canoed, kayaked, airboated and swamp buggied all across the Everglades. In 1997, The Miami Herald named him an “Everglades Evangelist”. Cesar’s love for the past and sense of adventure is where his two world’s unite. He has a penchant for hidden history and knows no boundaries or distances when it comes to searching for it. His most recent book Orange Blossom 2.0, tells the untold story of Miami’s “Other Mother” Mary Brickell. For 25 years, Cesar has been on a fact-finding mission amassing documents and proof that Mary Bulmer Brickell could very well be the most marginalized female founder in Miami history.
Beatrice A. (Bea) Brickell, an attorney who practiced international law in Washington, D.C., is the great-granddaughter of South Florida pioneers Mary and William Brickell. Her young years in Miami were filled with bay breezes, palm shadows, and visits to her grandmother’s home just a few feet from the epicenter of where her great-grandparents helped to birth a city. She is also the steward of critical family documents and artifacts that have been key in telling Mary Brickell’s story.