Old City Hall - Meet Boston’s First Women to Hold Elected Office

Lucia M. Peabody (MIT Class of 1878), Abby W. May, Ada Shepard Badger, and Lucretia Crocker were elected to the Boston School Committee in December 1873. Their victory, a significant milestone in the women's suffrage movement, marked a turning point in history. They waged a bitter, months-long battle in City Hall, the Supreme Judicial Court, and the Massachusetts Legislature to claim their seats.

The Boston School Committee met at Old City Hall through the 1870s. It oversaw the city's public schools and made critical decisions about curriculum, funding, and school policies. In 1875, the Committee was reorganized, reducing members from 114 to 25. With the decreased attendance, the meetings were held at the School Committee Building at 10 Mason Street.^6,18,19

Lucia M. Peabody and Abby W. May were among the founding members of the New England Women's Club (NEWC) in 1868. Within a few years, this group of reform-minded women and suffragists began planning for women to enter School Committee elections. In December 1873, by a unanimous vote and "three cheers," Boston Ward XIV Republican Caucus nominated Lucia to run for School Committee: "Resolved, That the manifest and admirable qualities which make [women] natural teachers of children, also point them out as special fitted for service on Boards of School Committee." The Republican and Democratic Caucuses nominated all four women to run for School Committee. All four women won their election by decisive margins.^16,17,21

After the election, on January 6, Ada suddenly disappeared. From the letters she left behind, the authorities concluded that Ada had committed suicide. The local media reported her death sympathetically, focusing on her positive contributions. Progressive, for the times, reporters portrayed Ada's suicide as the result of mental illness, not a character flaw. Also worrisome, Lucretia had been ill since December. Thus, only Abby and Lucia attended the first School Committee Meeting on January 12, 1874. Despite these personal tragedies, the women remained resilient and committed to their cause.^12,14

At the request of several current School Committee members, Boston City Solicitor John P. Healy issued an opinion that "women cannot legally be elected to, or perform the duties of, [the School Committee.]"⁵ In a December interview, Lucia responded, "I do not see why the opinion given [by the City Solicitor] should trouble me. I have been elected, and I propose to take my seat and hold it until I am legally prevented by those who can legally prevent me."²² Henry S. Washburn remarked, "[The women] have been elected by the citizens of their wards by large majorities. They have received certificates that they have been duly elected, and they appear here this evening to take their places. I do not see why they are not as much entitled to take their seats as I am to mine, or any other member is to his."¹⁴

The question of their eligibility and who had the authority to decide would permeate the ongoing debates. Despite mounting public support, the School Committee rejected the women's right to serve. In March, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court dismissed a writ of mandamus submitted by Lucia to force the School Committee to admit her. However, their perseverance paid off when the Massachusetts State Legislature passed an Act declaring, "No person shall be deemed to be ineligible to serve upon a school committee by reason of sex."² This was a significant victory for the women's suffrage movement and paved the way for more women to join the School Committee.

Although women could now serve on the School Committees, they could not vote in School Committee elections. Even those who supported the election of women to school committees did not support their right to vote. MIT founder William Barton Roger wrote: "While I heartily desire that women should have their just influence in the direction of our public school education, and should therefore be glad to see educated and experienced women form a part of all our school committees, I fear that the interests of our schools would suffer from the passage of a law conferring upon all women the right to vote for members of school committees, were such a law to go into operation."⁹ In April 1879, the Massachusetts Legislature passed a bill "to give women the right to vote for members of school committees."³

Lucia served on the School Committee through 1883. During this time, she continued her work and leadership within the NEWC to improve opportunities for women. She was among the first to enroll at the MIT Woman's Laboratory, launched in 1876 to expand advanced Science education for women. All three women contributed to establishing the Margaret Swan Cheney Reading Room in 1884 - a dedicated space at MIT for women students with restrooms. Lucia also held leadership roles in the Massachusetts School Suffrage Association (MSSA), established in 1880. Like the League of Women Voters today, the MSSA educated women about school issues, supported voter registration, and encouraged voting.^10,11,20

By 1911, enthusiasm for voting in School Committee elections had waned. In a speech at a College Equal Suffrage League meeting, Fannie Curtis noted that the number of registered women voters had dropped from a high of 17,000 to 11,000. Of those, only 5400 voted. Anti-suffragists often cited the declining interest in school committee elections as a reason to deny women further voting privileges. However, for city elections, voter turnout for women was about the same as for men: 49% of registered women compared to 52% of registered men. Furthermore, women could only vote in School Committee elections, while men could vote for Mayor, Councilmen, and ballot questions. In State Elections, up to 80% of registered men voted.^7,15

Lucia died in 1919 at 91, outliving Abby and Lucretia by over 30 years. Of the three, Lucia is less well-known. In Memoirs of Lucretia Crocker and Abby W. May, Lucia relates the story of the women on the School Committee, describing Abby and Lucretia's roles in detail but omitting her own^.8 Furthermore, because she served for many years as secretary for the NEWC, Women's Educational and Industrial Union, Massachusetts School Suffrage Association, and Roxbury Equal Suffrage Club, Lucia often appears in footnotes rather than featured as a ground-breaking pioneer for women's suffrage.

1. Susan D. Abele. (2013). Ada Shepard and her Pocket Sketchbooks, Florence 1858. Nathaniel Hawthorne Review, 39(1), 1–34. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5325/nathhawtrevi.39.1.0001. Accessed 2 Feb. 2024.
2. “Acts and Resolves of 1874. Chapter 389.” Internet Archive, Boston: Secretary of the Commonwealth, Wright & Potter, State Printers, 30 June 1874, https://archive.org/details/actsresolvespass1874mass/page/443/mode/1up.
3. “An Act To Give Women The Right To Vote For Members Of School Committees, 1879. Chap. 0223. .” State Libraries of Massachusetts| Digital Collections |DSpace :: Home, State of Massachusetts, Apr. 1879, https://archives.lib.state.ma.us/items/b392db76-b55d-4f37-8b84-4f98bc834552.
4. “And Hijinks Ensued | Boston.Gov.” Boston.Gov, 14 Aug. 2023, https://www.boston.gov/news/and-hijinks-ensued.
5. “Annual Report : Boston (Mass.). School Committee, 1874 .” Internet Archive, Boston: Rockwell and Churchill City Printers, 1874, https://archive.org/details/annualreport1874bost/page/41/mode/1up.
6. “Annual Report : Boston (Mass.). School Committee, 1876.” Internet Archive, Boston: Rockwell and Churchill, City Printers, 1876, https://archive.org/details/annualreport1876bost/page/4/mode/1up.
7. “Annual Report of the Board of Election Commissioners for the Year Ending January 31, 1913 .” Internet Archive, City of Boston Printing Department, 1913, https://archive.org/details/annualreportofbo1912bost/page/n11/mode/1up.
8. Cheney, Ednah Dow. “Memoirs of Lucretia Crocker and Abby W. May .” HathiTrust Digital Library, Boston, for Private Circulation. Requested by the Massachusetts School Suffrage Association, 1893, https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.32106001273165&seq=7.
9. Letter to Miss Gray from William Barton Rogers, July 29th, 1879 (From The Letters of William Barton Rogers). https://archive.org/details/lifelettersofwil02rogeiala/page/362/mode/1up?q=women. Accessed 24 Aug. 2024.
10. “Massachusetts School Suffrage Association.” JSTOR, National Journal of Education, Vol. 11, No. 15, pg 232, 8 Apr. 1880, https://www.jstor.org/stable/44802605.
11. “Massachusetts School Suffrage Society.” The Boston Globe, 25 May 1881.
12. “Mrs. Adeline Badger.” The Boston Globe, 14 Jan. 1874.
13. “Municipal Affairs. Boston School Committee.” The Boston Globe, 28 Jan. 1874.
14. “Municipal. Shall the Ladies Serve on the Board?” The Boston Globe, 13 Jan. 1874.
15. “News of the Women’s Clubs.” The Boston Globe, 28 Jan. 1911.
16. “Political. Caucuses Last Evening.” The Boston Globe, 5 Dec. 1873.
17. “Political. Last Night’s Caucuses.” The Boston Globe, 6 Dec. 1873.
18. “Proceedings of the School Committee of the City of Boston, 1876.” HathiTrust Digital Library, Boston: Rockwell and Churchill City Printers, 1876, https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=chi.095789275&seq=7.
19. “Proceedings of the School Committee of the City of Boston. 1879.” HathiTrust Digital Library, Boston: Rockwell and Churchill, City Printers, 1879, https://hdl.handle.net/2027/chi.095788928.
20. Sawyer, Mrs. Charles Winthrop and Minns, Susan, “History Of The Margaret Cheney Reading Room.” Technology Review, No. 23, MIT Alumni Association, 1921, pp. 547–52. https://archive.org/details/MIT-Technology-Review-1921-11/page/n31/mode/2up. Accessed 27 Dec. 2022.
21. “The Vote for School Committee.” The Boston Globe, 10 Dec. 1873.
22. “Those Four Women.” The Boston Globe, 29 Dec. 1873.