May, Abigail Williams

In 1868 Abigail May, better known as Abby W. May, helped to found the New England's Women's Club. One of the reforms pursued by the club was a campaign to win representation for women on the Boston School Committee. In 1873, Abby May and Lucretia Crocker were elected to the Committee (by men only). The Committee, however, refused to allow them to take their seats after a challenge based upon their sex. In 1874 a special act of the legislature opened membership to women, and Abby May and five other women were elected. She was re-elected to a three-year term in 1875 but defeated in 1878. Her defeat may have been the stimulus in 1879 for reform action to win for women the right to vote in elections for members of school committees throughout Massachusetts. May was appointed to the Massachusetts Board of Education in 1879, serving until poor health in 1888 led to her resignation. In the 1860s, May engaged in war relief work and then the cause of freedmen. She agitated for woman suffrage as well as health care for women. Dress reform was an active concern. In 1879 she published a pamphlet, "Dress." May was also involved with the Women's Auxiliary Conference of the American Unitarian Association, the Massachusetts Society for the University Education of Women, and the Association for the Advancement of Women.