Suffrage Banner of 1873

Inside the Needham Historical Society hangs a banner created for the Needham Woman Suffrage Club. It’s message:

“Needham 1873 – Progress and Equality”

Made of silk, trimmed with metallic fringe, and finished with gold paint, this banner was designed to be seen. The banner marked the formation of the Needham Woman Suffrage Club in 1873, when the group first gathered at the home of Laura LaCroix. What began as a small meeting quickly grew into a omitted and organized effort. By the end of the first year, fifty members had joined, and within another year, more than 200 people gathered in support of suffrage.

Women would not gain the right to vote until 1920, nearly a half a century later. This means that the women who first gathered in that home in 1872 were not working toward a short-term victory. They were laying the foundation for a movement that would require decades of sustained effort, carried forward by multiple generations.