Our Speaker Series is free & open to the public!

Light refreshments will be served.

A gripping story of the first women college students at Yale

The news was so shocking that the New York Times ran it on the front page. After 268 years as an all-male college, Yale was finally admitting its first women students. The year was 1969, the Women’s Movement was booming, and Yale’s decision was yet one more step forward for equality.

Or was it?

For if Yale President Kingman Brewster had had his way, Yale would never have admitted women at all. Yale’s first women undergrads hailed from all over the country: Little Rock, Honolulu, Newark, Cleveland ... and Wellesley, Massachusetts. Yale Needs Women is the story of how these young women fought against the backward-leaning traditions of a centuries-old institution and created the opportunities that would carry them into the future. Anne Gardiner Perkins's unflinching account of a group of young women striving for change is an inspiring story of strength, resilience, and courage that continues to resonate today. 

Anne Gardiner Perkins is the author of Yale Needs Women, winner of the Connecticut Book Award for Nonfiction and one of BookBrowse Magazine’s Top Twelve Picks for Book Groups in 2021. Find out more about Anne and Yale Needs Women on Twitter @AnneGPerkins and on her website https://annegardinerperkins.com/

This series is made possible by our generous sponsor, Christine Mayer and is presented in partnership with the Wellesley Free Library.