Inez Milholland, daughter of John Elmer Milholland and Jean Torrey, was born on 6 Aug 1886 in Brooklyn, NY. She was a suffragist, labor lawyer, WWI correspondent and public speaker who greatly influenced the women's movement in America.
Her causes were far reaching. She was not only interested in prison reform, she sought world peace and worked for equality for African Americans. She was a member of the NAACP, the Women's Trade Union League, the Equality League of Self Supporting Women in New York (Women's Political Union), the National Child Labor Committee, and England's Fabian Society. She was also involved in the National American Woman Suffrage Association, which later branched into the grassroots radical National Woman's Party. She became a leader and a popular speaker on the campaign circuit of the NWP, working closely with Alice Paul and Lucy Burns.
Inez stepped into her first suffrage parade on 7 May 1911, holding a sign that read, "Forward, out of error, Leave behind the night, Forward through the darkness, Forward into light!" She quickly became the beautiful face of the suffrage movement. The New York Sun stated that "No suffrage parade was complete without Inez Milholland." She led many parades in 1911, 1912 and 1913.
In 1913, at the age of 27, Inez made her most memorable appearance, as she helped organize the suffrage parade in Washington, DC, scheduled to take place the day before President Woodrow Wilson's inauguration. She led the parade wearing a crown and a long white cape while riding atop a large white horse named "Gray Dawn."
She believed that women should have the right to vote because of the traits that were unique to women. She argued that women would metaphorically become the "house-cleaners of the nation." She believed women's votes could remove social ills such as sweatshops, tenements, prostitution, hunger, poverty and child mortality. She told men that they should not worry about the women in their lives as they were extending their sacred rights and duties to the whole country rather than inside the home. Even though she spoke of these issues, she was always disappointed that she was better known for her looks than her brains.
Inez became the classic New Woman in the beginning of the 20th century. She loved the new dance crazes of the Turkey Trot and the Grizzly Bear and enjoyed traveling to Paris and buying couture gowns in Paris. Additionally, her views mirrored those of the New Woman when it came to sexual love.
By the fall of 1909, Inez and Max Eastman became rising radical stars due to their handsome looks. Inez knew Max through his sister, Crystal Eastman whom she met at socialist and suffrage rallies. She told Max that she loved him and tried to convince him to elope with her. When he finally reciprocated her love and agreed to marry her, their relationship fell apart. They both realized they could not be lovers, but they did remain close lifelong friends.
In the same way that she fell fast in love with Eastman, soon after she began seeing the author, John Fox, Jr.. She told him she loved him but he didn't reciprocate right away. When he did tell her that he loved her, she was no longer interested.
In July, 1913 while on a cruise to London, Inez proposed to Eugen Jan Boissevain, a Dutchman she had known for about a month. The two were married on July 14 at the Kensington registry office which was as soon as they could after their arrival in London without consulting their families. Her father, who was in New York at the time and heard about the marriage from the press. insisted that the two get remarried in a church, but Inez refused.
The marriage between Milholland and Boissevain was not perfect. A complication arose when the couple returned to New York from London. Inez was no longer an American citizen because the law stated that the woman took the man’s nationality in a marriage. Although she fought for suffrage, if women would have been granted the right to vote in her lifetime, she would not have been able to practice her right because she was no longer a citizen. Although married, Inez did not stop flirting with other men and often wrote to Boissevain to tell him. Additionally, most disappointing to the couple was the fact that they did not have any children.
In 1916 she went on a tour in the West speaking for women's rights as a member of the National Woman's Party. She undertook the tour despite suffering from pernicious anemia and despite the admonitions of her family who were concerned about her deteriorating health. On Octoer 22 Oct 1916, she collapsed in the middle of a speech in Los Angeles, and was rushed to Good Samaritan Hospital. Despite repeated blood transfusions, she died on 25 Nov 1916.
In 1913, at the age of 27, Inez made her most memorable appearance, as she helped organize the suffrage parade in Washington, DC, scheduled to take place the day before President Woodrow Wilson's inauguration. She led the parade wearing a crown and a long white cape while riding atop a large white horse named "Gray Dawn."
She believed that women should have the right to vote because of the traits that were unique to women. She argued that women would metaphorically become the "house-cleaners of the nation." She believed women's votes could remove social ills such as sweatshops, tenements, prostitution, hunger, poverty and child mortality. She told men that they should not worry about the women in their lives as they were extending their sacred rights and duties to the whole country rather than inside the home. Even though she spoke of these issues, she was always disappointed that she was better known for her looks than her brains.
Inez became the classic New Woman in the beginning of the 20th century. She loved the new dance crazes of the Turkey Trot and the Grizzly Bear and enjoyed traveling to Paris and buying couture gowns in Paris. Additionally, her views mirrored those of the New Woman when it came to sexual love.
By the fall of 1909, Inez and Max Eastman became rising radical stars due to their handsome looks. Inez knew Max through his sister, Crystal Eastman whom she met at socialist and suffrage rallies. She told Max that she loved him and tried to convince him to elope with her. When he finally reciprocated her love and agreed to marry her, their relationship fell apart. They both realized they could not be lovers, but they did remain close lifelong friends.
In the same way that she fell fast in love with Eastman, soon after she began seeing the author, John Fox, Jr.. She told him she loved him but he didn't reciprocate right away. When he did tell her that he loved her, she was no longer interested.
In July, 1913 while on a cruise to London, Inez proposed to Eugen Jan Boissevain, a Dutchman she had known for about a month. The two were married on July 14 at the Kensington registry office which was as soon as they could after their arrival in London without consulting their families. Her father, who was in New York at the time and heard about the marriage from the press. insisted that the two get remarried in a church, but Inez refused.
The marriage between Milholland and Boissevain was not perfect. A complication arose when the couple returned to New York from London. Inez was no longer an American citizen because the law stated that the woman took the man’s nationality in a marriage. Although she fought for suffrage, if women would have been granted the right to vote in her lifetime, she would not have been able to practice her right because she was no longer a citizen. Although married, Inez did not stop flirting with other men and often wrote to Boissevain to tell him. Additionally, most disappointing to the couple was the fact that they did not have any children.
In 1916 she went on a tour in the West speaking for women's rights as a member of the National Woman's Party. She undertook the tour despite suffering from pernicious anemia and despite the admonitions of her family who were concerned about her deteriorating health. On Octoer 22 Oct 1916, she collapsed in the middle of a speech in Los Angeles, and was rushed to Good Samaritan Hospital. Despite repeated blood transfusions, she died on 25 Nov 1916.
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