Wednesday, April 16, 2014

INEZ | Milholland Chair, Essex County

At the Essex County Historical Society in Lewis, NY, a
group is studying the lives of Inez Milholland and
 other locals to understand their contributions to history.
In Essex County, NY a chair is dedicated to the memory of Inez Milholland at the end of 2013 (I just ran across the video).

Vida ("Tubby") and sis Inez Milholland
 in 1913. Vida carried on with suffrage
work after Inez's death in 1916.
The ceremony consisted of the reading of a speech by Inez Milholland that she gave when she was 25 and was a newly minted lawyer from NYU, where a Professor at the Law School occupies the Inez Milholland Chair. The 9-minute reading of the speech was recorded and may be seen here.

The video is easy to hear and follow, and Inez's words are well put together. But as a visual it has little to offer after one spends a minute looking at the layout of the office and the audience.

It might be better done as a dramatization.  Or with photos of Inez. Or something else. Anything would be better than a talking head.

This reminds me of a Duke who was asked to be the final judge in a competition for the best singer in his duchy. He was finally presented with two winners from the semi-finals and his job was to pick the best of the two. The first one sang for about 20 seconds and the Duke put his hand in the air and stood up.  "STOP...," he said.  "...Give the prize to the other one."