INEZ | Happy 130th Birthday!

Inez Milholland at the U.S. Capitol, getting ready to
lead the March 2, 1913 Suffrage March. (Library of Congress.)

August 6, 2016–Today is the 130th birthday of Inez Milholland.

She symbolizes the perseverance and sacrifices required to win equality for women.

She was born in what is now called Brooklyn Heights, to John E. Milholland and Jeanne Torrey Milholland.

• Her father, Derry-born John E. Milholland, was a reporter and labor negotiator when she was born. He was politically involved, and first ran a newspaper in Ticonderoga, N.Y. after attending New York University. Then he worked for the New York Tribune for 12 years and won fame for settling a strike (his brother headed the printers' union). As a committed Presbyterian and Lincoln Republican, Milholland championed the rights of black Americans as well as votes for women. He was the founding Treasurer of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
• Her mother, Bostonian Jeanne Torrey, in 1910 wrote an article in The Crisis encouraging black people to join the suffragists. (Facing photo of Jeanne Torrey.) Inez summered in upstate, in Lewis, N.Y.  The Milholland home there was called “Meadowmount”. It includes a mountain, Mt. Discovery, that was renamed Mt. Inez after Inez’s death, although the maps have not been changed (a reason for protest in this centennial year of Inez's death).

Inez’s younger sister, Vida followed Inez to Vassar and joined the suffragist movement with her. Vida later was an opera singer. During her childhood, when she was called “Tubby”, she joined her more famous sister Inez in many activities. John Angus (Jack) was the third and last child of the Milhollands. He attended Harvard College, Class of 1914 and was a drop-kicker on the football team.

Inez Milholland's 130th birthday is on August 6, 2016.

Original faded poster, left. Durable enlarged version, right.

She died on November 25, 1916.  This is the centennial year of her death.

To mark the anniversary, Boissevain Books has prepared a durable enlarged copy of the iconic poster of Inez and is selling it for $30.

To order, go to Boissevain Books and scroll down.

INEZ | Let's Get that Mountain Renamed

The portrait of Inez made
in 1924 for the Pageant in
Meadowmount.

Alice Paul has had the Sewall-Belmont House named after her. It is now a National Park Service Monument and is renamed the Belmont-Paul house, recognizing Alma Vanderbilt Belmont's great contributions to the National Woman's Party and Alice Paul's leadership.

But the great inspiration for the final push for suffrage was Inez Milholland. 

Her portrait hung in splendor over the mantelpiece of the Belmont-Paul House until 2011, when the mantelpiece was removed.

A committee headed by Allegra Milholland and Alfred Boissevain (nephew of Inez's husband Eugen; my late mother was Eugen's niece) raised the funds to restore the portrait. I helped put together the committee.

Mt. Discovery is in the back of Meadowmount, where
Inez Milholland grew up and learned to ride, in
 Lewis, N.Y., the site of a suffrage pageant in 1924.
The Milholland home is now a music school.

August 6, 2016 will be the 130th birthday of Inez Milholland Boissevain. November 25 will be the 100th anniversary of her death.  

She collapsed in the middle of campaigning for women suffrage and died a few weeks later. In this centennial year, how can we best create a memorial for her?

The newspapers in 1916 said that Mt. Discovery (its peak 1,552 feet above sea level) would be renamed. It is part of the Meadowmount property in Lewis, Essex County, N.Y. that John E. Milholland purchased. It is supposed to be renamed Mt. Inez. But it hasn't happened. 

What would it take to make this happen? Governor Cuomo, can you do something to remember this great woman who fought for human rights? (Matilda Cuomo, wouldn't this be a good idea?)