Remembering Inez
The Last Campaign of Inez Milholland, Suffrage Martyr
Selections from The Suffragist, 1916
Edited with an Introduction by Robert P. J. Cooney, Jr.
With photographs from the Library of Congress96 pages, 6"x9"Illustrated trade paperback $14.95ISBN 978-0-9770095-2-7
Or order directly from the publisher at agp@ebold.com
Recognized as "a vivid, engaging account of a young woman who filled her short life with activity and meaning" by the School Library Journal
Her dedication, eloquence, and appeal had an enormous effect on the movement, and her tragic death led suffragists to adopt a bold new strategy: six weeks after Inez died, suffragists began their unprecedented picketing of the White House. On their banners, they carried Inez's final plea: "Mr. President, How Long Must Women Wait for Liberty?" Mourned as a martyr by her comrades, Inez became a symbol of the sacrifices women were forced to make to win their own civil rights, particularly the right to vote. Her courage and commitment inspired suffragists throughout the country, and she still serves as an inspiration to women today.
Remembering Inez features selections from The Suffragist, the weekly newspaper of the National Woman's Party, along with emotional tributes and personal memories that capture Inez's impact on the public and on her fellow suffragists.
Remembering Inez: The Last Campaign of Inez Milholland, Suffrage Martyr tells the story of the popular 30-year-old suffragist's final speaking tour of the western states campaigning for Votes for Women. Chosen by Alice Paul in 1916 to be a "flying envoy" to the new women voters in the West, New York attorney Inez Milholland set out in October to make more than 50 speeches in 11 states in the 30 days before the election. The grueling pace took its toll, but Inez kept going despite growing pain and exhaustion.
In city after city, she defended the controversial strategy of the National Woman's Party that asked women voters to boycott national Democratic candidates to protest the party's inaction on the suffrage amendment. Finally, her body gave out while speaking on a Los Angeles stage, and she "wilted like a white rose." A month later, she died of pernicious anemia and was buried in Lewis, NY.
A New Role Model
Robert Cooney, author of Winning the Vote, wanted to interest more young people in the suffrage movement and realized that the life and death of young idealist Inez Milholland could provide the perfect introduction to the movement. Charismatic, passionate, and privileged, Inez was one of the most recognized suffragists in the early 20th century, mixing demonstrations and social involvement with ritzy New York dinners and opera engagements.
Born in Brooklyn on August 6, 1886, Inez graduated from Vassar in 1909 and earned a law degree from New York University in 1912. She became an active suffragist after meeting Emmeline Pankhurst in London and later worked with suffrage leaders Harriot Stanton Blatch in New York and Alice Paul in Washington, D.C.
Inez rose to national prominence when she appeared as a mounted herald — clad in white with bugle and tiara — in the great March 3, 1913, suffrage parade in Washington, D.C. That same year, she married Dutch businessman Eugen Boissevain and was gaining recognition as Inez Milholland Boissevain. Inez's final action was the ambitious 1916 cross-country speaking tour meant to harness the new political power of the Western women voters to help pass the 19th Amendment enfranchising all women. She died in Los Angeles, CA, on November 25, 1916.
Classic Feminist Speech
Remembering Inez brings together reports of Inez's whirlwind journey, personal memories, and the "Appeal to the Women Voters of the West" that she refined during her final weeks. This classic feminist speech, which Inez delivered with passion and conviction, urged women voters in the West to back all women in the 1916 presidential election by voting against the men who blocked their freedom. This was one of the first political speeches in the U.S. aimed at women who could vote.
“Now, for the first time in our history,” she told her audiences, “women have the power to enforce their demands, and the weapon with which to fight for woman's liberation."
“We have no money, no elaborate organization, no one interested in our success, except anxious-hearted women all over the country who cannot come to the battle line themselves. Here and there in farm house and factory, by the fire-side, in the hospital, and school-room, wherever women are sorrowing and working and hoping, they are praying for our success.”
“Liberty must be fought for, and, women of the nation, this is the time to fight. This is the time to demonstrate our sisterhood, our spirit, our blithe courage, and our will. It is women for women now, and shall be till the fight is won."
Remembering Inez includes two dozen photographs from the Library of Congress that show Inez and her fellow suffragists during this time. Together, the words and pictures create an unusually personal portrait of this vibrant young suffrage leader that reveals her personality, dedication, and influence during the years before her untimely death.