Dedication of The Inez Milholland Chair

Inez Milholland (Credit: Inez Milholland Society) — Inez Milholland was an early activist who worked to attain women’s suffrage. (Credit: Inez Milholland Society)

Dedication of The Inez Milholland Chair
December 30, 2013
11:00am (After Ways & Means meeting)
Essex County Board of Supervisor’s Chamber, Elizabethtown, NY

The recent Essex County election saw the removal of all women who ran in contested elections. Please invite women you know as well as men, who would like to see women return to local government.

About Inez Milholland Society

The goal of the Inez Milholland Society is to encourage, mentor and support Essex County women who want to run for elective office at the Village, Town or County levels. The organization invites any elected woman who has experience in running for office to become a mentor. The Inez Milholland Society also welcomes associates, both men and women, who support the goal of increasing women’s participation in local government.

Contact the Inez Milholland Society for more information at inezmilhollandsociety@gmail.com.

About Inez Milholland

Inez Milholland (Aug. 6 1886-Nov. 25 1916) was a labor lawyer, World War I correspondent, and public speaker who greatly influenced the Women’s Right to Vote movement in America. Though she was born in Brooklyn, NY, her home was at Meadowmount Farm in the Adirondack town of Lewis, NY.

Inez Boissevain, wearing white cape, seated on... — Inez Boissevain nee Milholland seated on white horse at the suffrage parade in Washington, DC, 1913. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

On September 19, 1911, Milholland, then 25, addressed the Essex County Board of Supervisors in the County Courthouse, on the issue of Women’s Right to Vote. She later spoke at the Essex County Republican Convention. The Republicans unanimously adopted a resolution in support of Women’s Right to Vote and instructed their Assemblyman and State Senator to support the bill in the New York Legislature.

On March 3, 1913, Milholland made her most memorable appearance at the Women’s Suffrage Parade in Washington, DC, which took place the day before Woodrow Wilson’s inauguration into the presidential office. She led the parade wearing a crown and a long white cape astride a large white horse.

“Mr. President, how long must women wait for liberty?” ~Inez Milholland’s last public words

Despite health issues, Milholland went on a national speaking tour for women’s rights as a member of the National Women’s Party in 1916 and spoke at large gatherings day after day. On October 22, she collapsed in the middle of a speech she was giving in Los Angeles and was rushed to a hospital. She died there November 25, 1916 at the age of 30.

Vintage Photo: Main Street Parade (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)
Essex, NY Not Just A Summer Town (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)
Essex Initiatives’ Holiday Projects (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)
NWP and NAWSA (foleyemm.wordpress.com)

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