Vida Milholland

Vida Milholland

Vida Milholland (January 17, 1888 – November 29, 1952) was a women's rights activist and the sister of Inez Milholland, one of the leaders of the National Woman's Party.

Personal life

Vida was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1888. Her father, John Milholland, was a founding member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. She was the younger sister of the famed suffragist leader Inez Milholland.[1] When she was a young woman she was a concert soprano.[2] She had studied at Vassar College where she was known for athletics and drama. When her sister died in 1916 she devoted her time to suffrage work and she went to prison for three days in 1917.[3]

Suffrage work

Vida Milholland was an ardent suffragist and an active member of the militant National Woman's Party and a political ally of Alice Paul. She spent time in Occoquan Workhouse as part of the Silent Sentinels protest.[4] In 1917 Milholland told stories of her imprisonment at the Ritz-Carlton alongside Dora Lewis and others. Alva Belmont presided over this meeting.[5] She also participated in the picketing of the White House during the first World War in support of women's suffrage.[6] In 1919 she represented the NWP on their "Prison Special" tour of America where she sang at every meeting.[3]

At a 1921 conference in Washington, D.C. she was honored for her part in the suffrage movement.[6]

Vida dressed in a white Crusader's costume the way Inez used to appear at a memorial for her sister in New York in 1924.[7]

Death

Vida Milholland died in Lewis, Essex County, New York on November 29, 1952.[2]

References

  1. ↑ Doerksen, Clifford. American Babel: Rogue Radio Broadcasters of the Jazz Age.
  2. 1 2 "Miss Vida Milholland". New York Times. December 2, 1952.
  3. 1 2 Vida Milholland, Library of Congress, Retrieved 1 September 2016
  4. ↑ Linda, Lumsden (2004). Inez: The Life and Times of Inez Milholland. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press. p. 179.
  5. ↑ "Suffrage Pickets to Talk". New York Times. November 8, 1917.
  6. 1 2 "Many State Women to Attend Meeting". New York Times. February 7, 1921.
  7. ↑ "Sees Snub to Negro by Woman's Party: Inez Milholland's Father Represents Course Towards his Guests at her Grave". New York Times. August 18, 1924.
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