Inez Milholland Film Festivals 2017
Inez Milholland Memorial by Inez Haynes Gillmore ~ Christmas 1916
The Story of the Woman’s Party
by Inez Haynes Gillmore
The most poignant event — and perhaps the most beautiful in all the history of the Congressional Union — took place on Christmas Day of this year, the memorial service in memory of Inez Milholland. Inez Milholland was one of the human sacrifices offered on the altar of woman’s liberty. She died that other women might be free. p 184
That Christmas Day, Statuary Hall in the Capitol of the United States was transformed. The air was full of the smells of the forest. Greens made a background — partially concealing the semi-circle of statues — at the rear; laurel and cedar banked the dais in front; somber velvet curtains fell about its sides. p 185
Every one of the chairs which filled the big central space supported a flag of purple, white, and gold. Between the pillars of the balcony hung a continuous frieze; pennants of purple, white, and gold — the tri-color of these feminist crusaders.
The audience assembled in the solemn quiet proper to such an occasion, noiselessly took their seats in the semi-circle below and the gallery above. The organ played Ave Maria. Then again, a solemn silence fell. Suddenly the stillness was invaded by a sound — music, very faint and faraway. It grew louder and louder. It was the sound of singing. It came nearer and nearer. It was the voices of boys. Presently the beginning of a long line of boy choristers, who had wound through the marble hall way, appeared in the doorway.
They marched into the hall chanting:
Forward, out of error,
Leave behind the night,
Forward through the darkness,
Forward into light.
“Former Teacher Makes Documentary On Women’s Right To Vote”
Alexandra Civorelli of the Great Neck Record reports,
Have you ever heard of Inez Milholland? What about Martha Wheelock? It’s more likely that Wheelock’s name is familiar. A longtime resident and teacher in the Great Neck Public School District, Wheelock taught English and theater for 18 years in Great Neck North and South high schools and at The Village School.
Inez Milholland, however, is a name that should be well-known, but instead has been erased from most history textbooks. Also known as the “beautiful suffragist,” Milholland was an American icon who worked to get voting rights for women and became the voice of the suffrage movement after she died for the cause in 1916.
Having always been drawn to women’s studies and filmmaking, Wheelock realized at New York University, where she was earning her PhD, that films celebrating women and their accomplishments were notably few and that it was a hole in the past that needed to be filled. Wheelock has since made several documentaries highlighting lesser known—but no less important—women activists and artists, as well as the suffragist movement. She also cofounded and became executive director of Wild West Woman, Inc., a nonprofit that produces films on women in order to provide positive role models for women and girls.
Wheelock has relocated from Great Neck to California and retired from teaching, but has continued to make documentaries, including her latest, Inez Milholland, Forward into Light, which she wrote, produced and directed. It was after learning about how this beautiful suffragist died—and the fact that it has been exactly 100 years since her death—that Wheelock knew she had make this film.
She began researching this incredible woman, but was met with little success; it wasn’t until she found newspaper articles on her western tour in California that details of Milholland’s contributions were discovered.
“She made 50 speeches on the West Coast, and California women could vote against Woodrow because he was against the suffragists,” Wheelock explained. By 1916, California woman had won the right to the vote, but the fight was far from over in many other states. Suffragists like Milholland wanted to urge people to boycott President Woodrow Wilson, who remained steadfast in his stance against women voting.
Wheelock said that during her tour to accomplish this, “these little town
[newspapers] put in huge articles about what she looked like, how she was so beautiful. They marketed her like Beyoncé, like this beautiful, incredible woman, [the men] didn’t even care was talking about women and their right to vote.” And so, with the men flocking to see her and their wives tagging along, Milholland’s reputation and mission exploded.
Her worldwide fame reached its peak when, after a long and exhausting tour in which she’d made 50 speeches, Milholland fainted at a podium during a rousing speech. She died a few weeks later of anemia at age 30.
Although a shockingly sad demise, the fight for equality continued without her. But, Milholland’s words were not forgotten. Before she fainted, her last public words were, “Mr. President, how long must women wait for liberty?” She spoke for the thousands who didn’t have a voice and, even after her death, her words continued—sewn onto the banners of picketers who protested outside The White House for 17 months.
Milholland was extremely radical for her time. She was a “new woman”
in the early 20th century who believed in a women’s right to choose and vote. She even asked a man to marry her, disregarding a tradition that still exists today. “She was a wonderful role model,” Wheelock said warmly. “She lost her American citizenship because she proposed to a Dutchman, she wouldn’t have had the right to vote anyway.” And yet, Milholland still gave her life on behalf of her gender.
Instead of viewing history as a far removed series of facts and dates, Wheelock has noticed that these documentaries make “people begin to believe that history is theirs. [Someone might say], ‘wow, that could’ve been me campaigning for Hillary Clinton,” she continued. “That’s what’s been so exciting about this film, people become amazed, Inez was their own little hero…it’s so touching. After screenings, women come up to me and say, ‘thank you so much for showing me about her.’”
One hundred years after her death, Wheelock’s documentary is more relevant today than ever. It reminds us how important it is to vote, and to remember how many people have struggled and made terrible sacrifices throughout history so that every American would have the right to have a voice.
Great Suffragist Falls *Los Angeles* October 23, 1916
Illness Ends Campaign Tour
of Inez Milholland Boissevain
Standing room only at Blanchard Hall, Inez spoke passionately. “President Wilson, how long must women wait for liberty? Let me repeat, we are not putting our faith in any man or in any party but in the women voters of the West.” Exhausted, she fell appearing to faint. Helped off the stage, she returned and continued assailing President Wilson and answered a few questions. The crowd had no way of knowing but this would be her last public speech. Spending the night at the Hotel Alexandria, Inez worsened. On the morning of October 24, 1916, she entered Good Samaritan Hospital.
100 Years Ago ~ October 1916
Mrs Alva Belmont sends off Inez to tour the West for federal suffrage. No one can imagine that she will never return from Los Angeles. Falling at the podium, admitted to The Good Samaritan hospital. She dies a month later. November 25, 1916, age 30. We have been given the ultimate iconic woman for everlasting inspiration.
“After Inez’s sacrifice, the women of America continue to work with renewed devotion
to achieve full freedom for all women and full democracy for the Nation.”
Celebrating Inez Milholland’s Birthday in Lewis, New York by Filmmaker, Martha Wheelock
A small town creates a big event for a great woman. In so doing, the townsfolk and neighboring denizens discover for themselves, not only their history but, more importantly, find pride and inspiration in their hero. I was invited to Lewis, New York for a celebration of Inez Milholland’s 130th Birthday where I would present my new film, Inez Milholland ~ Forward into Light with a Q & A afterwards. Before the film a local historian would be revealing her research on the history of the Milholland Family in Lewis.
History talks can often turn to recitation of dates, primogeniture and be-gots but this local, curious, authentic researcher of Lewis and Milholland history shared everything she found about the Milhollands, with humor, enthusiasm and rich resources. My understanding of Inez’s background was filled out with real flesh! Instead of a few scattered souls at the Lewis Congregational Church for this event, the church, albeit, small, was filled with an attentive audience.
They loved and cheered the Inez film, and asked good questions. They told me how someone over the past weeks had been coming up to the cemetery where the Milhollands were buried. They had been setting the markers a-straight, weeding and clearing grass from all the stones, and cleaning the gravestones. It must be angels, I remarked seriously!
When I announced that copies of the Inez Film on DVD’s were for FREE, they held their breath: is that really so? Can I really have one to show my grandchildren who grew up here? I want to take one to the 6th grade teacher whose great-grandmother knew Inez’s Mother. What a joy to give out those films!
Then we all, yes all the congregation, adjourned to the big cozy kitchen for Inez’s birthday cake, complete with her portrait, and adorned with a “statuette of a woman on a white horse, with a sash vote for women, which one of the church ladies had made. It was a glorious cake to honor Inez. Another church lady had made 30 cupcakes, with stars on them, to surround the cake. It was a very touching moment and everyone who would admit this, felt the energy of the evening.
The next day, Inez’s actual birthday, August 6, my sister and I first visited Meadowmount, the very large 34 room home that John E. Milholland, Inez’s father, built at the height of his wealth – ostensible to give poor children from the inner cities , a summer place to retreat among animals and healthful country living. John ‘s intentions were not realized actually, as he lost his wealth carelessly, and the family then lived both in London and New York much more modestly, within John’s newspaper salary.
Today the buildings are the MEADOWMOUNT SCHOOL OF MUSIC, one of the finest and intense practicum for strings and piano. There studied and taught such teachers as Jascha Heifetz, Joshua Bell, Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman, Pinchas Zukerman, Paul Zukofsky and hundred others. It is still such an esteemed school.
There I met Mary Macgowan, a director and another fine local historian who shared more Milholland history with me. A wider and deeper picture of what forces helped to form Inez’s ethics and energy emerged more than any biography I had read.
The most moving visit during that trip was to meditate and absorb Inez at her actual grave. The cemetery plot, which previously had been mysteriously cleaned and cleared, had indeed been manicured, but by arrangements from John A Milholland, Inez great nephew, whose father was descendent of John A, Inez’s brother, the only child to produce progeny.
The red rose I placed on Inez’s grave was in keeping with the how she was viewed as a great American Beauty. When her coffin arrived from Los Angeles, into the town of Lewis for burial, her father had adorned it with 2 dozen red roses.
Inez had a younger sister (also buried there), Vida, who traveled with Inez and carried on Suffrage work after Inez’s death. In fact Vida was arrested and went on a hunger strike in 1917, following in her sister’s spirit.
Vida never married but lived the last 30 years of her life with a woman companion, caring for her mother in one of their residence They were always plagued with financial worries and she committed suicide in 1952. The whole family was rested on the top of the hill, looking out over the meadows toward the great Green Mountains of Vermont, across Lake Champlain. What a beautiful spot.
The Friday event extended beyond the folks of Lewis. As we covered three counties, giving away the DVD to libraries, historical museums, even hotels and civic centers in Essex and Clinton Counties, Plattsburgh and Elizabethtown, great appreciation was express by those who received this FREE DVD. The recipients felt honored as all we met knew Inez’s name and were familiar with her short life’s story. They treasured the fact that she was a local girl, who did more than just ride a white horse and die at age 30 from working too hard on the campaign for Women’s Suffrage. She was their Hero.
Petition the President to Honor Inez
In 1915 ladies carried 100 feet of signatures petitioning Congress for the vote. Today we just make a few clicks on our phones and tablets.
From Inez Milholland page on Change.org, ~
“US Congresswoman Jackie Speier has nominated Ms. Milholland for the Presidential Citizens Medal, the second highest civilian award of the nation. The National Women’s History Project, an organization that celebrates the diverse and historic accomplishments of American women, would like you to join Congresswoman Speier in urging President Obama to award this amazing woman with one of America’s highest honors.
During her short life, Inez fought for equality for all. As one of New York state’s only female lawyers at a time when few women practiced law, she was an advocate for racial justice and a champion for prisoners’ and workers’ rights. But it was her fight for women’s suffrage that made her a true American hero. Between 1910 and 1916, she became a central figure in the drive for Votes for Women in New York State and throughout the country, chairing meetings, answering opponents’ arguments, lobbying state legislators, and leading suffrage parades up Fifth Avenue. In march 1913 Inez led thousands of women suffrage activists in a parade in the nation’s capitol. She died on the campaign trail in 1916.
Because of Inez Milholland Boissevain’s work, and the persistence of tens of thousands of American suffragists from 1848 to 1920, the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was passed to ensure women’s voting rights now and for future generations. It’s time we bring recognition to someone who gave everything to win these crucial rights for her fellow Americans.
Please join us in petitioning President Obama to award Inez Milholland the Presidential Citizens Medal.
For Immediate Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
JUNE 20, 2016
Documentary short, Inez Milholland ~ Forward into Light released.
Request your own free DVD at https://inezmilholland.org/order/
Wild West Women proudly announces the release and complimentary distribution of
“Inez Milholland ~~ Forward into Light”
This documentary tells the story of American icon, Inez Milholland who broke convention with her striking conscience advocating for gender equality, pacifism, racial justice, unions and free speech in the early Twentieth Century. She became the voice of suffrage.
In 1916 she crossed the country, giving 50 speeches in 28 days. Pushing through exhaustion and anemia she fell at the podium October 23,1916 at Los Angeles, Blanchard Hall. She was taken to Good Samaritan Hospital where she died 30 days later. Her last public sentence, “President Wilson, how long must women wait for liberty?”
Run time 15 minutes http://InezMilholland.org (c) 2016Martha Wheelock
Inspired by the Southern Poverty Law Center’s production and free distribution of “Selma,” filmmaker, Martha Wheelock made the decision to make a film about Inez Milholland, American Suffragist who lost her life while campaigning across the West for federal suffrage.
With the shockingly low numbers of Americans voting, Martha wants women and girls to understand the cost and importance of the vote. How better than tell the story of Inez Milholland, astounding woman who gave her life for the 19th Amendment?
Celebrate casting your vote.
Order the DVD to show at your school, library, organization
Visit http://InezMilholland.org
The most robust and graphical website on Inez Milholland
Written, Produced and Directed by Martha Wheelock
Edited by Ashley Monti Assistant Producer Zoe Nicholson
Narrated by Libby West Art design Phillip Tommey
Associate Producers: Peg Yorkin, Virginia Carter, Judith Osmer, Joan Smiles.
A Kickstarter Project
A project of the National Women’s History Project and Wild West Women, inc.
inezmilholland.org Wildwestwomen.org
Nwhp.org Inezmilhollandcentennial.com
(C) 2016 Martha Wheelock
Contact: Zoe Nicholson Zoe@inezmilholland.org 800 428-7136
twitter @IneztheFilm facebook.com/inezmilholland.org/