Vida Milholland (January 17, 1888 – November 29, 1952) was a women's rights activist and the sister of

Inez Milholland Inez Milholland Boissevain (August 6, 1886 – November 25, 1916) was a leading American suffragist, lawyer, and peace activist. From her college days at Vassar, she campaigned aggressively for women’s rights as the principal issue of a wide ...

, one of the leaders of the

National Woman's Party The National Woman's Party (NWP) was an American women's political organization formed in 1916 to fight for women's suffrage. After achieving this goal with the 1920 adoption of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, the NW ...

Personal life

Vida was born in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

in 1888. Her father, John Milholland, was a founding member of the

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. ...

. She was the younger sister of the famed suffragist leader

. When she was a young woman she was a concert soprano. She had studied at

Vassar College Vassar College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States, closely follo ...

where she was known for athletics and drama. When her sister died in 1916 she devoted her time to suffrage work; she went to prison for three days in 1917 where she sang each night for her fellow prisoners.Vida Milholland
Library of Congress, Retrieved 1 September 2016

Suffrage work

Vida Milholland was an ardent suffragist and an active member of the militant

and a political ally of

Alice Paul Alice Stokes Paul (January 11, 1885 – July 9, 1977) was an American Quaker, suffragist, feminist, and women's rights activist, and one of the main leaders and strategists of the campaign for the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ...

. Along with her sister Inez, she was also a member of the

College Equal Suffrage League The College Equal Suffrage League (CESL) was an American woman suffrage organization founded in 1900 by Maud Wood Park and Inez Haynes Irwin (''nee'' Gillmore), as a way to attract younger Americans to the women's rights movement. The League spurred ...

of New York State. Milholland participated in the picketing of the White House during the first World War in support of women's suffrage. She spent time in

Occoquan Workhouse The Lorton Reformatory, also known as the Lorton Correctional Complex, is a former prison complex in Lorton, Virginia, established in 1910 for the District of Columbia, United States. The complex began as a prison farm called the Occoquan Wor ...

as part of the

Silent Sentinels The Silent Sentinels, also known as the Sentinels of Liberty, were a group of over 2,000 women in favor of women's suffrage organized by Alice Paul and the National Woman's Party, who protested in front of the White House during Woodrow Wilson's ...

protest. In 1917 Milholland told stories of her imprisonment at the Ritz-Carlton alongside

Dora Lewis Dora Lewis (October 13, 1862 – January 31, 1928), also known as Mrs. Lawrence Lewis, was an American suffragist. She was active in the National American Woman Suffrage Association and later helped found the National Woman's Party. Lewis took part ...

and others. Alva Belmont presided over this meeting. In 1919 she represented the NWP on their "

Prison Special The "Prison Special" was a train tour organized by suffragists who, as members of the Silent Sentinels and other demonstrations, had been jailed for picketing the White House in support of passage of the federal women's suffrage amendment. In Feb ...

" tour of America where she sang at every meeting. At a 1921 conference in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

she was honored for her part in the suffrage movement. 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.

Death

Vida Milholland died in

Lewis, Essex County, New York : ''There is another Town of Lewis in Lewis County, New York.'' Lewis is a town in Essex County, New York, United States. The population was 1,382 at the 2010 census. The town is named after Morgan Lewis, the governor of New York at the tim ...

on November 29, 1952
grave
.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Milholland, Vida 1888 births 1952 deaths American feminists American suffragists American women in World War I Activists from Brooklyn American anti-war activists National Woman's Party activists Activists from New York (state) Vassar College