Inez Milholland Boissevain (August 6, 1886 – November 25, 1916) was a leading American suffragist, lawyer, and peace activist.
From her college days at Vassar College, she campaigned aggressively for women’s rights as the principal issue of a wide-ranging socialist agenda. She was known as the “Most Beautiful Suffragist.”
On March 3, 1913, the day before Woodrow Wilson’s presidential inauguration, thousands of suffragists marched down Pennsylvania Avenue demanding the right to vote. The event was organized by Alice Paul and the National American Woman Suffrage Association.
Inez Milholland, already known as a brilliant lawyer, social reformer, and striking public speaker, was chosen to lead the parade. Wearing a flowing white cape and crown, she rode a large white horse named Gray Dawn, embodying a “suffrage Joan of Arc” figure. Her commanding presence gave the march a sense of pageantry and power that captured the public imagination.
Crowds lined the streets, and newspapers across the country published photographs and descriptions of the scene. Inez’s image on horseback became a symbol of women’s determination, dignity, and rightful claim to equality.
The choice of white clothing (a suffrage color symbolizing purity) and a white horse was deliberate. The organizers wanted to create a visual spectacle that would stick in the national memory—and it worked.
Sadly, Inez Milholland’s life was cut short. In 1916, while on a suffrage speaking tour, she collapsed on stage in Los Angeles, reportedly calling out, “Mr. President, how long must women wait for liberty?” She died shortly afterward at just 30 years old.
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