In Chap­ter Twelve, titled “Inez Mil­hol­land,” the nar­ra­tive unfolds around Inez’s life, inter­twin­ing her per­son­al aspi­ra­tions with the broad­er suf­frage move­ment in the West dur­ing 1916. After secret­ly elop­ing with Eugen Bois­se­vain, Inez’s long­ing for a child is jux­ta­posed against her piv­otal role in advo­ca­cy for wom­en’s vot­ing rights, a move­ment that gained momen­tum with states in the West grant­i­ng women suf­frage.

The chap­ter out­lines piv­otal rea­sons why the suf­frage move­ment found suc­cess in West­ern states, includ­ing the need for set­tlers to gain state­hood, orga­nized activism, and the for­ma­tion of coali­tions among diverse women, con­tribut­ing to a unit­ed effort for the vote. The Nation­al Woman’s Par­ty emerged, aim­ing to gal­va­nize the wom­en’s vote against Pres­i­dent Woodrow Wil­son, whom they viewed as an obsta­cle.

Events esca­late as suf­frag­ists chal­lenge Wil­son at pub­lic speech­es, notably when Mabel Ver­non inter­rupts him, bold­ly demand­ing answers about enfran­chise­ment. Inez Mil­hol­land shines at the Nation­al Woman’s Par­ty con­ven­tion, advo­cat­ing for wom­en’s rights with her pas­sion­ate rhetoric, draw­ing large crowds and encour­ag­ing women to pri­or­i­tize their col­lec­tive inter­ests over polit­i­cal par­ties.

How­ev­er, the tour­ing cam­paign leads to Inez’s dete­ri­o­ra­tion in health. Despite ongo­ing ill­ness, includ­ing a ton­sil infec­tion and sub­se­quent ane­mia, she con­tin­ues to speak out, draw­ing admi­ra­tion from audi­ences. Her efforts elic­it sig­nif­i­cant media atten­tion, but her con­di­tion wors­ens, even­tu­al­ly neces­si­tat­ing hos­pi­tal­iza­tion for her severe health issues.

The author details the strug­gle of Inez, caught between her com­mit­ment to activism and her phys­i­cal decline. As her health fails, the nar­ra­tive high­lights the increas­ing per­il of her con­di­tion, lead­ing to hos­pi­tal­iza­tions and blood trans­fu­sions. She remains opti­mistic about the suf­frage move­ment, despite the back­drop of her ulti­mate chal­lenge for sur­vival.

In a trag­ic turn, Inez Mil­hol­land pass­es away on Novem­ber 25, 1916, at just thir­ty years old, becom­ing a mar­tyr for the suf­frage cause. Her death incites an out­pour­ing of grief and leads to her memo­ri­al­iza­tion in Stat­u­ary Hall in the U.S. Capi­tol, under­scor­ing her sig­nif­i­cance as a sym­bol of lib­er­ty and empow­er­ment for future gen­er­a­tions of women. The chap­ter con­cludes with reflec­tions on the impact of her life and death, paving the way for con­tin­ued efforts toward wom­en’s rights, notably as the nation plunges into World War I short­ly there­after.