page_title: Alva Belmont
hierarchical_section_title: Alva Belmont
caption_attribution_description: English: Mrs. O.H.P. [Alva] Belmont
context_page_description: Alva Belmont, née Alva Erskine Smith — known as Alva Vanderbilt from 1875 to 1896 — was a prominent multi-millionaire American socialite and a major figure in the American women's suffrage movement. Known for having a haughty manner that antagonized some people, she was also noted for her energy, intelligence, strong opinions, and willingness to challenge convention.
  In 1909, she founded the Political Equality League to get votes for suffrage-supporting New York State politicians, wrote articles for newspapers, and joined the National American Woman Suffrage Association. She later formed her own Political Equality League to seek broad support for suffrage in neighborhoods throughout New York City, and, as its president, led its division of New York City's 1912 Women's Votes Parade. In 1916, she was one of the founders of the National Woman's Party and organized the first picketing ever to take place before the White House, in January 1917. She was elected president of the National Woman's Party, an office she held until her death.
context_section_description: Alva Belmont (January 17, 1853 – January 26, 1933), née Alva Erskine Smith — known as Alva Vanderbilt from 1875 to 1896 — was a prominent multi-millionaire American socialite and a major figure in the American women's suffrage movement. Known for having a haughty manner that antagonized some people, she was also noted for her energy, intelligence, strong opinions, and willingness to challenge convention.
  In 1909, she founded the Political Equality League to get votes for suffrage-supporting New York State politicians, wrote articles for newspapers, and joined the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA). She later formed her own Political Equality League to seek broad support for suffrage in neighborhoods throughout New York City, and, as its president, led its division of New York City's 1912 Women's Votes Parade.  In 1916, she was one of the founders of the National Woman's Party and organized the first picketing ever to take place before the White House, in January 1917. She was elected president of the National Woman's Party, an office she held until her death.
  She was married twice, first to William Kissam Vanderbilt, with whom she had three children, and secondly to Oliver Hazard Perry Belmont; both men were millionaires and members of socially prominent families in New York City.  Alva was known for her many building projects, including Petit Chateau in New York; the Marble House in Newport, Rhode Island; the Belmont House, also in New York; Brookholt in Long Island; and Beacon Towers in Sands Point, New York.
  On "Equal Pay Day," April 12, 2016, Belmont was honored as President Barack Obama established the Belmont-Paul Women's Equality National Monument in Washington, D.C.
caption: Alva E. Belmont in 1922.
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