Women You May Not Know

Black and white photo of Belva Lockwood

Belva Lockwood

1830 - 1917

Biography

As a teacher in New York, Belva Lockwood (1830-1917) championed coeducation and expanded curriculum (including science and rhetoric) for girls.

Lockwood moved to Washington, D.C. and earned a law degree from National University. Because of her sex, Lockwood was denied her diploma; not until she appealed to U.S. President Grant did the school cede the document.

Widowed twice, Lockwood withstood years of male chauvinism to become, in 1879, the first female attorney admitted to the U.S. Supreme Court Bar, and thus the first woman to argue before the U.S. Supreme Court.

In 1884, the Equal Rights Party nominated her for president; her campaign advanced equal rights for every citizen. Lockwood lost soundly, but inspired women country-wide.

Lockwood’s courtroom victories include a federal equal pay bill for female civil servants and suffrage clauses in several states. In 1906, she won $5 million for the Cherokee Nation for their forcible displacement by the U.S. government. She was also a fixture in the peace and disarmament movements until her death.

By Jen Hawkins