She Lobbied Congress For Three Years To Become The First Woman Admitted To Practice Law Before The U.S. Supreme Court In 1879, Making Her A Trailblazer For Female Attorneys Today
Some of the most powerful women I’ve met are successful attorneys.
For a long time, women who work as lawyers have had to fight to prove themselves to be just as smart, efficient, and powerful as men who practice law.
There has been a long line of magnificent female lawyers in the U.S. who have shown how well women can work in law during times when it was considered unusual and unconstitutional for them to practice.
Belva Ann Lockwood was a trailblazer for those women, as she was the first woman admitted to practice law before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Belva was born in Royalton, New York, in 1830. Growing up, she was always passionate about breaking norms and wanted to seek higher education. But at the time, she was only deemed eligible for an education that would make her a suitable wife and mother.
So, when Belva was 18, she married local farmer Uriah McNall and had a daughter with him. But when she was only 23 years old, Uriah died, leaving her a widow with no way of supporting herself.
In the mid-1850s, Belva sent her daughter to live with her grandparents while she moved to Lima, New York, so she could study at the Genesee Wesleyan Seminary and Genesee College, known today as Syracuse University.
In school, Belva became more and more passionate about women’s rights and joined the cause of fighting for equal opportunities for men and women. In 1866, she moved to Washington, D.C., with her daughter, where she became more involved in the suffrage movement, attended political meetings, and worked with peace organizations.
During that time, she married her second husband, Reverend Ezekiel Lockwood, a Civil War veteran who supported her interests in law and politics.
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By the time Belva was 38, she longed to study law but struggled to find a school that would accept her as a student. She was denied admission from Georgetown and Howard Universities and was even told she couldn’t study at Colombian College because she would distract the young men there.
Finally, Belva was accepted into the National University Law School but was prohibited from participating in the graduation ceremony and receiving her diploma, which would prevent her from gaining admission to the bar of the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia. A year later, she wrote a letter to President Ulysses S. Grant and demanded that she receive her diploma. Not long after that, she did.
For a few years, Belva ran a small street-level firm from an office in her home in Washington, D.C. She dealt with mostly civil and criminal cases for maids, tradesmen, and blue-collar workers. Then, in 1876, she applied to get into the U.S. Supreme Court bar but was told that only men could work as attorneys and practice before the Supreme Court.
So, for the next three years, Belva lobbied Congress in hopes of passing more favorable legislation toward women. Finally, she helped create a bill to “act to relieve certain legal disabilities of women.”
After it was finally enacted, she became the first woman admitted to practice law before the U.S. Supreme Court on March 3rd, 1879.
Belva’s historical life and career didn’t stop there. In 1884, she ran for president on the National Equal Rights Party ticket and was determined to give women the right to vote while in office. Her campaign drew a lot of attention towards the women’s suffrage movement, and although she didn’t make it very far as a presidential candidate, it was a very big accomplishment.
Belva retired from practicing law in her 80s but continued to work hard to promote women’s rights and build better lives and futures for women in America all the way until she died in 1917 at 86. She paved the way for so many women who chose to practice law in the United States and was a remarkable woman.
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