Belva Ann Lockwood

1. Belva Lockwood never set out to become a legend of the law. By the time she was nearly 40, living in Washington, D.C. after the Civil War, Belva felt a calling toward the law. To her, it was a tool powerful enough to move the world. She applied to law schools, only to be rejected again and again. Administrators said she would "distract the young men" or warned that study would "strip her of femininity." At last, the National University Law School admitted her. Belva completed every requirement — lectures, exams, and papers — only to be denied her diploma simply because she was a woman. Did you know that during the 1800's in the US, due to gender restriction, a woman can be blatantly denied of the diploma that she rightfully earned based solely on her gender?

2. Few would dare what she did next: she wrote directly to President Ulysses S. Grant, head of the university's board, demanding the diploma she had rightfully earned. Soon after, it arrived. With it, she applied to the D.C. bar. Again, rejection. The court declared women were not "persons" under the statute. Still, she pressed on. Finally, in 1873, at the age of 43, Belva Lockwood was admitted to the bar, one of the first women lawyers in the nation's capital. Yet the greatest barrier remained: the U.S. Supreme Court. For years she petitioned, lobbied, and refused to be silenced. In 1879, Congress passed a law opening the Supreme Court bar to women. That spring, Belva walked into the marble chamber in a black dress, took the oath, and became the first woman ever admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court. Belva didn't stop there. She later ran for President of the United States, facing ridicule but also admiration. On the campaign trail, she declared: "I cannot vote, but I can be voted for." Belva Lockwood showed the world that history isn't only written in books, it's written in the footsteps of those brave enough to stand where no one believed they could. Even in this day and age, do you believe that many men still would not vote for a woman to be POTUS such as the case of Kamala Harris, Hillary Clinton?