Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1954-02-07
Women Owe q Lot
To BeIvo lockwood
First Woman Admitted to Practice
Law Before u. S. Supreme Court

NV, the scene of many a fiery
debate over Woman's suffrage
and equal rights.
After her marriage to DR..
Ezekiel Lockwood, local dentist.
Belva Lockwood continued her
studies and received a degree
from Syracuse University. Three
years later. in 1873. having first
been refused admission by Co.
lumbar (now George Washing
tom University, she received her
LIB. from National University
Law School.
Two Victories
That same year Congress
passed the bill she had spon-
sored for equal pay to women in
Government. Two important vic
tories in her crusade for the
women of America had been
realized. The law degree pro-
vided her with the ammunition
necessary to fight for other
measures.
While admitted to practice be-
fore the District of Columbia
Supreme Court. Mrs. LockWood's
applications to the U. S. Court
of Appeals and the U. S. Su-
preme Court were denied. 1t
was enough that she had been
admitted to the District bar, but
to allow woman to practice
before the highest court in the
Nation was unheard Of. She was
opposed at every level.
But this was the kind Of
challenge Belva Lockwood &C
copied with pleasure. 1t was
the opportunity for further
awakening of the minds Of a
people reticent where women
were concerned. She drafted a
bill and presented it to Congress.
For six years she worked and
preached and prayed.
Bill Signed in 1879
Finally President Rutherford
B. Hayes signed the bill passed
by Congress and on March 3,
1879. Belva Lockwood was ad-
mitted to practice before the
Supreme Court. A week later
she was admitted to the Court
of Claims.
Her continued efforts were
successful in granting women in
Maryland and Virginia the same
rights as men before the Federal
and State courts of those States.
Despite her strong minded
ness. Belva Lockwood was not
lacking in femininity. Flowers
in her soft gray hair and a bit
of frothy lace about her neck
were almost a trademark.
At so, still a handsome woman
with penetrating blue-gray eyes,
her slim figure was oft the focus
Of attention as she pedaled her
tricycle. through the streets of
downtown Washington. Her
first appearances in the court
room were the occasion for
sneers and buffoonery from male
colleagues. But her mistaken
poise and demeanor soon drew
awesome stares as she argued
in fast. clipped sentences her
cases before the bar.
Fought for Women's Rights
At conventions with other suf-
fragettes like Susan B. Anthony,
Julia Ward Howe (author Of
Battle Hymn of the Republic")
and Isabella Beecher Hooker
(sister of the Rev. Henry Ward
Beecher), she continued to sound
the call to freedom for women,
and increasingly labored for in
ternational peace.
In 1884 and again in 1888 she
was the candidate of the Equal
Rights Party for the presidency
of the United States. But the
time was not yet ripe for women
to take their place in politics.
especially at such a top level
as President!
Belva Lockwood was IS when
she tried her last case before
the Court of Claims. For 40
years she had lived and prac-
ticed law in the Lockwood Build
ing at SIG F Street, where her
husband died two years before
she was admitted to the Supreme
Court. One of her numerous
legal trays secured a settlement
of 100000 from the United
States Government for the Cher
okee Indians. But several years
before her death financial re-