Welcome to Feminists for Life's celebration of Women's History Month! We start our series with the lesser known Belva Lockwood who was from Western New York, but she was one of the most remarkable. After she became a mother and was widowed twice, Lockwood became a teacher and ran her own school until she moved to Washington, D.C., There she earned a law degree but the National University Law School refused to send her a diploma because of her gender. She never gave up, and after sending a letter to President Ulysses Grant, the suffragist received her diploma. Running her own law firm, Lockwood successfully attained passage of a federal bill which provided equal pay for female civil service employees. On March 3, 1879, she became the first female attorney admitted to the U.S. Supreme Court Bar and therefore the first woman allowed to practice before the US Supreme Court. In 1884, the Equal Rights Party nominated her for President of the United States. Unlike Victoria Woodhull, Lockwood ran a full-fledged presidential campaign in support of equal rights for every citizen. After losing the election she spent the rest of her life working for suffrage (including land rights for women in Washington, DC and writing the suffrage clauses for AZ, NM and OK state bills), minority rights, and international peace. Lockwood successfully argued on behalf of Cherokee’s who sought monetary compensation against the US for being forcibly removed from their land. She won a $5 million dollar settlement for Cherokees in a decision by the US Supreme Court. Belva Lockwood died in poverty at eighty-six years of age. After her death, her personal papers were burned.