Belva Ann Lockwood

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Belva Lockwood
Belva Lockwood
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Belva Ann Bennett Lockwood (October 24, 1830 – May 19, 1917) was a United States attorney, politician, author, and noted feminist, although she never used that word. Lockwood overcame many social and personal obstacles related to gender restrictions of her time, to gain a good education and have a professional career. After college, she became a teacher and also worked for action on equal pay for women teachers. Later Lockwood was active in progressive organizations, became one of the first lawyers in the US, successfully petitioned Congress to be able to practice in federal court, and ran for president on the National Equal Rights Party ticket in 1884 and 1888.

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[edit] Early life

She was born Belva Ann Bennett in Royalton, New York. She married Uriah McNall, a local farmer. He died in 1853, three years after their daughter Lura was born. Belva then attended Gasport Academy in Gasport, New York, and Genesee College in Lima, New York (the college later became part of Syracuse University) to prepare for teaching. McNall taught school for several years. At the end of the Civil War, restless and always fascinated by politics, she decided to move to Washington, D.C.

[edit] Life in Washington, D.C.

In Washington, McNall quickly became a member of progressive women's suffrage and temperance organizations. In 1868, she married Ezekiel Lockwood, a dentist, lay minister, and claims agent. They had a daughter, Jessie, who died before her second birthday.

In 1872, Lockwood earned her law degree from what is now the George Washington University Law School and became one of the first women to become a lawyer in the U.S. After she obtained her degree, she was not allowed to practice in the U.S. Court of Claims or the United States Supreme Court. The justices said couverture and the practices of centuries barred women.

That did not stop Lockwood. From 1874 to 1879, she lobbied Congress seeking an anti-discrimination bill. In 1879 Congress passed a law which was signed by President Rutherford B. Hayes allowing all qualified women attorneys to practice in any federal court. Lockwood was sworn in as the first woman member of the U.S. Supreme Court bar on March 3, 1879. Late in 1880, she became the first woman lawyer to argue a case before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Lockwood was the second woman (after Victoria Woodhull) to run for President of the United States and the first to be listed on the ballot. Like Woodhull, Lockwood ran as the candidate of the National Equal Rights Party, in the campaigns of the United States presidential election, 1884 and United States presidential election, 1888. Her running mates were Marietta Stow in 1884 and Charles Stuart Wells in 1888. Representing a third party without a broad base of support, Lockwood did not have a serious chance of winning the presidency and received few votes. Most states did not allow women to vote. In addition, since white Democrats had regained political power in the South, they passed complicated voter registration and elections laws that suppressed voting by blacks.

On January 12, 1885, Lockwood petitioned Congress to have her votes counted, making the claim "that during the recent session of the Electoral College of the State of Indiana at the capitol thereof, that after it had cast its vote for Cleveland it changed its mind, as it had an undisputed legal right to do, and cast its united vote for your petitioner." She further claimed she "received one-half the electoral vote of Oregon, and a large vote in Pennsylvania, but the votes in the latter state were not counted, simply dumped into the waste basket as false votes."[1]

Lockwood was a well-respected and often controversial writer. She was determined, practical, and energetic. She played an important role in the advancement of rights for women and was an active member of the National American Woman Suffrage Association and also the Equal Rights Party. She was active in the Universal Peace Union, representing the group at meetings in Europe and lobbying its positions before Congress and at the White House. She hoped that the group would receive the Nobel Peace Prize, but it did not.

[edit] Honors

Belva Lockwood Ship Figurehead
Belva Lockwood Ship Figurehead

The small communities of Belva, West Virginia; Lockwood, California; and Lockwood, West Virginia, were named in her honor. In her day, girls were named for her.

At least three ship figureheads carved in her likeness: on the ship Martha, the ship Julia Lawrence, and an unnamed ship that has a full-length masthead of her. One of these figureheads is now in the museum at Mystic Seaport in Mystic, Connecticut. "With raised chin she gazes straight ahead as if her attention were fixed on the distant horizon." [2]

During World War II, a merchant marine ship was given her name. In World War II the United States liberty ship SS Belva Lockwood was named in her honor.

The National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., owns a portrait of Lockwood depicted in 1908, when she received an honorary doctorate in law from Syracuse University.[3]

In 1986 a U.S. postage stamp was issued in her honor.

Lockwood was buried in Congressional Cemetery in Washington, D.C.

[edit] Citations

  1. ^ Lockwood, Belva A., "How I Ran for the Presidency," National Magazine, Vol. XVII, No. 6 (March 1903) pp. 728, 733.
  2. ^ Erwin Ottomar Christensenn, Early American Wood Carving, Courier Dover Publications, 1972
  3. ^ Belva Lockwood, National Portrait Gallery

[edit] References

[edit] External Links