Voting Station

Belva Ann Lockwood

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Attorney

The Resume

    (October 24, 1830-May 19, 1917)
    Born in Royalton, New York
    Birth name was Belva Ann Bennett
    Attorney and women's rights advocate
    First woman to argue a case before the US Supreme Court (Kaiser v Stickney, 1880)
    Twice ran for President as candidate of the Equal Rights Party (1880, 1884)

Why she might be annoying:

    She had a nasal voice.
    She started her legal career at age 43.
    Ironically, given her feminist beliefs, in her first Supreme Court case, she argued that her client, Caroline Kaiser, did not have to repay a $16,000 debt because a married woman was considered to be under her husband's legal authority and protection.
    Some suffrage leaders, such as Susan B. Anthony, considered her campaigns for President to be publicity stunts that distracted from more achievable goals.

Why she might not be annoying:

    Although she had completed the necessary coursework, National University refused to grant her a diploma because of her gender (1873).
    She belatedly received her diploma after writing a letter to President Ulysses S. Grant, appealing to him as an official of National University.
    She drafted a bill to allow female attorneys the same access to federal courts as male colleagues and repeatedly lobbied Congress to pass it, succeeding in 1879.
    She sponsored Samuel R. Lowery, who became the first black attorney to argue before the Supreme Court.
    In her most notable Supreme Court case, she successfully argued that the federal government had failed to pay the full amount owed to the Cherokee nation for their lands according to an 1835 treaty. The Court ordered the government to pay $5 million for the outstanding balance and accumulated interest (1906).
    She drafted a bill securing equal pay for equal work for women employed by the federal government and got Congress to pass it (1872).
    She said, 'We shall never have equal rights until we take them, nor respect until we command it.'

Credit: C. Fishel


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Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 7 Votes: 28.57% Annoying