Today in History: Belva Lockwood | Citizen U Primary Source Nexus

Today in History—November 30—the In Custodia Legis blog features lawyer Belva Lockwood, the became the first woman to argue before the U.S. Supreme Court on this day in 1880. In that case—Kaiser v. Stickney—she represented a local property owner in a debt dispute. Although Lockwood lost this case, she returned to the Supreme Court in 1906, at the age of 76, representing the Eastern and Emigrant Cherokees in the United States v. Cherokee Nation. This time her arguments prevailed and the Court upheld a ruling confirming that the United States government owed a debt of over $5,000,000 her Cherokee clients. Read the full blog post to learn more, then click the links below to discover more about this extraordinary woman.

Belva Lockwood Statement: U. S. Senate Hearing before Committee on Woman Suffrage on Joint Resolution proposing suffrage amendment to U.S. Constitution

Article clippings mentioning Belva Lockwood

Belva Lockwood clippings and correspondence National American Woman Suffrage Association Records

Correspondence between Belva Lockwood and Clara Barton 1888-1911

Laura E. Burt’s original woman’s rights stump speech a la Belva Lockwood

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