In an age that declared women unfit for many of the more active aspects of life, Belva Ann Lockwood was one woman who rejected such gallantry. When officials forbade her to teach physical education to female pupils in rural New York, she protested until the privilege was granted. When barred from utilizing a hard-won law degree in many courts, she successfully lobbied Congress for the right to argue before the Supreme Court, and in 1879 she became the first woman admitted to practice in that tribunal. Finally, although women could not vote, there was nothing to stop them from seeking office. In 1884, she announced her presidential candidacy and garnered some 4,149 votes from the nation's male electorate.

Lockwood appears in this portrait dressed in the academic robes presented to her in 1908 on receiving an honorary doctorate from her alma mater, Syracuse University. The picture was presented to the Smithsonian in 1917 as a tribute to her part in the struggle for women's rights.