Wrote directly to President Ulysses S. Grant demanding her withheld LL.B. diploma from National University Law School.
Having completed the full course of study at the National University Law School in Washington, D.C. by May 1873, Belva Lockwood found her diploma withheld by administrators reportedly reluctant to formally certify a woman as a graduate — even though she had fulfilled every academic requirement, in some cases outperforming her male classmates.
Refusing to be denied the credential she had earned, Lockwood took the extraordinary step of writing directly to President Ulysses S. Grant on September 3, 1873, invoking his position as ex officio president of the university. Her letter was direct and unyielding, demanding that the institution honor its obligation to her as it would to any male graduate.
The strategy worked: within days, the diploma — signed by Grant himself — was delivered to her. This episode exemplifies Lockwood's characteristic tenacity and her willingness to go over the heads of obstructive institutions and appeal directly to the highest authority in the land. It was a preview of the persistence she would later bring to her multi-year campaign to open the U.S. Supreme Court bar to women, and it remains a celebrated anecdote in the history of women's entry into the American legal profession.