1. Introduce the lesson by asking students if they believe a woman will run for President any time soon. After some discussion, explain that when a woman does run for President, she will not be the first. One such woman (actually, the second to run for President) is Belva Ann Lockwood.
2. Mrs. Lockwood’s legacy is threefold: she was the first woman to be allowed to practice before the Supreme Court; she was the second woman to run for President, and she was an untiring peace activist.
3. Provide a time for students to explore the websites listed below, as well as other sites, and print materials. Then, ask students to select a topic to be the basis for a newspaper article that might have been written at the time (1879 and 1884). Divide students into two groups, one group to produce a series of newspaper articles about Lockwood’s first
appearance before the Supreme Court, and the other a series of articles about Lockwood’s run for the Presidency.
4. Articles can be graded according to a teacher-produced rubric, or by traditional methods familiar to students, and/or content area standards for social studies or language arts.
5. Provide a time for students to share their work.
This lesson can be extended by actually producing a newspaper for each event, with articles not only about the event but also about other things that were happening. Using the First Ladies Library Timeline for this extension would be helpful.
Note: There is a website included in the list of sites (below) labeled "For the Teacher," which demonstrates a lesson that one teacher did, having students write biographies of famous women. It is included here just as another set of ideas.