In 1873 a 43-year-old woman completed every requirement for a law degree, and the school refused to issue her diploma because of her gender. So she wrote directly to President Ulysses S. Grant, and within a week held her Bachelor of Laws. That instinct defined Belva Lockwood's entire career.

This episode follows a widowed schoolteacher who re-engineered the legal framework itself, becoming the first woman to argue before the U.S. Supreme Court and the first to appear on an official presidential ballot.

• Fighting a 50 percent institutionalized wage gap as a headmistress
• The medieval doctrine of coverture that erased married women legally
• Drafting and lobbying an anti-discrimination bill through Congress
• Winning a five million dollar settlement for the Cherokee Nation
• Running for president to force a  ...