Lou Rogers (November 26, 1879 – March 11, 1952) was a cartoonist, illustrator,

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, p ...

, storyteller,

public speaker Public speaking, also called oratory or oration, has traditionally meant the act of speaking face to face to a live audience. Today it includes any form of speaking (formally and informally) to an audience, including pre-recorded speech deliver ...

radio host A radio personality (American English) or radio presenter (British English) is a person who has an on-air position in radio broadcasting. A radio personality who hosts a radio show is also known as a radio host, and in India and Pakistan as a radi ...

, and

political activist A political movement is a collective attempt by a group of people to change government policy or social values. Political movements are usually in opposition to an element of the status quo, and are often associated with a certain ideology. Some ...

Family and youth

Born Annie Lucasta Rogers in 1879 in the lumbering town of Patten, Maine, Rogers was the fourth of seven children born to Col. Luther Bailey "L. B." Rogers and Mary Elizabeth Barker Rogers. Her childhood was spent on a small farm, with vacations at the family's isolated camp at nearby Shin Pond, where pristine woodlands abutted the quiet lake. From an early age she loved to draw, producing sketches and caricatures, including ones of her teachers. The Rogers children were educated at the Patten Academy that grandfather Dr. Luther Rogers helped found. After working at a district school, Rogers was hired as an assistant to teach at the Patten Academy. Education was a family value, and her siblings studied at the

University of Maine The University of Maine (UMaine or UMO) is a public land-grant research university in Orono, Maine. It was established in 1865 as the land-grant college of Maine and is the flagship university of the University of Maine System. It is classifie ...

and

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous ...

. Brother Lore Rogers became a well-known government bacteriologist and was awarded two honorary doctorates.

Becoming a cartoonist

Around 1900 Rogers decided on a career in art and enrolled at the Massachusetts Normal Art School, now the

Massachusetts College of Art and Design Massachusetts College of Art and Design, branded as MassArt, is a public college of visual and applied art in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1873, it is one of the nation’s oldest art schools, the only publicly funded independent art school ...

. By her own account, her spirited personality and predilection to explore the city of Boston proved incompatible with these studies. After one year she dropped out. She then enrolled in

physical culture Physical culture, also known as Body culture, is a health and strength training movement that originated during the 19th century in Germany, the UK and the US. Origins The physical culture movement in the United States during the 19th century ...

classes offered in

Washington DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

. Afterwards she signed on to a business venture with a classmate, where they traveled out West offering physical culture seminars to communities. Because they lacked business experience, it was a financial disaster. She soon had a new determination: she would become a cartoonist. Off she went to New York City, where she contacted newspaper offices. Finding barriers to being a woman cartoonist using the name Annie, she began submitting her work as "Lou Rogers." In 1908 her earliest known published cartoons appeared in ''

Judge Magazine ''Judge'' was a weekly Humor magazine, satirical magazine published in the United States from 1881 to 1947. It was launched by artists who had seceded from its rival ''Puck (magazine), Puck''. The founders included cartoonist James Albert Wales, ...

'', one of the popular nationwide humor magazines. Ms Rogers was a staff artist at Judge, regularly contributing original artwork to the suffrage page called "The Modern Woman" alongside H. G. Peter, the illustrator who created the image of

Wonder Woman Wonder Woman is a superhero created by the American psychologist and writer William Moulton Marston (pen name: Charles Moulton), and artist Harry G. Peter. Marston's wife, Elizabeth Holloway Marston, Elizabeth, and their life partner, Olive Byr ...

. By 1912 the Patten Academy ''Mirror'' announced that Annie Rogers was a cartoonist in New York City. A year later ''Cartoons Magazine'' profiled Rogers as a successful cartoonist in "A Woman Destined to Do Big Things." "Master cartoonist, teacher and critic" Grant Hamilton summarized her talents: : She has what ninety-nine out of a hundred lack, the ability to see the way to get the idea into the picture. And she has forty ideas about everything. So far she is the only woman artist in the world who is seeking her complete artistic destiny in the cartoon. . . She means to win. And she will keep on meaning until she does. The ''

Woman's Journal ''Woman's Journal'' was an American women's rights periodical published from 1870 to 1931. It was founded in 1870 in Boston, Massachusetts, by Lucy Stone and her husband Henry Browne Blackwell as a weekly newspaper. In 1917 it was purchased by ...

'', a pro-suffrage newspaper, highlighted Rogers's contribution at about the same time, describing her as the "only woman artist to devote all her time to feminism." Her plan to distribute her suffrage cartoons to newspapers and for campaign literature was announced in 1914. In 1917, Margaret Sanger founded the Birth Control Review and hired Rogers as the Art Director. As late as 1924 a news story touted her as the "World's Only Woman Cartoonist," which Rogers herself corrected. New York City alone claimed, among others, resident cartoonist-illustrator Laura Foster and

Edwina Dumm Frances Edwina Dumm (1893 – April 28, 1990) was a writer-artist who drew the comic strip ''Cap Stubbs and Tippie'' for nearly five decades; she is also notable as America's first full-time female editorial cartoonist. She used her middle name fo ...

, as well as Cornelia Barns and Alice Beach Winter, who contributed to the radical avant-garde magazine, ''

The Masses ''The Masses'' was a graphically innovative magazine of socialist politics published monthly in the United States from 1911 until 1917, when federal prosecutors brought charges against its editors for conspiring to obstruct conscription. It was ...

'':

Gallery

File:Rogers the Bonds 1912.jpg , Cartoon by Lou Rogers, "Tearing Off the Bonds." The Modern Woman, '' Judge'', 19 October 1912. File:Rogers Welding the Link 1912.jpg , Cartoon by Lou Rogers, "Welding in the Missing Link." The Modern Woman, '' Judge'', 24 August 1912. File:Rogers the Growlers 1913.jpg, Cartoon by Lou Rogers, " Rushing the Growlers." The Modern Woman, '' Judge'', 23 October 1913. File:Rogers Mother Habit 1914.jpg, Cartoon by Lou Rogers, "Transferring the Mother Habit to Politics." The Modern Woman, '' Judge'', 31 January 1914.

Suffragist, feminist, socialist in Greenwich Village

In the atmosphere of

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...

, Rogers was attracted to the woman suffrage movement and to

socialism Socialism is a left-wing Economic ideology, economic philosophy and Political movement, movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to Private prop ...

, perceiving both movements as worthy causes to be promoted through her cartoons. Today her reputation is largely as a cartoonist for woman suffrage. She was passionate in her beliefs and prolific in her output, as her work began appearing in the

New York Call The ''New York Call'' was a socialism, socialist daily newspaper published in New York City from 1908 through 1923. The ''Call'' was the second of three English-language dailies affiliated with the Socialist Party of America, following the ''Chica ...

, Judge, and the Woman's Journal, a propaganda newspaper for the

National American Woman Suffrage Association The National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) was an organization formed on February 18, 1890, to advocate in favor of women's suffrage in the United States. It was created by the merger of two existing organizations, the National ...

. She was invited to join Heterodoxy, a private club for radical, freethinking professional women, that met twice a month, for lunch and serious discussions. She formed a close friendship with Heterodoxy member Elizabeth C. Watson, a Maryland woman active in prison and labor reform. Both women were passengers on Henry Ford's "

Peace Ship The Peace Ship was the common name for the ocean liner ''Oscar II'', on which American industrialist Henry Ford organized and launched his 1915 amateur peace mission to Europe; Ford chartered the ''Oscar II'' and invited prominent peace activists t ...

," which carried 102 peace delegates and 46 journalists to Europe in December 1915. Rogers began appearing in

Times Square Times Square is a major commercial intersection, tourist destination, entertainment hub, and neighborhood in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is formed by the junction of Broadway, Seventh Avenue, and 42nd Street. Together with adjacent ...

, street corners, fairs, and other locations dressed in her artist's smock, as she drew oversized cartoons in the tradition of

chalk talks A chalk talk is an illustrated performance in which the speaker draws pictures to emphasize lecture points and create a memorable and entertaining experience for listeners. Chalk talks differ from other types of illustrated talks in their use of r ...

. She was considered a soapbox orator for her suffrage talks, and her activities were documented in newspapers across the region. Rogers's endorsement of socialism paralleled her support of women and reflected a philosophy of human liberation. : If the cartoon has never appealed to women workers, isn't it because it has never covered a class of interests with direct bearing on them? Then it seems to me of great moment that national and municipal issues should be handled from the woman's standpoint as well as the man's. She published cartoons in the socialist paper, '' The New York Call'' as early as 1911, and by 1919 was a regular contributor to the ''Call'' with a featured cartoon series on Woman's Sphere. When American women finally achieved the vote, Rogers continued her activism by contributing cartoons to the '' New Yorker Volkzeitung'' and the ''

Birth Control Review ''Birth Control Review'' was a lay magazine established and edited by Margaret Sanger in 1917, three years after her friend, Otto Bobsein, coined the term "birth control" to describe voluntary motherhood or the ability of a woman to space childr ...

''.

Author, illustrator, radio host

The 1920s was a decade of productivity for Rogers. She contracted with the ''

Ladies Home Journal ''Ladies' Home Journal'' was an American magazine last published by the Meredith Corporation. It was first published on February 16, 1883, and eventually became one of the leading women's magazines of the 20th century in the United States. In ...

'' to produce a series of children's stories in rhyme about imaginary little people called "Gimmicks." The stories were accompanied by a full-page of illustrations to be cut out and mounted on cardboard allowing the child to interact with the storyline. Rogers wrote the verses and provided illustrations, providing color originals 30" in height. Color for the illustrations was provided by Howard Smith, a New York City artist who, on October 15, 1924, became her husband. In 1927 she was invited to write a short anonymous autobiography for The Nation Magazine. The magazine was presenting a series called "These Modern Women," and Rogers had been selected by managing editor

Freda Kirchwey Mary Frederika "Freda" Kirchwey (September 26, 1893 – January 3, 1976) was an American journalist, editor, and publisher strongly committed throughout her career to liberal causes ( anti-Fascist, pro-Soviet, anti- anti-communist). From 1933 ...

as a successful woman typifying new feminist possibilities. The success of the ''Gimmicks'' persuaded Rogers to try her hand at children's books. ''The Rise of the Red Alders'' was published by Harper and Brothers in 1928. The following year she completed ''Ska-Denge (Beaver for Revenge)''. In the early 1930s she became a radio personality. Her program was called "Animal News Club," and aired over NBC radio. The program offered a poster and a membership pin. Her work was also included in a collection of women's humor, ''Laughing Their Way: Women's Humor in America''.

Later years

In 1925 Rogers purchased an old farm in

New Milford, CT New Milford is a town in Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States. The town is in western Connecticut, north of Danbury, on the banks of the Housatonic River, and it shares its border with the northeastern shore of Candlewood Lake. It is ...

. It was nestled in a scenic hillside and provided a quiet getaway, studio space and an opportunity for renovation. Her nieces and nephews relished their visits there, spending time with their fun-loving aunt in the countryside. By the early 1950s, Rogers was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Her condition degenerated rapidly, and she died at the age of 72.

Postscript

In 1913, ''Cartoons Magazine'' had written of Rogers: "Her pen is destined to win battles for the Woman's Movement and her name will be recorded when the history of the early days of the fight for equal rights is written." To commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1995, the

National Museum of Women in the Arts The National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA), located in Washington, D.C., is "the first museum in the world solely dedicated" to championing women through the arts. NMWA was incorporated in 1981 by Wallace and Wilhelmina Holladay. Since openin ...

hosted an exhibition, "Artful Advocacy: Cartoons of the Woman Suffrage Movement." Featured artists were Rogers, Nina Allender, and Blanche Ames. Eight decades later, the prophecy had been realized.