Lou Rogers

{{Infobox person

| honorific_prefix =

| name = Lou Rogers

| honorific_suffix =

| native_name =

| native_name_lang =

| image = Lou Rogers 1910s.jpg

| image_size =

| alt =

| caption = Rogers about 1910

| birth_name = Annie Lucasta Rogers

| birth_date = {{birth date|1879|11|26}}

| birth_place = Patten, Maine, US

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1952|03|11|1879|11|26}}

| death_place = Canton, New York US

| education = Massachusetts Normal Art School, Art Students League

| alma_mater =

| occupation = cartoonist, illustrator, writer, radio host, children's author

| years_active = 1908–1940

| employer =

| organization =

| known_for = Woman Suffrage cartoons, suffrage speeches, membership in Heterodoxy, Animal News Club

| notable_works = The Gimmicks, Rise of the Red Alders, Ska-Denge

| style =

| spouse = Howard Smith

| children =

| parents =

| relatives =

}}

Lou Rogers (November 26, 1879 – March 11, 1952) was a cartoonist, illustrator, writer, storyteller, public speaker, radio host, and political activist.

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.{{cite book|last=Olsen|first=Irene|title=History of Patten Academy|year=1947|publisher=Trustees of Patten Academy|location=Patten, ME}} 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 and McGill University. Brother Lore Rogers became a well-known government bacteriologist and was awarded two honorary doctorates.{{cite journal|last=Alford|first=John A.|title=Lore A. Rogers, A Rare Species|journal=American Society for Microbiology News|date=February 1975|volume=41|issue=2}}

Becoming a cartoonist

Around 1900 Rogers decided on a career in art and enrolled at the Massachusetts Normal Art School,{{cite journal|last=Rogers|first=Lou|title=Lightning Speed Through Life|journal=The Nation|year=1927|volume=124|issue=3223|pages=395–397}} now the Massachusetts College of Art and Design. 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 classes offered in Washington DC. 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,{{cite journal|last=Rogers|first=Lou|title=In the Screech Owl Family [cartoon]|journal=Judge|date=February 1908|volume=54}} 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.{{cite news|last1=Lepore|first1=Jill|title=The Surprising Origin Story of Wonder Woman|url=http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/origin-story-wonder-woman-180952710/?no-ist=&page=2|accessdate=7 March 2015|work=Smithsonian Magazine|publisher=Smithsonian|date=October 2014}} By 1912 the Patten Academy Mirror announced that Annie Rogers was a cartoonist in New York City.{{cite book|last=Class of 1913|title=PA Mirror '13|year=1912|publisher=Patten Academy|location=Patten, ME}} A year later Cartoons Magazine profiled Rogers as a successful cartoonist in "A Woman Destined to Do Big Things."{{cite journal|title=A Woman Destined to Do Big Things|journal=Cartoons Magazine|year=1913|volume=3|issue=2|pages=76–77}} "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, 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."{{cite journal|title=Lou Rogers, Cartoonist|journal=Woman's Journal and Suffrage News|date=2 August 1913|volume=44|issue=31|pages=1–2}} Her plan to distribute her suffrage cartoons to newspapers and for campaign literature was announced in 1914.{{cite journal|title=Cartoon Service by Lou Rogers|journal=Woman's Journal and Suffrage News|date=14 November 1914|volume=45|pages=301}} 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.{{cite news|title=Maine Girl World's Only Woman Cartoonist|newspaper=Lewiston Daily Sun|date=28 Jan 1924}} New York City alone claimed, among others, resident cartoonist-illustrator Laura Foster and Edwina Dumm, as well as Cornelia Barns and Alice Beach Winter, who contributed to the radical avant-garde magazine, The Masses:{{cite book|last=Zurier|first=Rebecca|title=Art for the Masses|year=1988|publisher=Temple University Press|location=Philadelphia, PA|isbn=0877225133|pages=216}}

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

File:Birth Control Review 1919.jpg

In the atmosphere of Greenwich Village, Rogers was attracted to the woman suffrage movement and to socialism,{{cite news|title=Suffrage Women Threaten Wilson|newspaper=New York Times|date=12 Nov 1917}} perceiving both movements as worthy causes to be promoted through her cartoons. Today her reputation is largely as a cartoonist for woman suffrage.{{cite book|last=Sheppard|first=Alice|title=Cartooning for Suffrage|year=1994|publisher=University of New Mexico Press|location=Albuquerque|isbn=0826314589|pages=276}} She was passionate in her beliefs and prolific in her output, as her work began appearing in the New York Call, Judge, and the Woman's Journal, a propaganda newspaper for the National American Woman Suffrage Association. She was invited to join Heterodoxy, a private club for radical, freethinking professional women, that met twice a month, for lunch and serious discussions.{{cite book|last=Schwarz|first=Judith|title=Radical Feminists of Heterodoxy (Rev. ed.)|year=1986|publisher=New Victoria Publishers|location=Norwich, VT|isbn=0934678081|pages=[https://archive.org/details/radicalfeminists0000schw/page/n164 147]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/radicalfeminists0000schw}} She formed a close friendship with Heterodoxy member Elizabeth C. Watson, a Maryland woman active in prison and labor reform.{{cite book|editor-last=Colby|editor-first=Frank Moore |title=The New International Year Book|year=1914|publisher=Dodd, Mead and Company|location=New York|pages=531|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PqUYAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA531}} Both women were passengers on Henry Ford's "Peace Ship,"{{cite book|last=Kraft|first=Barbara S.|title=The Peace Ship: Henry Ford's Pacifist Adventure In The First World War|year=1978|publisher=Macmillan|location=New York|pages=301, 304}} which carried 102 peace delegates and 46 journalists to Europe in December 1915.{{cite news|title=Guests on the Ford Peace Ship and the Places They Hail From|newspaper=Bismarck Daily Tribune|date=10 Dec 1915}} Rogers began appearing in Times Square, street corners, fairs, and other locations dressed in her artist's smock, as she drew oversized cartoons in the tradition of chalk talks.{{cite news|title=Suffrage Cartoons for Street Crowds|newspaper=The New York Times|date=19 Jul 1915}} She was considered a soapbox orator for her suffrage talks, and her activities were documented in newspapers across the region.{{cite news|title=Suffrage Campaign to End in a Whirl|newspaper=The New York Times|date=29 Oct 1915}}{{cite news|title=Cartoonist to Present Suffrage|url=http://www.genealogybank.com/gbnk/newspapers|accessdate=19 Jan 2013|newspaper=Watertown Daily Times|date=30 Aug 1915}}{{cite news|title=Not a Heckler as 'Wilsonettes' Talk to Ford Employees in Long Island City|url=http://fultonhistory.com/Fulton.html|newspaper=New York Herald|date=26 Oct 1916}}{{cite news|title=Suffrage Cartoonist|url=http://fultonhistory.com|accessdate=22 Jan 2013|newspaper=The Glimmerglass Daily|date=28 Jul 1915}}

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.{{cite news|title=Woman's Sphere|url=http://fultonhistory.com/Fulton.html|accessdate=19 Jan 2013|newspaper=The New York Call|date=15 Feb 1919}} When American women finally achieved the vote, Rogers continued her activism by contributing cartoons to the New Yorker Volkzeitung and the Birth Control Review.{{cite journal|title=Cartoonist|journal=Birth Control Review|year=1918–1922|volume=2-6}}{{cite web|last=Hougan|first=Jim|title=Margaret Sanger – Biography|url=http://marxistlibrary.org/margaret-sanger-biography/|work=Reference Center for Marxist Studies|accessdate=22 Jan 2013}}

Author, illustrator, radio host

The 1920s was a decade of productivity for Rogers. She contracted with the Ladies Home Journal to produce a series of children's stories in rhyme about imaginary little people called "Gimmicks."{{cite journal|last=Rogers|first=Lou|title=The Gimmick Santy Claus|journal=The Ladies Home Journal|date=December 1923|pages=12–13, 38}}{{cite news|last=Telegram Staff|title="Foreigners'" Friend Studies Them at Close Range|newspaper=The Bridgeport Telegram|date=2 August 1924}}{{cite web|title=The FictionMags Index|url=http://www.philsp.com/homeville/fmi/s2985.htm#A95818|accessdate=18 Jan 2013|archive-date=24 May 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130524155821/http://www.philsp.com/homeville/fmi/s2985.htm#A95818|url-status=dead}} 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.{{cite web|last=Stolzer|first=Rob|title=Rogers, Annie (Lou) - Rob Stolzer's Original Comic Art Gallery at ComicArtFans.com|url=http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryRoom.asp?GSub=118150|accessdate=18 January 2013}} Color for the illustrations was provided by Howard Smith, a New York City artist who, on October 15, 1924, became her husband.{{cite web|title=Howard Smith|url=http://www.askart.com/askart/artist.aspx?artist=11211519|accessdate=17 Jan 2013}}{{cite web|title=New York, New York City Marriage Records, 1829-1940|url=https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:247Q-D8T|website=Family Search|accessdate=14 February 2016}} In 1927 she was invited to write a short anonymous autobiography for The Nation Magazine.{{cite journal|last=Rogers|first=Lou|title=These Modern Women: Lightning Speed Through Life's|journal=The Nation|date=April 13, 1927|volume=124|issue=3223|pages=395–397}} The magazine was presenting a series called "These Modern Women," and Rogers had been selected by managing editor Freda Kirchwey as a successful woman typifying new feminist possibilities.{{cite book|editor-last=Showalter|editor-first=Elaine |title=These Modern Women; Autobiographical Essays from the Twenties|year=1989|publisher=The Feminist Press|location=New York, NY|isbn=1558610073|pages=97–104}}

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.{{cite book|last=Rogers|first=Lou|title=The Rise of the Red Alders|year=1928|publisher=Harper & Brothers|location=New York, NY|pages=190}} The following year she completed Ska-Denge (Beaver for Revenge).{{cite book|last=Rogers|first=Lou|title=Ska-Denge (Beaver for Revenge)|year=1929|publisher=Harper & Brothers|location=New York, NY}} In the early 1930s she became a radio personality. Her program was called "Animal News Club," and aired over NBC radio.{{cite news|title=RADIO PROGRAMME FOR TO-DAY|url=http://fultonhistory.com/Fulton.html|newspaper=Brooklyn Standard Union}} The program offered a poster and a membership pin.{{cite web|title=ANTIQUE LAPEL PIN N.B.C. LOU ROGERS ANIMAL NEWS CLUB|url=http://www.ebay.com/itm/ANTIQUE-LAPEL-PIN-N-B-C-LOU-ROGERS-ANIMAL-NEWS-CLUB-WILD-FORREST-FIELD-LOOK-/300829841716|accessdate=17 January 2013}} Her work was also included in a collection of women's humor, Laughing Their Way: Women's Humor in America.{{cite book|last=Bruere|first=Martha Bensley & Mary Ritter Beard (Eds.)|title=Laughing their Way; Women's Humor in America|year=1934|publisher=MacMillan Co.|location=New York, NY|pages=295}}

Later years

In 1925 Rogers purchased an old farm in New Milford, CT.{{cite book|title=New Milford CT town records, Vol 79|date=June 19, 1925|page=163}} 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.{{cite news|title=Annie Rogers Smith, Certificate of Death|agency=New York State Department of Health|date=11 March 1952}} Her condition degenerated rapidly, and she died at the age of 72.{{cite journal|last=Bernanke|first=Max & Florence|title=Condolences|journal=Western Union Telegram|date=12 March 1952}}

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 hosted an exhibition, "Artful Advocacy: Cartoons of the Woman Suffrage Movement." Featured artists were Rogers, Nina Allender, and Blanche Ames.{{cite news|last=Bass|first=Holly|title=Artful Advocacy: Cartoons From the Woman Suffrage Movement|url=http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/articles/7278/artful-advocacy-cartoons-from-the-woman-suffrage-movement|accessdate=19 January 2013|newspaper=Washington City Paper|date=1 September 1995}}{{cite news|last=Myers|first=Laura|title=Cartoonists' Role in Suffrage Debate Focus of Exhibit|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=tDpHAAAAIBAJ&pg=5435%2C4338815|newspaper=The Daily Gazette|date=20 August 1995}} Eight decades later, the prophecy had been realized.