Lou Rogers facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Lou Rogers
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Rogers about 1910
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| Born |
Annie Lucasta Rogers
November 26, 1879 Patten, Maine, US
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| Died | March 11, 1952 (aged 72) Canton, New York US
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| Education | Massachusetts Normal Art School, Art Students League |
| Occupation | cartoonist, illustrator, writer, radio host, children's author |
| Years active | 1908–1940 |
| Known for | Woman Suffrage cartoons, suffrage speeches, membership in Heterodoxy, Animal News Club |
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Notable work
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The Gimmicks, Rise of the Red Alders, Ska-Denge |
| Spouse(s) | Howard Smith |
Lou Rogers (born November 26, 1879, died March 11, 1952) was a very talented woman. She drew cartoons, illustrated books, wrote stories, and even hosted a radio show! Lou was also a strong voice for important causes, like women's rights.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Lou Rogers was born Annie Lucasta Rogers in 1879. She grew up in Patten, a small town in Maine, USA. She was the fourth of seven children in her family. Her parents were Luther Bailey Rogers and Mary Elizabeth Barker Rogers.
Lou spent her childhood on a small farm. She also enjoyed vacations at her family's quiet camp near Shin Pond, where beautiful forests met the calm lake. From a young age, Lou loved to draw. She often made sketches and funny pictures of her teachers.
The Rogers children went to Patten Academy, a school that her grandfather helped start. After working at a local school, Lou became an assistant teacher at Patten Academy. Education was very important to her family. Her siblings studied at the University of Maine and McGill University. Her brother, Lore Rogers, became a famous scientist who studied tiny living things (bacteriologist). He even received two special awards for his work.
Becoming a Cartoonist
Around 1900, Lou Rogers decided she wanted to be an artist. She enrolled at the Massachusetts Normal Art School, which is now the Massachusetts College of Art and Design. However, she found it hard to focus on her studies because she loved exploring Boston. After one year, she left the school.
Next, she took fitness classes in Washington DC. Later, she tried a business idea with a classmate, traveling out West to offer fitness workshops. This didn't work out well financially because they lacked business experience.
Lou then decided she would become a cartoonist. She moved to New York City and contacted newspaper offices. It was tough for women to be cartoonists back then. So, she started submitting her work using the name "Lou Rogers" instead of Annie.
In 1908, her first known cartoons were published in Judge Magazine. This was a popular humor magazine across the country. Lou Rogers became a staff artist at Judge. She regularly drew for "The Modern Woman," a page about women's rights. She worked alongside H. G. Peter, who later created the famous Wonder Woman character.
By 1912, her hometown newspaper announced that Annie Rogers was a cartoonist in New York City. A year later, Cartoons Magazine featured Lou Rogers as a successful cartoonist. They said she was "destined to do big things." A famous cartoonist, Grant Hamilton, praised her talent. He said she was the only woman artist trying to make a full career out of cartoons. He believed she would win.
The Woman's Journal, a newspaper that supported women's right to vote, also highlighted Lou Rogers's work. They called her the "only woman artist to devote all her time to feminism." In 1914, she planned to share her cartoons about women's voting rights with newspapers and for political campaigns. Even in 1924, a news story called her the "World's Only Woman Cartoonist." However, Lou herself corrected this, pointing out other talented women cartoonists in New York City.
Gallery
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Cartoon by Lou Rogers, "Tearing Off the Bonds." The Modern Woman, Judge, 19 October 1912.
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Cartoon by Lou Rogers, "Welding in the Missing Link." The Modern Woman, Judge, 24 August 1912.
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Cartoon by Lou Rogers, " Rushing the Growlers." The Modern Woman, Judge, 23 October 1913.
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Cartoon by Lou Rogers, "Transferring the Mother Habit to Politics." The Modern Woman, Judge, 31 January 1914.
Activist for Women's Rights
Living in Greenwich Village in New York City, Lou Rogers became very interested in the woman suffrage movement. This movement worked to get women the right to vote. She also supported socialism, which is a political idea about fairness for everyone. She saw both as important causes to promote through her cartoons.
Today, Lou Rogers is best known for her cartoons supporting women's right to vote. She was very passionate and created many drawings. Her work appeared in newspapers like the New York Call, Judge, and the Woman's Journal. The Woman's Journal was a newspaper for the National American Woman Suffrage Association.
Lou was invited to join Heterodoxy. This was a private club for radical, independent professional women. They met twice a month for lunch and serious discussions. Lou became good friends with Elizabeth C. Watson, a member who worked for prison and labor reform. Both women traveled to Europe on Henry Ford's "Peace Ship" in December 1915. This ship carried people who wanted to promote peace.
Lou Rogers also gave public speeches. She would appear in Times Square, on street corners, and at fairs. She wore her artist's smock and drew large cartoons while she talked. These were called "chalk talks." She was known as a "soapbox orator" for her speeches about women's voting rights. Newspapers across the region wrote about her activities.
Lou's support for socialism was connected to her support for women. She believed that cartoons should cover topics important to women workers. She felt that national and city issues should be looked at from both a woman's and a man's point of view. She published cartoons in the socialist newspaper, The New York Call, as early as 1911. By 1919, she regularly contributed a cartoon series called "Woman's Sphere" to the Call.
Author, Illustrator, and Radio Host
The 1920s were a very busy time for Lou Rogers. She signed a contract with the Ladies' Home Journal to create a series of children's stories. These stories were in rhyme and featured imaginary little people called "Gimmicks."
The stories came with a full page of illustrations that kids could cut out and put on cardboard. This allowed children to play along with the story. Lou wrote the verses and drew the pictures. The color for her illustrations was added by Howard Smith, a New York City artist. On October 15, 1924, Lou and Howard got married.
In 1927, Lou was asked to write a short, anonymous story about her life for The Nation magazine. The magazine was doing a series called "These Modern Women." Lou Rogers was chosen as a successful woman who showed new possibilities for feminists.
The success of her "Gimmicks" stories encouraged Lou to write children's books. The Rise of the Red Alders was published in 1928. The next year, she finished Ska-Denge (Beaver for Revenge). In the early 1930s, she became a radio personality. Her program was called "Animal News Club" and aired on NBC radio. The show offered a poster and a membership pin to listeners. Lou's work was also included in a book of women's humor called Laughing Their Way: Women's Humor in America.
Later Years and Legacy
In 1925, Lou Rogers bought an old farm in New Milford, CT. It was in a beautiful hillside area and offered a quiet place to work and relax. Lou's nieces and nephews loved visiting her there and spending time with their fun aunt in the countryside.
In the early 1950s, Lou was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a serious illness. Her health quickly got worse, and she passed away at the age of 72.
In 1913, Cartoons Magazine had predicted that Lou Rogers's pen would help win battles for the Woman's Movement. They said her name would be remembered in the history of the fight for equal rights.
In 1995, to celebrate 75 years since the Nineteenth Amendment (which gave women the right to vote), the National Museum of Women in the Arts held an exhibition. It was called "Artful Advocacy: Cartoons of the Woman Suffrage Movement." Lou Rogers was one of the featured artists, along with Nina Allender and Blanche Ames. Eight decades later, the prediction about her lasting impact had come true.
