MassArt at 150: Tradition and Innovation

Annie "Lou" Rogers cartoons

Annie “Lou” Rogers earned her certificate in Elementary Drawing and Design in 1900 from Massachusetts Normal Art School. She began her career submitting work as “Lou Rogers” to get around the barrier of sexism at the time. She became a successful cartoonist, with work featured in publications such as Judge magazine, New York Call, Woman’s Journal, and Birth Control Review. Throughout her life, Rogers was clear in her support of “radical” activism efforts, such as feminism, socialism, and women’s suffrage, with the latter being the most notable topic in her published cartoon work. While working as a staff artist at Judge, Rogers met illustrator H. G. Peter. Her feminist-slanting work inspired Peter to develop what would become the Wonder Woman cartoon, and it is because of Rogers’ focus on depicting women freeing themselves from existing social bondage.