North American Women Cartoonists of the 19th and 20th Centuries (2014)

Undergraduate: Liz Tolleson

Faculty Advisor: Zaragosa Vargas
Department: History

---

My Senior Honors Thesis seeks to introduce women cartoonists into the history of comics through biographical research. Women from the very beginning have played an integral role in the development of the art and narrative form of American comics and cartoons. Female cartoonists through their active participation shaped the culture of both comics and America starting with their role in the success of the women's suffrage movement in the late 19th and early 20th century. Female cartoonists also made significant contributions to the development and understanding of the comic as a valid albeit undervalued art genre. In illustrating the culture the women cartoonists observed around them, as well as what they wished to see happen, the women cartoonists were able to document and influence the times in which they lived. It includes the culture of "the New Woman" feminism of the 19th century; the World War II years; and the second wave feminism of the 1970s. The restructuring of gender roles of the 1950s led to the erasing and rewriting of women's place in the history of comics. This unfortunately has led to the mistaken notion that women in comics are a recent trend. On the contrary, my thesis shows that comics has never been a "boys' club." Funding for the thesis is supported by both the SURF and the Boyatt Awards in 2013.