250 to 250: 90. Barbara Shermund, Narrated by Liza Donnelly

Heather Cox Richardson and 250 to 250: Barbara Shermund, Narrated by Liza Donnelly

LizaDonnelly‬ is a writer and award-winning New Yorker cartoonist covering culture and politics for forty years. She pioneered live drawing, a form of digital visual journalism and directed the 2025 documentary, Women Laughing. Donnelly profiles cartoonist, Barbara Shermund whose irreverent New Yorker drawings captured the spirit of first-wave feminism and the liberated women of the 1920s and '30s.

Barbara Shermund was an American cartoonist.

• She was one of the early artists for The New Yorker magazine.
• Her cartoons were funny and sometimes challenged traditional ideas.
• She often drew modern women in the 1920s and 1930s.
• At this time, women were gaining more freedom and independence.
• The women in her cartoons had their own ideas, goals, and dreams.
• They often made their own choices about their lives.
• Her cartoons challenged traditional ideas about how women should behave.
• Her work reflected changes in women's rights and American society.
• Her cartoons became less popular after World War II.
• Today, people are again interested in her art and ideas.
• Barbara Shermund is remembered for using humor and art to show strong, independent women.

POP Interview and Civics Quiz: 

• N-400 Part 2:5 What is your sex?
• USCIS 100:77.  What did Susan B. Anthony do?
• USCIS 128:102. When did all women get the right to vote? 

Family Fun:

• Caitlin McGurk: Tell Me a Story Where the Bad Girl Wins: The Life and Art of Barbara Shermund (book)
• Cartoon Stock: Barbara Shermund
• CBS Sunday Mornings: The trailblazing cartoon art of Barbara Shermund
• Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum: Tell Me a Story Where the Bad Girl Wins: The Life and Art of Barbara Shermund (exihbit) | Digital Collection
• Brandywine: Tell me a Story Where the Bad Girl Wins: The Life and Art of Barbara Shermund (exihibit)
• Liza Donnelly: The Cartoons Of Barbara Shermund
• Monday Mandala: Garden Party | 1920s Party coloring pages
• NY Times: Overlooked No More: Barbara Shermund, Flapper-Era Cartoonist
• New Yorker: Barbara Shermund's cartoons | The Lovely Nineteen-Twenties Flapper Cartoons of Barbara Shermund