Success and Souffle | Lucy Hicks Anderson (1886- 1954): Not Just Cistory

Our first entry for the Not Just Cistory series is an entrepreneur and a businesswoman, who became famous across the United States during the first half of the twentieth century, for her business skills, her ability to host a party, and her fashion sense.

Early Life

Lucy Hicks Anderson né Lawson was born in “Waddy, Kentucky in 1886” (Keehnen & Salvo) and was adamant that she was a girl from birth, insisting that she wore dresses to school. Her doctor advised her mother to let her live as a girl, as it was obvious that she was in fact, a girl. Lucy received the support of her family and was able to live nearly her entire life as her true self. (Coren & Snorton, 2022)

Based on the 1900 census, Lucy spent her early years working for the Waddy family before moving away from home at age 15 (Keehnen & Salvo). During her travels, she met the man who would become her first husband; “Clarence Hicks, in New Mexico” (Coren & Snorton, 2022).

Entrepreneurial Success

She settled in the small town of Oxnard California in Ventura County, the home of a “major sugar factory that attracted blue-collar workers from the surrounding areas in Mexico” (Coren & Snorton, 2022).

Noticing a gap in the market, Lucy started “the only house of prostitution in Oxnard” (Hicks, Lucy L. [Tobias Lawson]).

During this time she was also “a renowned chef and hostess for wealthy families throughout her community” (Walker, 2018). She was a fantastic cook and was able to use this to traverse racial and gender lines in the community (Coren & Snorton, 2022).

A 1945 article after Lucy Hicks Anderson was outed notes her skills as a chef: “By the time she opened her first house of prostitution, off Oxnard's crib-bordered China Alley, her genius in the kitchen was the talk of the town” (CALIFORNIA: Sin & Souffl [sic] 1945). Even in ‘disgrace’ the society of the time was singing the praises of her cooking, a skill associated with women.

The Heart of a Community

She also remarried in 1944, to “a soldier named Ruben Anderson” (Coren & Snorton, 2022). During this period of the late thirties and early forties, Hicks Anderson’s business flourished and her scope of services spread. As time passed, she became more and more a part of the community, and:

tended children, helped dress many an Oxnard daughter for parties. The town thought little of seeing fat and prosperous Oxnard dames driving to Lucy's house to borrow one of her legendary recipes. When a new Catholic priest came to town, Lucy prepared the barbecue with which the parish welcomed him” (CALIFORNIA: Sin & Souffl [sic] 1945).

She was a beloved member of the community, and quite famous for her hosting skills and her fashion, being written about both in multiple magazines, one being Time magazine (Coren & Snorton, 2022). Her community also knew her from her generous “donations to charities such as the Red Cross and Boy Scouts” (Walker, 2018).

She was also a great supporter of the soldiers of the Second World War and their families. She bought war bonds, threw going away parties for soldiers, and consoled the parents of the ones who did not return home (Walker, 2018).

Betrayal by Her Community

Months after her second marriage, “in August 1945, an outbreak of venereal disease was said to have come from Hicks' establishment; Lucy and all of her employees had to be examined by a doctor” which led to her being outed as a ‘man’ (Hicks, Lucy L. [Tobias Lawson]).

Lucy was charged with perjury; the rationale being that she signed her marriage certificate that stated she was a woman, which was, in the court’s eyes, untrue (Notable Kentucky African Americans Database).

The prosecution provided “five doctors to testify to her legal gender, to the gender that she was assigned at birth”. Meanwhile, “Lucy's lawyers argued that she had hidden [female] organs”, within her body, and was truly a woman. “Ultimately, the jury returned a verdict of guilty… Her sentence, a small fine and 10 years probation” (Coren & Snorton, 2022).

As news spread about the discovery of the genitalia present at Lucy’s birth, both she and her husband were brought up on federal charges:

Ruben Anderson was facing a maximum of 10 years in a federal prison, and a top fine of 10,000, because he had the government send his wife $950 in allotment checks… The US Army argued that she was not legally married to her husband, since same sex marriage was illegal. And the US government didn't recognize that Lucy, being a trans woman, was a woman. (Coren & Snorton, 2022)

These charges were truly what pushed Lucy Hicks Anderson out of the life she had built for herself.

The federal courts they were "both found guilty. The court invalidated their marriage, and Ruben was sentenced to 18 months in prison. Lucy was sentenced to a year in prison at Leavenworth Penitentiary, a men's facility” (Coren & Snorton, 2022).

After finishing her sentence, Lucy Hicks Anderson left her business and her community, as “Oxnard also banned the couple for 10 years, so they took up residency in Los Angeles as husband and wife, where Lucy lived until her death in 1954” (Walker, 2018).

Conclusion

This story of success, and then the betrayal of the community that loved her, is a testament to the fact that not only transwomen have always existed, but that they can be successful, even if the community that benefits from them does not always support them entirely.

The arguments by both her lawyers, and that of the opposition show just how imbedded the idea of genitalia and physical form equalling gender is in American Society.

A woman can perform all of femininity perfectly, be an amazing cook and hostess, have flawless fashion, and be featured in Time magazine for it, not to mention being a generous benefactor to a community that loved her in response, and still be disqualified from the title of ‘woman’ for the fact that she does not have the appropriate formulation of reproductive organs.

However, Lucy Hicks Anderson’s refusal to hide away and present herself as who society wanted her to be also reminds me of the resistance that can be found in joy and being oneself. Lucy did not hide away, she simply moved to another place where she could live happily, and sometimes that's all we can do; move on, and be happy when and where we can.

This piece of art is available on my store and is a 6 x 9 inch gouache portrait. A portion of the proceeds of this piece will be donated to charity.

Bibliography

CALIFORNIA: sin & souffl [sic]. (1945, November 5). Time Magazine, XLVI(19). Retrieved January 11, 2024, from https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,852379,00.html.

Coren, A., & Snorton, C. R. (2022, November 30). Lucy Hicks Anderson. Sidedoor. , Smithsonian. Retrieved January 11, 2024,.

Hicks, Lucy L. [Tobias Lawson]. Omeka RSS. (n.d.). https://nkaa.uky.edu/nkaa/items/show/1363

Keehnen, O. (n.d.). Lucy Hicks Anderson. Legacy Project Chicago. https://legacyprojectchicago.org/person/lucy-hicks-anderson

Walker, M. (2018, February 21). Highlight: Lucy Hicks Anderson, a Black Trans Pioneer. ACLU of Mississippi. https://www.aclu-ms.org/en/news/highlight-lucy-hicks-anderson-black-trans-pioneer