ROGERS, MARGARET MARIE HARDEN (30 March 1914-26 April 1993) was a Cuyahoga County welfare administrator who, in 1965, became the first African American in the department to become a caseworker supervisor.
Born Margaret M. Harden in Tallahasse, Florida to Grover and Rev. Evelena (Baker) Rogers, Margaret received her B.A. from FENN COLLEGE (1945) and her M.S. in sociology from CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY (1962). She also attended Ohio State and Wilberforce Universities.
Rogers was a legal secretary before working as an administrative assistant in the Cleveland branch of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF COLORED PEOPLE, 1945 to 1948.
Rogers joined the Cuyahoga County Welfare Department in 1948 as a caseworker and became an intake interviewer in 1958. She took two years off to earn her master's degree and returned in 1962 as a field work supervisor. In 1965 Rogers became the first African American in the welfare department to become a caseworker supervisor. She later became administrator of the HOUGH District Office and a special administrator to EAST CLEVELAND. She also assisted in the development of the East Cleveland Human Services Center. Rogers retired in 1981.
Rogers was a member of the National Association of Social Workers. She served on the Citizens Advisory Board of the Fairhill Mental Health Center, Community Service of Mount Pleasant, and the boards of the Helen S. Brown Center and the Murtis H. Taylor Multi-Services Center.
Margaret married Olmstead B. Evans and had two sons, John and Everett. Her second husband was Edward Rogers. Margaret Rogers belonged to ST. JAMES AME CHURCH. She was cremated.