/Communications

Throwback 1971: 18-year-olds get the vote

By Cristina Cruz

Now through April 26: Visit the Scholars’ Commons on the ground floor of the East Tower at Wells Library

The “Your Right to Vote” exhibition at the Herman B Wells Library displays documents illustrating the grassroots struggle for the passing of the 26th Amendment, along with a student-designed, six-foot tall poster. Along with the documents, leaflets, and memorabilia on display, the exhibition presents video interviews with some of the people who made the 18-year-old vote happen. 

A red-white-and-blue graphic uses flag and apple images. Text reads Be a Play, not a Spectator Register and Vote

View Oral History Videos Online

Interviews are with the donors of the collection Ian MacGowan and Patricia Keefer, as well as with Senator Birch Bayh, television host and politician Jerry Springer, and civil rights activist Carolyn Coleman and can be accessed online now and after the physician exhibition is closed. 

Sara Stefani, Modern Political Papers Archivist for IU Libraries and exhibition curator wanted "to highlight the participation of youth organizations and civil rights groups.”   This being an election year, also, was “perfect timing." She said, “As 18- 19- and 20-year-olds, students can’t take voting for granted. They didn’t always have that right. I want to remind them it’s a fundamental civil right and a civic duty to register and vote.”  

IU Librarians, student staff, and right-to-vote activists, including Ian MacGowan and Patricia Keefer, made it happen.      The colorful exhibition draws on the 26th Amendment Collection, part of the IU Libraries’ Modern Political Papers unit. Most materials were donated by MacGowan and Keefer in October 2021. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, they worked for the Youth Franchise Coalition, consisting of 58 civil rights, labor, youth, and political groups, and later Common Cause, a non-profit organization, to help pass the amendment.  

The 26th Amendment, which lowered the voting age from 21 to 18 years, was deeply entrenched in the political tumult of the 1960s, the civil rights movement, and student activism. The U.S. Congress approved it in April 1971, with instrumental support from Bayh. By July, the required ratifications in 38 states occurred – the fastest of any constitutional amendment.

Keefer and MacGowan and other activists wanted to preserve efforts they took to pass the amendment. They collected documents and from 2008 to 2021, built an archive including video and audio oral history interviews. Stefani acquired the collection, processed documents and made videos available online. A former aide to the late Sen. Bayh referred the group to IU because it had Bayh’s archives, Stefani explained.

Later, Keefer and MacGowan asked Stefani if IU could publicize the collection to make it better known to researchers and students. About the same time, Alyssa Denneler, Scholars’ Commons librarian, told librarians that exhibition space was available, so Stefani jumped at the chance to develop the exhibit.

Stefani searched through the collection of eight document cartons and 423 gigabytes of digital files to create a visually appealing display that told a story. The glass-enclosed exhibition describes work done in states and Congress, explains the ratification process, and why the issue was controversial. Documents are  reproductions to prevent damage to original materials, Stefani said.

A poster from the current physical exhibit offers explainer text. WHAT IS THE 26TH AMENDMENT? ABOUT THE COLLECTION The 26th Amendment Collection is part of the Modern Political Papers unit of the IU Libraries. The collection was donated by some of the leaders of the national youth groups that advocated for the 18-year-old vote.

IU senior Melanie Roberts, 22, of Rockville, Maryland, made the 3-foot by 6-foot poster as part of her part-time job as a Scholars’ Commons promotional assistant (poster shown at left, see article footer for text)

“I think a lot of what the poster did for the exhibit really helps to draw people in so they can get interested in the subject,” said Roberts, majoring in film in the Media School and studio art in the Eskenazi School of Art, Architecture + Design.  

The purpose of her poster was to attract young people by reflecting the colors and styles of the 60s. “Images of a couple and a baby, an employee, and a military servicemen showed roles 18 to 20- year-olds could have, although they couldn’t vote”.

Roberts noted that when she read about the 26th Amendment, she was surprised some people at that time didn’t think youth that age were smart enough to vote. “It’s very cool to learn what it was and how relevant it is today. It seems so straight-forward to me for them to vote,” she said.  

Text from poster reads:
WHAT IS THE 26TH AMENDMENT? The 26th Amendment Collection is part of the Modern Political Papers unit of the IU Libraries. The collection was donated by some of the leaders of the national youth groups that advocated for the 18-year-old vote. Through contemporary documents and retrospective oral history interviews, it shows how the youth of the nation advocated for and obtained this most basic of civil rights – the right to vote and to make their voices heard. ABOUT THE COLLECTION The 26th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution lowered the voting age from 21 to 18 years of age. It became the law of the land on July 5, 1971. The movement to lower the voting age was deeply rooted in the political turmoil of the 1960s, the civil rights movement, and student activism.

 

View all library news