Anticipation is growing over the 19th Amendment Centennial in 2020. National Geographic has already rolled out a wonderful new exhibition & book to mark the occasion, Women: A Century of Change. 

Among the many photographs of women making change in the John G. Zimmerman Archive, these 1954 pictures of Dorothy Myers resonate in today’s political climate. They were first published in LIFE when Myers made news by becoming Michigan’s youngest ever registered lobbyist at age 20 (A Start for Dorothy, 3/15/54, p. 30).

Dorothy Myers (L) talks with Louis Cramton, a longtime member of the Michigan House of Representatives.

LIFE described Myers’ lobbying efforts this way in 1954: “a pretty 20-year-old girl began what she hopes will be a fruitful political career…[t]wice a week she takes a bus to Lansing to sit in on a senate session or to badger legislators into backing the bill. The legislators don’t mind being picked on at all and often pick up her dinner check in return.” 

 

Although she wasn’t yet old enough to vote, Myers became a dedicated lobbyist with the sole aim of earning 18-year-olds the right to vote. That goal was shared by many and eventually achieved in 1971 when Congress passed the 26th Amendment lowering the voting age from 21 to 18.

The Zimmerman Archive possesses many images of women in diverse areas of American culture such as sports, politics & entertainment. We look forward to presenting a selection of this work in exhibition & book form in the future.  

Myers meets with fellow lobbyists, State House, Lansing Michigan, 1954.

 

All photos © John G. Zimmerman Archive