|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
The very first American Girl Scout Troup was founded by Juliette Gordon Low on March 12, 1912, in Savannah, Georgia. Low had previously founded a Girl Scout Troop in 1911 while she was in England. The group’s birth came at a time when few women held jobs and only six states allowed them to vote. “Girl Scouting, from its inception, was forward-looking. Although it was rooted in domesticity, it always opened further paths to women.”
The first Girl Scout handbook, published in 1913, encouraged girls to shoot rifles and gave instructions for tying up intruders. The original Scouts took camping trips and played basketball on outdoor courts shrouded from public view by curtains hung so that men couldn’t glimpse the girls in their bloomers. Outdoor activity also included gardening and learning the difference between poisonous and non-poisonous mushrooms.
Low had the Girls learn about cooking and preserving food. She wanted them to know how to run a sterile kitchen. She taught about nursing—taking care of invalids and sick children—and sewing. Anything that a wife and mother should do, she thought she could train her girls to do better.
Low also understood that any woman might find herself in the situation of needing to take care of herself. Thus, she emphasized career training for girls. Some of the early badges were about flying, typing, telegraph skills and farming.
Some well-known Girl Scouts include Hillary Clinton, Laura Bush, Barbara Walters and Peggy Fleming. Venus Williams and Mariah Carey.
Everything else is just history...
