HOW DID GIRL SCOUTS BEGIN? - Girl Scouts of Western Washington

HOW DID GIRL SCOUTS BEGIN?
Directions: Read the information on the following pages about Juliette Low and
the founding of Girl Scouts to find the answers to the following questions:
What about Juliette Low’s early life probably influenced her to start the Girl
Scouts?
How did Juliette Low originally get involved with the notion of scouting, and why do
you think she was interested?
Why did Girl Scouts take off so fast in the United States?
How did Juliette Low view the role of adult leaders with the girls?
What messages about Girl Scouting are illustrated in this story?
How is Juliette Low’s dream relevant today?
Getting Started Worbook-2008 A.doc
Getting Started Girl Scout Leader Workbook and Resource Guide
Revised Summer © 2008 – Girl Scouts of Western Washington
Page 1
JULLIETE LOW AND THE
FOUNDING OF GIRL SCOUTS
Girl Scouting in the United States was
founded by a most remarkable woman named
Juliette Gordon Low. Back in the late 1880’s,
before most of today’s great-grandmothers
were even born, Juliette Low was something
of a revolutionary - not the kind who
destroys, but the kind who creates. She was
an environmentalist, a crusader, a woman
dedicated to the service of others. Above
all, she was certain that the future belonged
to the young and that they had better start
right now to do something worthwhile about
it.
Juliette was born into the wealthy Gordon
family of Savannah, Georgia, on Halloween October 31, 1860 - a few months before the
start of the American Civil War. Known to her family and friends as Daisy, she was
a person of many talents, many interests, and a very strong sense of determination.
She refused to let adversity stand in her way. Her hearing problems that
eventually developed into almost total deafness never stopped her from pursuing
her goals.
Juliette married an Englishman named William Low and went to live in England and
Scotland. However, the marriage was not a happy one and Juliette was in the
process of getting a divorce when her husband died. After that, she traveled for
several years and then settled in Paris with the idea of studying sculpture.
However, she was soon to meet a man who started her on a venture that would
become her life’s work. That man was Sir Robert (later Lord) Baden-Powell, an
English general and war hero who had founded the Boy Scout movement only three
years earlier.
The Boy Scout movement had caught on instantly and had already spread to several
other countries. In England it had also resulted in the formation of a similar
organization for girls. It was the girls themselves who took the initiative, forming
into groups similar to those their brothers had joined. There was so much interest
among these girls that Baden-Powell asked his sister, Agnes, to give them an
organization of their own. So Agnes officially established an association of Girl
Getting Started Worbook-2008 A.doc
Getting Started Girl Scout Leader Workbook and Resource Guide
Revised Summer © 2008 – Girl Scouts of Western Washington
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Guides in 1910. By the time another year rolled by, there were Girl Guides or
Scouts in Australia, South Africa, and Finland. In the next year, similar groups
were formed in Sweden, Denmark, Poland, and Canada.
This new movement was just the sort of thing that appealed to Juliette Low, and
soon she was back in Scotland, leading a Guide group of her own. As her interest in
the Girl Guides grew, Juliette was eager to introduce the program to American
girls. Not one to waste time, she was soon on her way to the United States. There
she telephoned an old friend to say, “Come right over. I’ve got something for the
girls of Savannah, and all America, and all the world, and we’re going to start it
tonight.”
The time was 1912. Women led far more restricted lives than they do now, but
change was in the air. Women were beginning to realize that many activities were
barred to them through custom and prejudice alone. They were becoming
convinced of their ability to do hundreds of things that up until then only “radicals”
and “eccentrics” had even suggested women might do. It was exactly the right
time to launch a program that was designed to have girls look beyond their
sheltered lives and show them the possibilities for pleasure and adventure in the
great outdoors. Most important, Girl Scouting was to point out the way to
independence through experiences that were fun while they broadened individual
knowledge and skills.
The first meeting of Girl Scouts was in Savannah on March 12, 1912. In no time,
troops were forming elsewhere. By the time of World War I, there were enough
Girl Scouts in the United States to make a real contribution to the war effort.
These girls helped to realize Juliette Low’s dream of girls learning to be active,
vital citizens of their country.
The first Girl Scouts used the English Girl Guide handbook and later an adaptation
written by an American naturalist, Walter John Hoxie. In many ways, that
American version foreshadowed the thinking of American women today. While it
emphasized proper preparation for “housewifery,” it also advised girls that “really
well-educated women can make a good income” as architects, doctors, accountants,
scientists, and aviators. Although the wording was different, the handbook also
reflected such present-day concerns as ecology, organic foods, organic cosmetics,
physical fitness, and pollution control. The 1916 version of this handbook, written
by Juliette Low herself, made provision for an aviation badge - this at a time when
aviation was in its infancy! Juliette Low saw a role for women in an exciting field.
Juliette Low believed that girls could and should plan their own program, make
Getting Started Worbook-2008 A.doc
Getting Started Girl Scout Leader Workbook and Resource Guide
Revised Summer © 2008 – Girl Scouts of Western Washington
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their own decisions, run their own troop. She saw their adult leaders as helpers
and advisers, never as “directors.” Whenever a new program idea was suggested
and some adult committee member questioned whether it would work, her answer
was, “Ask the girls. If they don’t like it, the Angel Gabriel himself couldn’t make
them accept it!” She not only loved girls, she respected them. She respected
their judgments and their preferences.
Juliette Low died on January 27, 1927. A few months
later, the Juliette Low World Friendship Fund was
started to honor her and her vision of worldwide
friendship. Every year, Girl Scouts throughout the
United States give money to this fund - usually on her
birthday, October 31, or on Thinking Day, February
22. Part of the money is used to send Girl Scouts to
other countries and to bring Girl Guides and Girl
Scouts from other countries to the United States,
while the other part goes to the Thinking Day Fund set by the World Association
of the Girl Guides and Girl Scouts.
Juliette Low is remembered as a woman who worked for peace and goodwill. Her
dream was to have young people make the world a friendly, peaceful place. She
wanted young people to understand themselves and others. She wanted to give
something special to the world, and that was Girl Scouting. In the final paragraph
of her will, she wrote, “…I leave and bequeath to my family my friendships,
especially my beloved Girl Scouts.” She never had any children of her own, but her
“adopted family” of Girl Scouts numbered 167,925 at the time of her death. Today
this “family” has grown to millions of members, and every one of them owes a debt
of gratitude to the woman who made it all possible - Juliette Low.
Source: Troop Leader Module, Girl Scouts of the USA, NY, NY, pp. 28-30
Some Points to Remember
There are many things about Juliette Low in which girls today can relate.
1 She did not always do well in school.
2 She loved and cared for animals.
3 She also enjoyed physical activities.
4 She was very independent, stubborn, creative, and challenging.
These are all experiences with which most girls can identify in some way. In other
words, Juliette Low was an ordinary and an extra-ordinary girl, just like girls are or
can be today. We encourage adults who work with girls in Girl Scouts to use
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Getting Started Girl Scout Leader Workbook and Resource Guide
Revised Summer © 2008 – Girl Scouts of Western Washington
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Juliette Low as a role model to help them relate to the kind of woman she was.
Getting Started Worbook-2008 A.doc
Getting Started Girl Scout Leader Workbook and Resource Guide
Revised Summer © 2008 – Girl Scouts of Western Washington
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