This year celebrates the 100th anniversary
of women being granted the right to vote. During the year, we will explore the
lives and deaths of some of the more well known women in American history.
By
Joy Neighbors
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| Juliette Gordon Low |
It
was summer in England in 1911 when Juliette Gordon Low joined the Girl Guide
movement. The group was based loosely on British general Robert Baden-Powell’s Boy
Scout troupes. At the time, the Boy Scouts had more than 40,000 members in
England and the U.S. Later that year, Low organized a girls group in Scotland
in a similar vein and called it the Girl Guides Patrol. Members were taught how
to spin wool, care for livestock, and read a map. Girls also learned how to do
drills and how to set up a camp. By the end of the year, Low had formed two
more groups in England.
When
Low returned to the United States in 1912, she decided to form a U.S. Girl
Guide troupe in Savannah, Georgia. With 18 members, she searched for ways to
teach girls practical skills and independence. Low felt this would be an
organization that would help girls build character and self-reliance.
There was competition in the form of the Campfire Girls. When Low invited the
group to merge with her own, the leader, James E. West refused citing the Girl
Scouts were teaching females to do gender-inappropriate things.
In
1913, the Girl Guides became the Girl Scouts. In 1915, official paperwork
was filed and the name legally became Girl Scouts, Inc. Low served as the first
president to a group of more than 2,400 girls.
By
1920, Low had stepped down as president of the Girl Scouts so she could
continue working to get the group worldwide status. Low worked
tirelessly to make the Girl Scouts an organization that promoted a girl’s self
image and gave her the skills necessary to succeed in life.
In
1923, Low was diagnosed with breast cancer but kept it a secret. She tried
numerous treatments and had several operations but all were unsuccessful.
Juliette
Gordon Low died on January 17, 1927 in Savannah from the final stages of breast
cancer. She was 66-years-old. Her casket was escorted to the church and
graveyard by an honor guard of Girl Scouts. She was buried in her Girl Scout
uniform with a note tucked into her pocket that read, “You are not only
the first Girl Scout, but the best Girl Scout of them all.”
In 1979, Juliette Gordon Low was
inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame.
On May 29, 2012, the 100th
anniversary of the founding of the Girl Scouts, Low was honored with the
Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama for her “remarkable
vision.” The medal also celebrates “her dedication to empowering girls everywhere.”
Peak
membership in the Girl Scouts was recorded at 3.8 million in 2003. Today the
number is roughly 2.6 million.
