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Famous Girl Scouts

In honor of Black History month during February, we would like to highlight and honor Ms. Josephine Holloway and her daughter, Ms. Weslia Holloway. Josephine Groves Holloway became the founder of the first black Girl Scout troop and was the first black Girl Scout executive in Middle Tennessee. Weslia Holloway was kind enough to participate in an interview with a Girl Scout Troop about her memories of her mother and of Scouting when she was a child.

JOSEPHINE GROVES HOLLOWAY (1898-1988)
A "pioneer," a "lamplighter," a "hidden heroine." Armed with determination, an old Willis Jeep, and a dream of equality for African - American girls, Josephine Groves Holloway became the founder of the first black Girl Scout troop and was the first black Girl Scout executive in Middle Tennessee. Her father referred to Josephine as "my missionary," and his early perception proved to be accurate when she set out, with missionary zeal, to make the name "Girl Scouts of America" mean what the name implies.

The seventh child and the second gal of John Wesley Groves and Emma Mae Gray, Josephine Amanda was born on March l9, l898, in a Methodist parsonage in Cowpens, South Carolina. Although ten children were born to this union, only three boys and two girls reached adulthood.

Her father, a Methodist minister as his father before him, valued education. John Wesley Groves moved his family to Greenwood, South Carolina, where they remained until Josephine finished Brewer Normal School in Beaufort. On the advice of a teacher, Josephine enrolled in Fisk University during the fall of 1919. She worked through college by mending tablecloths in the dining room and winding clocks in the music practice rooms. Illness from an influenza epidemic and a shortage of funds did not keep her from receiving a degree in sociology from Fisk in June of 1923.

Josephine Groves returned to South Carolina and took a job as a recreational and community worker for the summer while sending out job applications. She said, "The job that appealed to me most was Girls' Worker at Bethlehem Center. In this I could imagine using all of my skills and, at the same time, have a hand in reforming the world." She became Girls' Worker in September of 1923 and organized the first Girl Scout group in 1924, after completing training with Juliette Low during a special training session at the George Peabody College for Teachers. Josephine's time with the group came to an abrupt end when she married a former schoolmate and co-worker, Guerney Holloway, the Boys' Worker at Bethlehem Center. After the June 30, 1925, wedding, Miss Mathee Nutt, center director, informed the new Mrs. Holloway that a married Girls' Worker would not have enough time for the girls. Holloway resigned in the fall of 1925. Not sharing the same enthusiasm and persistence of Mrs. Holloway, the next Girls' Worker allowed the troop to fold.

Almost twenty years passed before the black troop was reinstated in 1943 through Mrs. Holloway's efforts. Josephine Holloway returned to school and received a bachelor's degree in business from Tennessee A. & I. State College. She served as assistant registrar at Fisk University (1927-34), before taking a job with the state Tennessee Department of Welfare. When resistance to her petitions to the all-white Girl Scout Council continued, she "organized an unofficial club for black girls, with gingham uniforms, but soon learned the girls longed to become 'real Girl Scouts."' With the help of her husband, Dr. Guerney Holloway, she began removing the obstacles. During her husband's studies at the University of Chicago, he was able to purchase the handbooks which the local Girl Scout Council would not allow her to buy. Mrs. Holloway taught the girls the Girl Scout promise, the laws, and everything needed for their investiture into Girl Scouting. Former Council president Juli Mosley said in a tribute to Mrs. Holloway: "With this trained group of girls, the Council could not deny membership. So, in 1943 troop 200 became a reality and began Girl Scouting in Nashville for black girls." Holloway's three daughters Nareda, Josephine, and Weslia became members of her troop.

In November of 1944, Mrs. Holloway joined the Girl Scout Council's professional staff as an organizer and field advisor. She also served as a district director and a camp director. In 1951, the Council honored her by naming its new camp for Negro girls "Camp Holloway. Other honors include the "Sojourner Truth Award" from the Nashville Chapter, of the National Association of Business and Professional Women and the "Zeta of the Year Award" from Zeta Phi Beta Sorority. Mrs. Holloway retired from her scouting career on June 15, 1963. She died on December 7, 1988.

Harriette Allen Insignares

Josephine Groves Holloway became the founder of the first black Girl Scout troop and was the first black Girl Scout executive in Middle Tennessee.

Be sure to read more about Ms. Josephine Holloway in these publications:

"Josesphine Groves Holloway" by Harriette Allen Insignares. Leaders of Afro-American Nashville Series. Nashville: Local Conference on Afro-American Culture and History, 1991.

"The Very Best Influence: Josephine Holloway and Girl Scouting in Nashville's African-American Community" by Elisabeth Israels Perry. Tennessee Historical Quarterly 52 (Summer 1993): 73-85.

"Josephine Holloway" by Jessie Carney Smith. In Notable Black American Women, Book II, edited by Jessie Carney Smith. Detroit: Gale Research, 1996.

WESLIA HOLLOWAY
Weslia Holloway, who lives right here in Baltimore City, met with a Girl Scout Troop and talked about her memories of her mother as a Scout leader as well as her own memories of being a Girl Scout. Ms. Holloway talked at length about being outdoors with her mother and fellow Girl Scouts. One thing that they all did was to go on bicycle hikes. Before the girls could begin their hike on their bicycles, they had to plan the trip as a group, decide on menus, and which food item they would each bring. The girls had to learn how to make blanket rolls so that they could sleep outside in the cold during the fall in feel safe and warm.

Weslia also recalls how her mother was an environmentalist and how she always encouraged the girls to leave the outdoors just like they found it; she wanted it to appear as though no one would ever know that they had been there. “She had her spade and all of her tools and she would take her spade, put it underneath the roots of the grass and she would roll the grass back so that we would have a clear ground and she would make sure that we were in an open space where there were no trees around. She told us she was doing this because we want to leave this place just like we found it. So she was teaching us back then about the environment and we didn’t realize she was doing it.” Weslia’s mother also taught the girls how to choose the right kind of wood for building and maintaining fires and how each tree impacted the community around it and the environment as a whole.

While Weslia was growing up, her mother also was working hard to get a summer camp established for her Girl Scouts. According to Weslia, her mother believed that just because school was out for the summer didn’t mean there would be no more Scout meetings; they would just meet at a summer day camp. Some things that Weslia’s mother believed were essential to the summer camp included a running water or stream, space to hike, a swimming pool, and some buildings where activities and training could be done. Weslia remembers looking at a lot of different camp sites with her mother. “She would pick me up after school and say, ‘We’re going out to such and such county to look at a ground because they have running water.’ This was one of her requirements for a camp site: a natural spring to have on the campsite. We walked through the woods and if they didn’t have a running stream it was no go. And I don’t know how many miles I walked with her, but I always walked with her on these sites because my older sisters were in school and I was out of school.”

Luckily, Weslia’s mother found 40 acres in Robinson County, Tennessee that was just what she was looking for. The site was “just perfect and it had a running stream, a creek, and it was exactly what she wanted and she talked my father into buying the 40 acres so she could have this space that she needed.” Her mother knew that the girls needed space where they could go and camp overnight if they wanted, hike, and participate in lots of activities. With persistence, Weslia’s mother was able to get some buildings erected and a swimming pool established on the camp site. This land that Weslia’s mother and father bought is now called Camp Holloway in honor of Ms. Josephine Holloway. You can look up the Girl Scout Council in Nashville and go visit Camp Holloway.

Weslia is very proud of her mother’s accomplishments in getting Scouting started for the black community in Tennessee and for being so forward-thinking about having an outdoor camp for Girl Scouts. She spoke very fondly of the land that her parents bought and how it has developed over the years. “I was out there about 6 or 7 years ago-it’s a beautiful site and Mother would really, really be amazed at how the camp has grown, how it’s expanded, how the community has embraced it and supported it.” Weslia knows that her mother made a significant impact in her immediate community as well as throughout the state of Tennessee; it’s obvious now that Ms. Josephine Holloway’s actions affected the Girl Scout community on a national level and that she should be recognized for her pride in the Girl Scout movement. “The basic principles of taking care of the environment, of caring for other people, of helping in the community, were invaluable to shaping personalities and young people.”

 

Girl Scouts of the USA has impacted the lives of more than 43 million women since its inception in 1912.  As the world's preeminent organization for girls, GSUSA has long contributed to success among girls and women by offering opportunities for personal and leadership development, exposure to role models, and community involvement.  

Check out the Girl Scout Council of Northwest Georgia's website to see a great list of some fantastic Girl Scouts that have become successful women in all walks of life!