Josephine Holloway

Meet Josephine Holloway, a champion of diversity within the Girl Scout Movement and one of the first African-American Girl Scout troop leaders.

Josephine developed her passion for serving girls early on when she held a position at Nashville’s Bethlehem Center, a shelter for at-risk women and children. No stranger to the work Girl Scouts did in the community, Josephine dreamed of bringing that kind of programming to girls at the center, and in 1924, she had the opportunity to do just that. By the end of the year, more than 300 girls there were engaged in Girl Scout-inspired activities.

In 1933, Josephine made her first attempt to form an official troop for African-American girls, but the Nashville Girl Scout Council denied her request. Of course, giving up is hardly the Girl Scout way, so Josephine pressed on, and in 1942, after much perseverance, the region’s first African-American Girl Scout troop was established.