APM Studios
May 21, 2025
How did the Girl Scouts get started?
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RSSJoy is so excited to be going on her first big camping trip, but she needs help – STAT! How do you put up a tent, anyway? And how do you make perfect, ooey gooey s’mores?! Luckily, her Girl Scout buddy and cohost Flora is here to help!
Join Joy and Flora on their camping trip, while they explore the history of the Girl Scouts! This super popular group teaches girls all kinds of skills, from managing money to how to be a good friend. Over a million girls across the U.S. are members – but how did the group get started anyway? (Spoiler: it all began with one courageous woman who had a big idea!) Plus, the story of another courageous woman who fought to ensure Black girls could join the Girl Scouts, too! And as always, a tasty new First Things First for you to sink your teeth into!
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JOY: Let's see. Make two bunny ears, then loop the loop, and-- no, that's not right. Maybe it was one bunny ear. Ah.
FLORA: Hey, Joy, what's with all the rope?
JOY: Flora, thank goodness you're here. I thought you were coming hours ago. Didn't you get my messages?
FLORA: You mean the texts, emails, and carrier pigeon messages you sent? You wrote not emergency in all caps, so I figured it wasn't an emergency.
JOY: Oh, I meant to write knot emergency in all caps, with a K, like the knots you tie with rope. So I'm supposed to go on my first Girl Scout camping trip tomorrow, and I can't figure out how to tie this monkey paw knot, and if I can't tie the knot, I'm pretty sure they won't let me be on the trip and my life will be ruined.
FLORA: Here, let me try. There you just needed to pull it a little tighter, see?
JOY: Hey, thanks. Wait a sec. Flora, are you wearing a Girl Scout vest with an expert knot tying badge on it? And is that a bag of marshmallows in your backpack?
FLORA: Yeah, I'm--
JOY: You're Girl Scout, too. I knew it.
FLORA: Joy, we're in the same Girl Scout troop 653.
JOY: I know. I'm trying to earn my very dramatic and convincing acting badge. I invented it myself, and I feel crushed, betrayed, and very, very hungry.
FLORA: Very dramatic and convincing. Want a marshmallow?
[BAG CRINKLING]
JOY: Yum. Thank you. Hey, can you also teach me how to put up this tent and make friendship bracelets and build a fire with tiny sticks? On second thought, you should just come on this camping trip with me. We'll laugh. We'll cry. We'll eat baked beans.
FLORA: Again, Joy, I am coming. We're in the same Girl Scout troop and we've been planning this trip for-- oh, you're acting again.
[LAUGHTER]
JOY: Yes. Very dramatic and convincing. Acting badge, here I come.
[UPBEAT MUSIC]
Welcome to Forever Ago from APM Studios. I'm Joy Dolo. My co-host is Flora from Little Falls, Minnesota. Hi, Flora.
FLORA: Hey, Joy. Forever Ago is a nonprofit Public Radio program.
JOY: Which means we rely on support from our listeners to keep the show going.
FLORA: There's lots of ways you can support the show.
JOY: You can donate, buy our merch, or become a Smarty Pass subscriber. Head to foreverago.org to show your support.
FLORA: And thank you.
JOY: Today, Flora and I are on a camping trip in the forest. We've got our tent, sleeping bags, first aid kit, and, of course, our cotton candy machine.
FLORA: Joy, I hate to break it to you, but there's nowhere out here to plug that in.
JOY: But how are we supposed to make fresh cotton candy?
FLORA: I have something that will cheer you up. We're talking about the history of Girl Scouts today, remember?
JOY: Yes. As we all know, history is the cotton candy of knowledge. The Girl Scouts are a super popular after-school group for girls that emphasizes friendship, skill-building, and giving back to your community. Flora, you sent in the idea for this episode. What made you think of it?
FLORA: Well, I thought of the question when I went to one of my meetings and I wondered. I mean I love Girl Scouts and I wanted to know how it actually even started.
JOY: Yeah. How did you get interested in joining the Girl Scouts?
FLORA: Well, one of my friends was in it and she told me about it and I thought, whoa, this is awesome. And we went to the first meeting and I loved it. And we've been going since then.
JOY: What are some things that you enjoy about the Girl Scouts?
FLORA: Well, I love that I know I can do anything, and I learned so many new skills. I learned how to sew, and I love sewing now. There's so many things.
JOY: So, like we mentioned, the Girl Scouts are a big deal. Over 1 million girls across the US are members. That's more than the entire population of Delaware.
FLORA: Plus, there are more than 50 million adults who were Girl Scouts when they were kids.
JOY: Yeah. It's not uncommon for a family to have multiple generations who are members, like maybe your mom, grandma, and even great-grandma.
FLORA: Girl Scouts do all kinds of stuff. We learn different skills, volunteer in our communities, and, of course, earn badges.
JOY: The badges. I love the badges. Flora, can you describe what Girl Scout badges are, for people who don't know?
FLORA: Well, a Girl Scout badge is like an iron or sew-on patch, and it usually has a design on the front. I got a coding badge the other day, and it said "This girl can code" on it and a picture of a pink computer on it. And then I'm going to iron that on my sash when we get home from here.
JOY: When you earn badges, you get to sew them on your Girl Scout uniform. The uniform can be a sash, which is like a strip of fabric that drapes across your body, or a vest. Can you tell us how you got the coding badge?
FLORA: Well, I got it for making little robots called Ozobots.
JOY: That is so cool. Earning badges is a really fun part of being a Girl Scout. We asked you, our listeners, if you could give a badge to an important person in your life, what badge would you give them and why? And you had some great responses.
[GUITAR PLAYING]
CAROLINE: If I could give anyone that I choose a badge, I would choose my little brother because he's so funny, even though he is completely annoying. If you're an older sibling, you will get that. And the badge is the little brother badge.
RAY: My name is Ray, and I would give a friendship badge to my best friend Kara for always being there for me.
BILLY: My name is Billy and I am a Girl Scout from Enterprise, Alabama. I'm a part of the Girl Scouts of Southern Alabama family. If I could create a badge, I would do a story badge. It would be for troops, not just one person. One person would write the story, one person would illustrate, and then one girl would read it.
ABBY: Hi, this is Abby from Girl Scouts of Southern Alabama, and if I had to give anyone in the world a badge, it would be my mother, also known as my troop leader with the world's best mother's badge because she makes sure I'm on my meetings all the time, and she's a good troop leader and makes sure I have the best Girl Scout experience. Also, she makes sure I'm happy all the time and she's just the best mother in the world.
[? SYLVIE: ?] My name is [? Sylvie, ?] and I'm from Belle Harbor, Maine, and I would give a master climber badge to my climbing teacher.
[? AILA: ?] Hi, my name is [? Aila ?] I would give a badge to David Attenborough for trying to save our environment.
PAISLEY: My name is Paisley. I am a Girl Scout in Troop 9791 from Montgomery and Southern Alabama. I will give a friendship badge to my cousin for being nice to me.
FIONA: My name is Fiona and if I could give anyone a badge, it would be the all you can eat badge for the deer who visits our backyard, because it always eats our plants in the garden without asking.
JOY: Thanks to Caroline, Ray, Billy, Abby, [? Sylvia, ?] [? Aila, ?] Paisley and Fiona for sending in your ideas. What about you, Flora? If you could give someone in your life a badge, who would it be and what badge would you give them?
FLORA: If I gave a badge to someone, I'd probably give it to my karate teacher, my sensei, and I'd give him a funniest sensei badge because he's really good at his job.
JOY: Oh, yeah, and he's funny too. Does he like, do jokes?
FLORA: Yeah, he makes a lot of jokes.
JOY: That's what you want in a sensei, someone who's got a sense of humor, a sensei of humor. Oh, that's a good joke, everybody. OK, let's get this camping trip started.
[TECHNO MUSIC]
DJ Dolo!
[BIRDS SCREECH]
Oops. Sorry, birds.
FLORA: Did you bring your DJ Dolo turntables with you to play music, and they're solar powered?
JOY: You know it! I'm hoping to earn my DJing in the forest badge.
FLORA: Pretty sure that's not a thing. Anyway, how about we get our campfire going, so we can tell the story of how the Girl Scouts got started?
JOY: Good idea. Just need to rub these sticks together to start the fire.
[STICKS RUBBING TOGETHER]
FLORA: Joy, those are churros.
JOY: I wondered why they were so sugary and cinnamony and soft.
[CHEWING]
Yum. Anyway, back to the Girl Scouts. The Girl Scouts wouldn't be what they are today if it hadn't been for two women who refused to do what they were told. The first was named Juliette Gordon Low.
FLORA: Juliette or Daisy, as everyone called her, was born into a wealthy family in Georgia in the mid 1800s.
JOY: Like many girls at the time, she was expected to be quiet and ladylike. Girls should be seen, not heard. No giggling, no yelling, none of that nonsense, and, at mealtimes, they should always dab the corners of their mouths with napkins in a most delicate fashion.
FLORA: But Daisy wasn't quiet. She was adventurous and outspoken, and she loved the outdoors. Oh, what a beautiful sunshiny day. Hey, instead of sitting inside eating little sandwiches and dabbing the corners of our mouths with napkins, what if we went horseback riding or roll down that grassy hill over there or picked flowers?
JOY: Daisy also loved animals, and, as an adult, she surrounded herself with lots of pets.
FLORA: She had dogs--
[BAKING]
--horses--
[NEIGHING]
--a turtle, even a parrot named Blue Boy that rode around on her shoulder.
[SQUAWKING]
JOY: But as she got older, Daisy wasn't satisfied with her life. She wanted to do something important, something that could help people.
FLORA: Luckily, she was about to get a big idea. It was the early 1900s.
[PIANO PLAYING]
Lots of people were moving to cities to work in factories.
JOY: Cars had been invented, but they were expensive and not many people had one. Most homes used big chunks of ice to keep their food cold because the electric refrigerator hadn't been invented yet.
FLORA: And in Great Britain, a new group was taking off, the Boy Scouts.
JOY: The Boy Scouts did all kinds of activities like mapping, knot-tying, first aid, and camping. When Daisy learned about them in 1911, she was stoked.
FLORA: This is exactly what I'd been looking for. Girls could learn how to fix bikes, identify wild birds, be good friends to each other. They could learn, well, anything.
JOY: But there was a catch the scouts were only for boys. In fact, back then lots of people thought girls should only learn skills that would help them become good wives and moms, like cooking and sewing. Shh. What fiddle faddle. Girls shouldn't be limited to learning just a handful of things. If they want to learn how to build a fire and put up a tent, they should be able to.
FLORA: So Daisy got to work in her hometown of Savannah, Georgia, trying to build support for a new scouting group for girls.
JOY: She started talking about her idea to anyone and everyone who would listen. She wrote letters, met with leaders in her community, even stopped people on the street.
DAISY: And they'll learn whatever they want, hiking, camping, swimming, first aid, knot-tying. They'll roll down grassy hills and they'll ride horses, so many horses. Can I count on you for your support?
MAN: I mean, I was just on my way to buy a loaf of bread, but sure.
JOY: Then, just over a year later, in 1912, Daisy did it. She launched her scouting group for girls.
FLORA: There were just 10 rules members had to follow, which became known as the Girl Scout laws.
JOY: Like how they should always be honest and loyal to friends, family, and their country, or that they should be kind to all animals, no matter how small. Like this; hey you, chipmunk in the tree! You're beautiful. You're strong. You can do anything.
[CHIRPING]
FLORA: The group started out small, with only 17 girls in Georgia, but word quickly started to spread.
JOY: By 1914, just two years after Daisy started the Girl Scouts, there were more than a dozen troops across the country, from Baltimore to New Orleans.
FLORA: That same year, a major war broke out across the globe. It became known as World War I.
JOY: The Girl Scouts were still a brand new organization, but across the US, they jumped into action.
FLORA: They knitted belts and socks for soldiers, ran soup kitchens to feed hungry people, volunteered at hospitals, drove ambulances, and planted gardens.
JOY: The president of the United States, Herbert Hoover, even wrote a letter to Daisy to say thank you for all the vegetables the Girl Scouts grew during the war. Here's an actual quote from that letter.
PRESIDENT HOOVER: My dear Mrs. Low, the work accomplished by the Girl Scouts last year in production of vegetables from home gardens has been of material benefit in solving the problem of food distribution. I am glad to take this opportunity of expressing my appreciation of their excellent work.
FLORA: In only five years, the Girl Scouts had gone from just an idea to a group the president was a fan of.
JOY: And Daisy was helping to lead the charge. She worked tirelessly during the war, training Girl Scout leaders and traveling across the country, encouraging more girls to get involved.
FLORA: Daisy had wanted to do something big and useful with her life, and she was doing it.
JOY: The whole time, the Girl Scouts kept growing. By 1917, there were more than 7,000 Girl Scouts across the country doing things that girls usually weren't allowed to do, like piloting boats, using rifles, and even sending messages in Morse code, just to name a few.
FLORA: The group took pride in being open to all girls, but it actually wasn't. Luckily, there was another adventurous woman determined to change that.
JOY: And we'll tell you about her in a minute, but first, let's play--
[MUSIC PLAYING]
GROUP: First Things First.
JOY: That's the game where we put three things in the order they came in history. Today we're talking about Girl Scout cookies. OK, Flora, before I give you your three cookie flavors to put in order, here's a little bite of cookie history for you.
[LAUGHS]
Do you get it?
FLORA: Yeah.
JOY: Girl Scouts have been selling cookies for more than 100 years, starting in 1922. At first, they baked cookies at home and sold them door to door, and since then, more than 40 cookie flavors have been released. So, Flora, do you sell cookies?
FLORA: Oh, yeah. This year, and my cookie season is in February and March, I sold 500 boxes. This is my personal record.
JOY: 500 boxes of cookies?
FLORA: Yeah.
JOY: Do you have a certain technique? Like--
FLORA: Well, we stand out on the corner of KC's by where we live in Little Falls, and when me and my friend who sells cookies, Heidi, we take a boom box and just blast songs and then dance around with ribbons on the corner.
JOY: That would attract attention. So we were like, come buy cookies over here.
FLORA: It works really well too.
JOY: So what does your troop do with the funds that they get from the cookies?
FLORA: Well, this year I think we're donating to a homeless shelter. Another troop that's in our area, they donated to bus drivers of Little Falls and someone else donated to a fire department.
JOY: I love that. It's like giving back. It's like you get stuff for the cookies and then they're giving back to the community. That's really great. Do you have a favorite Girl Scout cookie?
FLORA: I love the adventureful cookies.
JOY: Oh, yeah, those are good.
FLORA: They're kind of like a crunchy caramel brownie.
JOY: Yeah, I've had those before. Do you buy your own cookies when you sell them?
FLORA: Yes.
[LAUGHTER]
JOY: How many of those 500 were you?
[LAUGHTER]
FLORA: Maybe six.
JOY: Nice, nice. Are you ready to put three cookie flavors in order?
FLORA: Mm-hm.
JOY: OK, so it's funny that you said that you like adventurefuls because that is on the list as one of the cookies. So the three that we're looking at are adventurefuls, the chocolate cookies with the caramel cream, trefoils, the buttery shortbread cookies, and toffee-tastic, which is a gluten-free cookie.
FLORA: I think I'll probably put trefoils first because I heard that was the original Girl Scout cookie, and then-- I know adventurefuls are recent, so I'm going to put toffee-tastic in the middle because I know absolutely nothing about it. And then probably adventurefuls is the newest.
JOY: OK, so we have trefoils and then toffee-tastic and then adventurefuls
FLORA: Yep.
JOY: Yes. OK, I have to say that trefoils are my favorite.
FLORA: I have had them before. I like adventure better, but they're also good.
JOY: Yes, I have to say, all cookies are good. I mean--
FLORA: All cookies are good.
JOY: I love all cookies. So we'll hear the answers at the end of the show.
FLORA: So stick around.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
JOY: We're working on an episode all about school uniforms, and we want to hear from you. Do you think kids should wear uniforms to school? Why or why not? I'm also curious, if you could design your own school uniform, what would it look like? Frilly collar? Metallic buttons? Stripy socks? Record yourself sharing your opinion on school uniforms or describing your dream design and send it to us at foeverago.org/contact. I can't wait to hear from you. Thanks
Brains On Universe is a family of podcasts for kids and their adults. Since you're a fan of Forever Ago, you'll love the other shows in our universe. Come on, let's explore.
[AIRPLANE FLYING]
COMPUTER VOICE: Its alien exercise hour. Hiyah! While I stretch my snoodles and bounce on my trampoline, I'll listen to a new podcast.
[LAUGHS]
I'm going to try Brains On, the best science podcast ever.
[ALIEN COMPUTER TONE]
It's starting. Yay
[THEME MUSIC]
STAR. E. NIGHT: Hello and welcome to Pop Planet, the only show that gets you up close and personal with space. I'm your host STAR E--
ALIEN: Zorp. Come back here, podcast. Must listen to Brains On now.
JOY: Listen to Brains On wherever you get your podcasts.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
You're listening to Forever Ago. I'm Joy.
FLORA: And I'm Flora. Today, we're camping in the forest and talking about the history of Girl Scouts.
JOY: Yes, we just built a campfire, and now we're roasting weenies. Oh, no, Flora, we forgot the buns. Hang on. I think I've still got some of those churros in here somewhere. Maybe we could use those?
FLORA: As delicious as a churro hot dog sounds, don't worry. I've got actual hot dog buns right here. And for later, marshmallows, chocolate, and gram crackers for s'mores.
[SQUEALING]
JOY: S'mores are the best. Did they were invented by the Girl Scouts?
FLORA: Yeah, in 1927. They were first called some mores but the name got shortened later.
JOY: OK, time for some more Girl Scout history. Before the break, we heard how a woman named Daisy Gordon Low started the Girl Scouts more than 100 years. Back then, girls were expected to be quiet and polite and only learn the skills they needed to become good wives and moms.
FLORA: But Daisy disagreed.
JOY: She thought girls should be able to learn whatever they wanted, from camping and swimming to first aid, and she wanted them to build strong friendships.
FLORA: The group was a wild success, with thousands of Girl Scouts joining across the country.
JOY: The Girl Scouts were supposed to be for all girls. The group even included this line in their Constitution. "We affirm that the Girl Scout movement shall be open to all girls and adults who accept the Girl Scout promise and law."
FLORA: Not everyone was allowed to join, though.
JOY: Right. Black girls were often left out entirely.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
This was during a dark time in American history, when White people made laws to keep Black people separate from them.
FLORA: It was called segregation, which is another word for keeping groups apart.
JOY: Segregation started in the 1870s, not long after Black people had been freed from slavery. Lots of states passed laws that made it illegal for Black and White people to use the same facilities.
FLORA: That means that there were separate bathrooms, separate schools, and even separate swimming pools and drinking fountains.
JOY: Some states made it illegal for Black people to live in White neighborhoods, and, in some places, it was illegal for a Black person and a White person to get married.
FLORA: This was racist and very wrong, and for years people pushed push back against segregation.
JOY: Even though the Girl Scouts claim to be open to all, Daisy was afraid that if the troops were required to admit Black girls, some White members would leave the group in protest, so she decided to leave the decision up to individual Girl Scout councils in cities and states.
FLORA: That means that one State might allow Black girls to become Scouts, while another could say no.
JOY: But some people didn't wait for permission to form their own Black Girl Scout troops, which brings us to my personal hero, Josephine Groves Holloway.
FLORA: Josephine Groves Holloway! She's a legend.
JOY: She sure is. I actually made us matching Josephine Groves Holloway fan club pins for our Girl Scout vests. Check it out.
FLORA: Hey thanks, Joy. I love it.
JOY: So, as a young Black woman in the 1920s, Josephine worked as a social worker with girls in Nashville, Tennessee.
FLORA: When she heard about the Girl Scouts, she decided to go to a training course, led by a Girl Scout founder, Daisy Gordon Low herself.
JOY: Josephine was inspired. Wow, these Girl Scouts are really on to something here. This is just perfect for building character and teaching girls outdoor skills.
FLORA: Afterward, Josephine became a Girl Scout captain and decided to start her own troop for Black girls.
JOY: By 1924, more than 300 girls had signed up for her troop, but because Black girls weren't allowed to become Girl Scouts in Tennessee, these troops weren't officially recognized by the organization. That meant they couldn't do the things that other scouts got to do, from earning badges to going on Girl Scout trips.
FLORA: Josephine wasn't deterred, though. Why shouldn't my girls have the same opportunities as the official Girl Scouts? Just because they're Black, they can't go hiking and camping? What if I just train them myself?
JOY: She bought Girl Scout handbooks with her own money, so she could train the new scouts. And the girls sewed their own uniforms.
FLORA: Because they were Black, the girls were discouraged from going camping in Tennessee State parks.
JOY: These parks were supposed to be public and open to everyone, but some White people didn't want Black people camping there.
FLORA: So Josephine got permission to take them camping on private property instead.
JOY: All right, everyone, now that we've put up our tents and started a campfire, who wants to roast some weenies?
GIRLS: Yeah!
JOY: In 1933, Josephine asked the Girl Scout council in Nashville to recognize her troops as official Girl Scouts. The council said no.
FLORA: But Josephine kept fighting, pushing Girl Scout leaders to admit her troops. She did this for years.
JOY: Even Josephine's teenage daughter got involved. In 1942, her daughter was at a conference in Nashville where the President's wife, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, was speaking. So she slipped backstage and asked the first lady if she could help her mother's group become official Girl Scouts.
FLORA: We can't know for sure if that's what did the trick, but in 1943, Josephine's hard work paid off.
JOY: Girl Scout leaders in Nashville finally allowed Josephine's Black troops to officially join the organization. Today, Josephine is remembered as a hero in Tennessee. March 10 is officially Josephine Groves Holloway day in her home State, and there's even a Girl Scout camp named after her.
FLORA: Hooray! But Josephine wasn't the only one pushing for change. Other Black women across the US continued to pressure Girl Scout chapters to officially admit Black girls.
JOY: They also wanted girls of all races to be able to be in the same Girl Scout troops together. Some people didn't want Black and White kids spending time together, so they tried to keep that from happening.
FLORA: But by the 1950s, Girl Scout leaders across the country finally started allowing Black and White girls to be in the same troops.
JOY: This was a really big deal. In lots of other spaces, Black and white people were still being kept separate, like in schools and on buses.
FLORA: But activists were pushing for change and noticing what was happening in the Girl Scouts.
JOY: Activists like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. In 1956, he called the Girl Scouts a force for desegregation.
FLORA: In other words, he saw them as leading the charge to help break down barriers between Black and White people, starting with kids.
JOY: It was an important step toward creating a world that was a little more equal, by making sure that the Girl Scouts truly were open to all girls. Today, the Girl Scout Constitution even includes a rule that no girl shall be denied admission because of race, color, ethnicity, creed, national origin, socioeconomic status, or disability.
FLORA: Wow, such a cool story.
JOY: It really is. And now, Flora, I have something very urgent to share with you. It's a matter of life and death, a matter of an empty tummy versus a full tummy, a matter of--
FLORA: You want to make s'mores, don't you?
JOY: I thought you'd never ask.
[WRAPPER CRINKLING]
Hello, my puffy little marshmallow beauties. Come to me. Wait, we forgot the graham crackers.
FLORA: What? I could have sworn they were in here. I thought-- oh, you're acting again, aren't you?
JOY: Acting, the elusive and completely made up, very dramatic and convincing acting badge is mine. And for you, Flora, I'd like to present the really amazing friend badge.
FLORA: Thanks, Joy. You know how we should celebrate?
BOTH: S'mores.
JOY: Woo!
FLORA: Yeah. Let's do it.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
JOY: Daisy Gordon low started the Girl Scouts more than 100 years, in 1912.
FLORA: Back then, girls were expected to only learn skills that would help them become wives and moms.
JOY: But Daisy thought girls should be able to learn whatever they wanted, from reading maps to first aid.
FLORA: The organization wasn't always open to all girls, though. In many states, Black girls were not allowed to join the Girl Scouts until the 1940s and '50s.
JOY: But through the hard work of Black women like Josephine Groves Holloway, the group eventually opened its doors to all girls. This episode was written by Shahla Farzan. It was produced by Nico Gonzalez Wisler and Ruby Guthrie. It was edited by Sanden Totten, fact checking by Nico Gonzalez Wilser, engineering help from Alex Simpson, with sound design by Rachel Brees. Original theme music by Marc Sanchez.
We had additional production help from the rest of the Brains On Universe team, Molly Bloom, Rosie DuPont, Anna Goldfield, Lauren Humbert, Marc Sanchez, Joshua Ray, Rebecca Rand, Charlotte Traver, Anna Weggel, and Aron Woldeslassie. Beth Pearlman is our executive producer and the executives in charge of APM Studios are Chandra Kavati, and Joanne Griffith.
Special thanks to Michelle Pemberton, Hannah [? Leah, ?] Andrea Pierre, and Girl Scout Troop 653. OK, Flora. Ready to hear the answers for First Things First?
FLORA: I've literally never been more ready in my life.
[LAUGHTER]
JOY: That's what I'm talking about. OK, so just as a reminder, we said that trefoils were first, toffee-tastic was second, and adventurefuls were third?
FLORA: Mm-hm.
JOY: OK, let's see what the answer is, and you were right.
FLORA: Right, really?
JOY: Yeah. You were. That was amazing. Great job. So first up was trefoils, and that was invented in 1974. So these were one of the first official Girl Scout cookies released, like you said. You were absolutely right, smarty-pants. They're stamped with the Girl Scout logo. It's shaped kind of like a shamrock with the profiles of three people inside. And fun fact, an unofficial early version of this cookie was actually created decades earlier, in the 1930s by Girl Scouts in Philadelphia. They made their own cookie cutter to make them in the trefoil stamp.
And then second, like you said, it was toffee-tastic, and that was invented more recently, in 2014, so fairly recent. This was the first gluten free Girl Scout cookie released, and it was created in response to customer demand for a gluten free cookie.
FLORA: I mean, I've never had one, but they sound really good.
JOY: I know. I'm going to get some toffee-tastic right after this. It's going to be tastic. And last but certainly not least, is adventurefuls, which were your favorite, and those were invented in 2022, so very recently. So these salted caramel brownie cookies were so popular when they were released in 2022 that they sold out in some parts of the country and caused a shortage.
FLORA: Oh, so the adventurefuls must have been the first year they were there, the first year I joined Girl Scouts, because I was 8 or 9 when I joined.
JOY: Oh, yeah, so you were there right when adventurefuls started too. And maybe in like 40 years, you can look back and be like, I remember when adventurefuls first came out.
FLORA: I heard they're adding a new cookie this year.
JOY: Do you know any secrets about that that you can share?
FLORA: They haven't announced it yet.
JOY: If you had a dream cookie, what would it be? What would be on it?
FLORA: It'd be like the adventureful, but it'd be vanilla and then there'd be raspberry jelly in it.
JOY: Oh, that sounds good.
FLORA: And chocolate drizzled on top instead of chocolate.
JOY: Oh, Girl Scouts get on that. That sounds so good. I would buy 500 boxes. The name adventurefuls is a nod to the spirit of adventure that the Girl Scouts help inspire in members. Adventurefuls. Join us next week for a new episode all about a very ancient sport played thousands of years.
FLORA: Thanks for listening.
[THEME MUSIC]
FLORA: Hey, Joy, what's with all the rope?
JOY: Flora, thank goodness you're here. I thought you were coming hours ago. Didn't you get my messages?
FLORA: You mean the texts, emails, and carrier pigeon messages you sent? You wrote not emergency in all caps, so I figured it wasn't an emergency.
JOY: Oh, I meant to write knot emergency in all caps, with a K, like the knots you tie with rope. So I'm supposed to go on my first Girl Scout camping trip tomorrow, and I can't figure out how to tie this monkey paw knot, and if I can't tie the knot, I'm pretty sure they won't let me be on the trip and my life will be ruined.
FLORA: Here, let me try. There you just needed to pull it a little tighter, see?
JOY: Hey, thanks. Wait a sec. Flora, are you wearing a Girl Scout vest with an expert knot tying badge on it? And is that a bag of marshmallows in your backpack?
FLORA: Yeah, I'm--
JOY: You're Girl Scout, too. I knew it.
FLORA: Joy, we're in the same Girl Scout troop 653.
JOY: I know. I'm trying to earn my very dramatic and convincing acting badge. I invented it myself, and I feel crushed, betrayed, and very, very hungry.
FLORA: Very dramatic and convincing. Want a marshmallow?
[BAG CRINKLING]
JOY: Yum. Thank you. Hey, can you also teach me how to put up this tent and make friendship bracelets and build a fire with tiny sticks? On second thought, you should just come on this camping trip with me. We'll laugh. We'll cry. We'll eat baked beans.
FLORA: Again, Joy, I am coming. We're in the same Girl Scout troop and we've been planning this trip for-- oh, you're acting again.
[LAUGHTER]
JOY: Yes. Very dramatic and convincing. Acting badge, here I come.
[UPBEAT MUSIC]
Welcome to Forever Ago from APM Studios. I'm Joy Dolo. My co-host is Flora from Little Falls, Minnesota. Hi, Flora.
FLORA: Hey, Joy. Forever Ago is a nonprofit Public Radio program.
JOY: Which means we rely on support from our listeners to keep the show going.
FLORA: There's lots of ways you can support the show.
JOY: You can donate, buy our merch, or become a Smarty Pass subscriber. Head to foreverago.org to show your support.
FLORA: And thank you.
JOY: Today, Flora and I are on a camping trip in the forest. We've got our tent, sleeping bags, first aid kit, and, of course, our cotton candy machine.
FLORA: Joy, I hate to break it to you, but there's nowhere out here to plug that in.
JOY: But how are we supposed to make fresh cotton candy?
FLORA: I have something that will cheer you up. We're talking about the history of Girl Scouts today, remember?
JOY: Yes. As we all know, history is the cotton candy of knowledge. The Girl Scouts are a super popular after-school group for girls that emphasizes friendship, skill-building, and giving back to your community. Flora, you sent in the idea for this episode. What made you think of it?
FLORA: Well, I thought of the question when I went to one of my meetings and I wondered. I mean I love Girl Scouts and I wanted to know how it actually even started.
JOY: Yeah. How did you get interested in joining the Girl Scouts?
FLORA: Well, one of my friends was in it and she told me about it and I thought, whoa, this is awesome. And we went to the first meeting and I loved it. And we've been going since then.
JOY: What are some things that you enjoy about the Girl Scouts?
FLORA: Well, I love that I know I can do anything, and I learned so many new skills. I learned how to sew, and I love sewing now. There's so many things.
JOY: So, like we mentioned, the Girl Scouts are a big deal. Over 1 million girls across the US are members. That's more than the entire population of Delaware.
FLORA: Plus, there are more than 50 million adults who were Girl Scouts when they were kids.
JOY: Yeah. It's not uncommon for a family to have multiple generations who are members, like maybe your mom, grandma, and even great-grandma.
FLORA: Girl Scouts do all kinds of stuff. We learn different skills, volunteer in our communities, and, of course, earn badges.
JOY: The badges. I love the badges. Flora, can you describe what Girl Scout badges are, for people who don't know?
FLORA: Well, a Girl Scout badge is like an iron or sew-on patch, and it usually has a design on the front. I got a coding badge the other day, and it said "This girl can code" on it and a picture of a pink computer on it. And then I'm going to iron that on my sash when we get home from here.
JOY: When you earn badges, you get to sew them on your Girl Scout uniform. The uniform can be a sash, which is like a strip of fabric that drapes across your body, or a vest. Can you tell us how you got the coding badge?
FLORA: Well, I got it for making little robots called Ozobots.
JOY: That is so cool. Earning badges is a really fun part of being a Girl Scout. We asked you, our listeners, if you could give a badge to an important person in your life, what badge would you give them and why? And you had some great responses.
[GUITAR PLAYING]
CAROLINE: If I could give anyone that I choose a badge, I would choose my little brother because he's so funny, even though he is completely annoying. If you're an older sibling, you will get that. And the badge is the little brother badge.
RAY: My name is Ray, and I would give a friendship badge to my best friend Kara for always being there for me.
BILLY: My name is Billy and I am a Girl Scout from Enterprise, Alabama. I'm a part of the Girl Scouts of Southern Alabama family. If I could create a badge, I would do a story badge. It would be for troops, not just one person. One person would write the story, one person would illustrate, and then one girl would read it.
ABBY: Hi, this is Abby from Girl Scouts of Southern Alabama, and if I had to give anyone in the world a badge, it would be my mother, also known as my troop leader with the world's best mother's badge because she makes sure I'm on my meetings all the time, and she's a good troop leader and makes sure I have the best Girl Scout experience. Also, she makes sure I'm happy all the time and she's just the best mother in the world.
[? SYLVIE: ?] My name is [? Sylvie, ?] and I'm from Belle Harbor, Maine, and I would give a master climber badge to my climbing teacher.
[? AILA: ?] Hi, my name is [? Aila ?] I would give a badge to David Attenborough for trying to save our environment.
PAISLEY: My name is Paisley. I am a Girl Scout in Troop 9791 from Montgomery and Southern Alabama. I will give a friendship badge to my cousin for being nice to me.
FIONA: My name is Fiona and if I could give anyone a badge, it would be the all you can eat badge for the deer who visits our backyard, because it always eats our plants in the garden without asking.
JOY: Thanks to Caroline, Ray, Billy, Abby, [? Sylvia, ?] [? Aila, ?] Paisley and Fiona for sending in your ideas. What about you, Flora? If you could give someone in your life a badge, who would it be and what badge would you give them?
FLORA: If I gave a badge to someone, I'd probably give it to my karate teacher, my sensei, and I'd give him a funniest sensei badge because he's really good at his job.
JOY: Oh, yeah, and he's funny too. Does he like, do jokes?
FLORA: Yeah, he makes a lot of jokes.
JOY: That's what you want in a sensei, someone who's got a sense of humor, a sensei of humor. Oh, that's a good joke, everybody. OK, let's get this camping trip started.
[TECHNO MUSIC]
DJ Dolo!
[BIRDS SCREECH]
Oops. Sorry, birds.
FLORA: Did you bring your DJ Dolo turntables with you to play music, and they're solar powered?
JOY: You know it! I'm hoping to earn my DJing in the forest badge.
FLORA: Pretty sure that's not a thing. Anyway, how about we get our campfire going, so we can tell the story of how the Girl Scouts got started?
JOY: Good idea. Just need to rub these sticks together to start the fire.
[STICKS RUBBING TOGETHER]
FLORA: Joy, those are churros.
JOY: I wondered why they were so sugary and cinnamony and soft.
[CHEWING]
Yum. Anyway, back to the Girl Scouts. The Girl Scouts wouldn't be what they are today if it hadn't been for two women who refused to do what they were told. The first was named Juliette Gordon Low.
FLORA: Juliette or Daisy, as everyone called her, was born into a wealthy family in Georgia in the mid 1800s.
JOY: Like many girls at the time, she was expected to be quiet and ladylike. Girls should be seen, not heard. No giggling, no yelling, none of that nonsense, and, at mealtimes, they should always dab the corners of their mouths with napkins in a most delicate fashion.
FLORA: But Daisy wasn't quiet. She was adventurous and outspoken, and she loved the outdoors. Oh, what a beautiful sunshiny day. Hey, instead of sitting inside eating little sandwiches and dabbing the corners of our mouths with napkins, what if we went horseback riding or roll down that grassy hill over there or picked flowers?
JOY: Daisy also loved animals, and, as an adult, she surrounded herself with lots of pets.
FLORA: She had dogs--
[BAKING]
--horses--
[NEIGHING]
--a turtle, even a parrot named Blue Boy that rode around on her shoulder.
[SQUAWKING]
JOY: But as she got older, Daisy wasn't satisfied with her life. She wanted to do something important, something that could help people.
FLORA: Luckily, she was about to get a big idea. It was the early 1900s.
[PIANO PLAYING]
Lots of people were moving to cities to work in factories.
JOY: Cars had been invented, but they were expensive and not many people had one. Most homes used big chunks of ice to keep their food cold because the electric refrigerator hadn't been invented yet.
FLORA: And in Great Britain, a new group was taking off, the Boy Scouts.
JOY: The Boy Scouts did all kinds of activities like mapping, knot-tying, first aid, and camping. When Daisy learned about them in 1911, she was stoked.
FLORA: This is exactly what I'd been looking for. Girls could learn how to fix bikes, identify wild birds, be good friends to each other. They could learn, well, anything.
JOY: But there was a catch the scouts were only for boys. In fact, back then lots of people thought girls should only learn skills that would help them become good wives and moms, like cooking and sewing. Shh. What fiddle faddle. Girls shouldn't be limited to learning just a handful of things. If they want to learn how to build a fire and put up a tent, they should be able to.
FLORA: So Daisy got to work in her hometown of Savannah, Georgia, trying to build support for a new scouting group for girls.
JOY: She started talking about her idea to anyone and everyone who would listen. She wrote letters, met with leaders in her community, even stopped people on the street.
DAISY: And they'll learn whatever they want, hiking, camping, swimming, first aid, knot-tying. They'll roll down grassy hills and they'll ride horses, so many horses. Can I count on you for your support?
MAN: I mean, I was just on my way to buy a loaf of bread, but sure.
JOY: Then, just over a year later, in 1912, Daisy did it. She launched her scouting group for girls.
FLORA: There were just 10 rules members had to follow, which became known as the Girl Scout laws.
JOY: Like how they should always be honest and loyal to friends, family, and their country, or that they should be kind to all animals, no matter how small. Like this; hey you, chipmunk in the tree! You're beautiful. You're strong. You can do anything.
[CHIRPING]
FLORA: The group started out small, with only 17 girls in Georgia, but word quickly started to spread.
JOY: By 1914, just two years after Daisy started the Girl Scouts, there were more than a dozen troops across the country, from Baltimore to New Orleans.
FLORA: That same year, a major war broke out across the globe. It became known as World War I.
JOY: The Girl Scouts were still a brand new organization, but across the US, they jumped into action.
FLORA: They knitted belts and socks for soldiers, ran soup kitchens to feed hungry people, volunteered at hospitals, drove ambulances, and planted gardens.
JOY: The president of the United States, Herbert Hoover, even wrote a letter to Daisy to say thank you for all the vegetables the Girl Scouts grew during the war. Here's an actual quote from that letter.
PRESIDENT HOOVER: My dear Mrs. Low, the work accomplished by the Girl Scouts last year in production of vegetables from home gardens has been of material benefit in solving the problem of food distribution. I am glad to take this opportunity of expressing my appreciation of their excellent work.
FLORA: In only five years, the Girl Scouts had gone from just an idea to a group the president was a fan of.
JOY: And Daisy was helping to lead the charge. She worked tirelessly during the war, training Girl Scout leaders and traveling across the country, encouraging more girls to get involved.
FLORA: Daisy had wanted to do something big and useful with her life, and she was doing it.
JOY: The whole time, the Girl Scouts kept growing. By 1917, there were more than 7,000 Girl Scouts across the country doing things that girls usually weren't allowed to do, like piloting boats, using rifles, and even sending messages in Morse code, just to name a few.
FLORA: The group took pride in being open to all girls, but it actually wasn't. Luckily, there was another adventurous woman determined to change that.
JOY: And we'll tell you about her in a minute, but first, let's play--
[MUSIC PLAYING]
GROUP: First Things First.
JOY: That's the game where we put three things in the order they came in history. Today we're talking about Girl Scout cookies. OK, Flora, before I give you your three cookie flavors to put in order, here's a little bite of cookie history for you.
[LAUGHS]
Do you get it?
FLORA: Yeah.
JOY: Girl Scouts have been selling cookies for more than 100 years, starting in 1922. At first, they baked cookies at home and sold them door to door, and since then, more than 40 cookie flavors have been released. So, Flora, do you sell cookies?
FLORA: Oh, yeah. This year, and my cookie season is in February and March, I sold 500 boxes. This is my personal record.
JOY: 500 boxes of cookies?
FLORA: Yeah.
JOY: Do you have a certain technique? Like--
FLORA: Well, we stand out on the corner of KC's by where we live in Little Falls, and when me and my friend who sells cookies, Heidi, we take a boom box and just blast songs and then dance around with ribbons on the corner.
JOY: That would attract attention. So we were like, come buy cookies over here.
FLORA: It works really well too.
JOY: So what does your troop do with the funds that they get from the cookies?
FLORA: Well, this year I think we're donating to a homeless shelter. Another troop that's in our area, they donated to bus drivers of Little Falls and someone else donated to a fire department.
JOY: I love that. It's like giving back. It's like you get stuff for the cookies and then they're giving back to the community. That's really great. Do you have a favorite Girl Scout cookie?
FLORA: I love the adventureful cookies.
JOY: Oh, yeah, those are good.
FLORA: They're kind of like a crunchy caramel brownie.
JOY: Yeah, I've had those before. Do you buy your own cookies when you sell them?
FLORA: Yes.
[LAUGHTER]
JOY: How many of those 500 were you?
[LAUGHTER]
FLORA: Maybe six.
JOY: Nice, nice. Are you ready to put three cookie flavors in order?
FLORA: Mm-hm.
JOY: OK, so it's funny that you said that you like adventurefuls because that is on the list as one of the cookies. So the three that we're looking at are adventurefuls, the chocolate cookies with the caramel cream, trefoils, the buttery shortbread cookies, and toffee-tastic, which is a gluten-free cookie.
FLORA: I think I'll probably put trefoils first because I heard that was the original Girl Scout cookie, and then-- I know adventurefuls are recent, so I'm going to put toffee-tastic in the middle because I know absolutely nothing about it. And then probably adventurefuls is the newest.
JOY: OK, so we have trefoils and then toffee-tastic and then adventurefuls
FLORA: Yep.
JOY: Yes. OK, I have to say that trefoils are my favorite.
FLORA: I have had them before. I like adventure better, but they're also good.
JOY: Yes, I have to say, all cookies are good. I mean--
FLORA: All cookies are good.
JOY: I love all cookies. So we'll hear the answers at the end of the show.
FLORA: So stick around.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
JOY: We're working on an episode all about school uniforms, and we want to hear from you. Do you think kids should wear uniforms to school? Why or why not? I'm also curious, if you could design your own school uniform, what would it look like? Frilly collar? Metallic buttons? Stripy socks? Record yourself sharing your opinion on school uniforms or describing your dream design and send it to us at foeverago.org/contact. I can't wait to hear from you. Thanks
Brains On Universe is a family of podcasts for kids and their adults. Since you're a fan of Forever Ago, you'll love the other shows in our universe. Come on, let's explore.
[AIRPLANE FLYING]
COMPUTER VOICE: Its alien exercise hour. Hiyah! While I stretch my snoodles and bounce on my trampoline, I'll listen to a new podcast.
[LAUGHS]
I'm going to try Brains On, the best science podcast ever.
[ALIEN COMPUTER TONE]
It's starting. Yay
[THEME MUSIC]
STAR. E. NIGHT: Hello and welcome to Pop Planet, the only show that gets you up close and personal with space. I'm your host STAR E--
ALIEN: Zorp. Come back here, podcast. Must listen to Brains On now.
JOY: Listen to Brains On wherever you get your podcasts.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
You're listening to Forever Ago. I'm Joy.
FLORA: And I'm Flora. Today, we're camping in the forest and talking about the history of Girl Scouts.
JOY: Yes, we just built a campfire, and now we're roasting weenies. Oh, no, Flora, we forgot the buns. Hang on. I think I've still got some of those churros in here somewhere. Maybe we could use those?
FLORA: As delicious as a churro hot dog sounds, don't worry. I've got actual hot dog buns right here. And for later, marshmallows, chocolate, and gram crackers for s'mores.
[SQUEALING]
JOY: S'mores are the best. Did they were invented by the Girl Scouts?
FLORA: Yeah, in 1927. They were first called some mores but the name got shortened later.
JOY: OK, time for some more Girl Scout history. Before the break, we heard how a woman named Daisy Gordon Low started the Girl Scouts more than 100 years. Back then, girls were expected to be quiet and polite and only learn the skills they needed to become good wives and moms.
FLORA: But Daisy disagreed.
JOY: She thought girls should be able to learn whatever they wanted, from camping and swimming to first aid, and she wanted them to build strong friendships.
FLORA: The group was a wild success, with thousands of Girl Scouts joining across the country.
JOY: The Girl Scouts were supposed to be for all girls. The group even included this line in their Constitution. "We affirm that the Girl Scout movement shall be open to all girls and adults who accept the Girl Scout promise and law."
FLORA: Not everyone was allowed to join, though.
JOY: Right. Black girls were often left out entirely.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
This was during a dark time in American history, when White people made laws to keep Black people separate from them.
FLORA: It was called segregation, which is another word for keeping groups apart.
JOY: Segregation started in the 1870s, not long after Black people had been freed from slavery. Lots of states passed laws that made it illegal for Black and White people to use the same facilities.
FLORA: That means that there were separate bathrooms, separate schools, and even separate swimming pools and drinking fountains.
JOY: Some states made it illegal for Black people to live in White neighborhoods, and, in some places, it was illegal for a Black person and a White person to get married.
FLORA: This was racist and very wrong, and for years people pushed push back against segregation.
JOY: Even though the Girl Scouts claim to be open to all, Daisy was afraid that if the troops were required to admit Black girls, some White members would leave the group in protest, so she decided to leave the decision up to individual Girl Scout councils in cities and states.
FLORA: That means that one State might allow Black girls to become Scouts, while another could say no.
JOY: But some people didn't wait for permission to form their own Black Girl Scout troops, which brings us to my personal hero, Josephine Groves Holloway.
FLORA: Josephine Groves Holloway! She's a legend.
JOY: She sure is. I actually made us matching Josephine Groves Holloway fan club pins for our Girl Scout vests. Check it out.
FLORA: Hey thanks, Joy. I love it.
JOY: So, as a young Black woman in the 1920s, Josephine worked as a social worker with girls in Nashville, Tennessee.
FLORA: When she heard about the Girl Scouts, she decided to go to a training course, led by a Girl Scout founder, Daisy Gordon Low herself.
JOY: Josephine was inspired. Wow, these Girl Scouts are really on to something here. This is just perfect for building character and teaching girls outdoor skills.
FLORA: Afterward, Josephine became a Girl Scout captain and decided to start her own troop for Black girls.
JOY: By 1924, more than 300 girls had signed up for her troop, but because Black girls weren't allowed to become Girl Scouts in Tennessee, these troops weren't officially recognized by the organization. That meant they couldn't do the things that other scouts got to do, from earning badges to going on Girl Scout trips.
FLORA: Josephine wasn't deterred, though. Why shouldn't my girls have the same opportunities as the official Girl Scouts? Just because they're Black, they can't go hiking and camping? What if I just train them myself?
JOY: She bought Girl Scout handbooks with her own money, so she could train the new scouts. And the girls sewed their own uniforms.
FLORA: Because they were Black, the girls were discouraged from going camping in Tennessee State parks.
JOY: These parks were supposed to be public and open to everyone, but some White people didn't want Black people camping there.
FLORA: So Josephine got permission to take them camping on private property instead.
JOY: All right, everyone, now that we've put up our tents and started a campfire, who wants to roast some weenies?
GIRLS: Yeah!
JOY: In 1933, Josephine asked the Girl Scout council in Nashville to recognize her troops as official Girl Scouts. The council said no.
FLORA: But Josephine kept fighting, pushing Girl Scout leaders to admit her troops. She did this for years.
JOY: Even Josephine's teenage daughter got involved. In 1942, her daughter was at a conference in Nashville where the President's wife, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, was speaking. So she slipped backstage and asked the first lady if she could help her mother's group become official Girl Scouts.
FLORA: We can't know for sure if that's what did the trick, but in 1943, Josephine's hard work paid off.
JOY: Girl Scout leaders in Nashville finally allowed Josephine's Black troops to officially join the organization. Today, Josephine is remembered as a hero in Tennessee. March 10 is officially Josephine Groves Holloway day in her home State, and there's even a Girl Scout camp named after her.
FLORA: Hooray! But Josephine wasn't the only one pushing for change. Other Black women across the US continued to pressure Girl Scout chapters to officially admit Black girls.
JOY: They also wanted girls of all races to be able to be in the same Girl Scout troops together. Some people didn't want Black and White kids spending time together, so they tried to keep that from happening.
FLORA: But by the 1950s, Girl Scout leaders across the country finally started allowing Black and White girls to be in the same troops.
JOY: This was a really big deal. In lots of other spaces, Black and white people were still being kept separate, like in schools and on buses.
FLORA: But activists were pushing for change and noticing what was happening in the Girl Scouts.
JOY: Activists like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. In 1956, he called the Girl Scouts a force for desegregation.
FLORA: In other words, he saw them as leading the charge to help break down barriers between Black and White people, starting with kids.
JOY: It was an important step toward creating a world that was a little more equal, by making sure that the Girl Scouts truly were open to all girls. Today, the Girl Scout Constitution even includes a rule that no girl shall be denied admission because of race, color, ethnicity, creed, national origin, socioeconomic status, or disability.
FLORA: Wow, such a cool story.
JOY: It really is. And now, Flora, I have something very urgent to share with you. It's a matter of life and death, a matter of an empty tummy versus a full tummy, a matter of--
FLORA: You want to make s'mores, don't you?
JOY: I thought you'd never ask.
[WRAPPER CRINKLING]
Hello, my puffy little marshmallow beauties. Come to me. Wait, we forgot the graham crackers.
FLORA: What? I could have sworn they were in here. I thought-- oh, you're acting again, aren't you?
JOY: Acting, the elusive and completely made up, very dramatic and convincing acting badge is mine. And for you, Flora, I'd like to present the really amazing friend badge.
FLORA: Thanks, Joy. You know how we should celebrate?
BOTH: S'mores.
JOY: Woo!
FLORA: Yeah. Let's do it.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
JOY: Daisy Gordon low started the Girl Scouts more than 100 years, in 1912.
FLORA: Back then, girls were expected to only learn skills that would help them become wives and moms.
JOY: But Daisy thought girls should be able to learn whatever they wanted, from reading maps to first aid.
FLORA: The organization wasn't always open to all girls, though. In many states, Black girls were not allowed to join the Girl Scouts until the 1940s and '50s.
JOY: But through the hard work of Black women like Josephine Groves Holloway, the group eventually opened its doors to all girls. This episode was written by Shahla Farzan. It was produced by Nico Gonzalez Wisler and Ruby Guthrie. It was edited by Sanden Totten, fact checking by Nico Gonzalez Wilser, engineering help from Alex Simpson, with sound design by Rachel Brees. Original theme music by Marc Sanchez.
We had additional production help from the rest of the Brains On Universe team, Molly Bloom, Rosie DuPont, Anna Goldfield, Lauren Humbert, Marc Sanchez, Joshua Ray, Rebecca Rand, Charlotte Traver, Anna Weggel, and Aron Woldeslassie. Beth Pearlman is our executive producer and the executives in charge of APM Studios are Chandra Kavati, and Joanne Griffith.
Special thanks to Michelle Pemberton, Hannah [? Leah, ?] Andrea Pierre, and Girl Scout Troop 653. OK, Flora. Ready to hear the answers for First Things First?
FLORA: I've literally never been more ready in my life.
[LAUGHTER]
JOY: That's what I'm talking about. OK, so just as a reminder, we said that trefoils were first, toffee-tastic was second, and adventurefuls were third?
FLORA: Mm-hm.
JOY: OK, let's see what the answer is, and you were right.
FLORA: Right, really?
JOY: Yeah. You were. That was amazing. Great job. So first up was trefoils, and that was invented in 1974. So these were one of the first official Girl Scout cookies released, like you said. You were absolutely right, smarty-pants. They're stamped with the Girl Scout logo. It's shaped kind of like a shamrock with the profiles of three people inside. And fun fact, an unofficial early version of this cookie was actually created decades earlier, in the 1930s by Girl Scouts in Philadelphia. They made their own cookie cutter to make them in the trefoil stamp.
And then second, like you said, it was toffee-tastic, and that was invented more recently, in 2014, so fairly recent. This was the first gluten free Girl Scout cookie released, and it was created in response to customer demand for a gluten free cookie.
FLORA: I mean, I've never had one, but they sound really good.
JOY: I know. I'm going to get some toffee-tastic right after this. It's going to be tastic. And last but certainly not least, is adventurefuls, which were your favorite, and those were invented in 2022, so very recently. So these salted caramel brownie cookies were so popular when they were released in 2022 that they sold out in some parts of the country and caused a shortage.
FLORA: Oh, so the adventurefuls must have been the first year they were there, the first year I joined Girl Scouts, because I was 8 or 9 when I joined.
JOY: Oh, yeah, so you were there right when adventurefuls started too. And maybe in like 40 years, you can look back and be like, I remember when adventurefuls first came out.
FLORA: I heard they're adding a new cookie this year.
JOY: Do you know any secrets about that that you can share?
FLORA: They haven't announced it yet.
JOY: If you had a dream cookie, what would it be? What would be on it?
FLORA: It'd be like the adventureful, but it'd be vanilla and then there'd be raspberry jelly in it.
JOY: Oh, that sounds good.
FLORA: And chocolate drizzled on top instead of chocolate.
JOY: Oh, Girl Scouts get on that. That sounds so good. I would buy 500 boxes. The name adventurefuls is a nod to the spirit of adventure that the Girl Scouts help inspire in members. Adventurefuls. Join us next week for a new episode all about a very ancient sport played thousands of years.
FLORA: Thanks for listening.
[THEME MUSIC]
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