Juliette Gordon Low

Published May 27, 2026 at 10:04 AM EDT

black-and-white portrait shows a woman wearing a broad-brimmed hat. — FILE - This undated file photo shows Juliette Gordon Low of Savannah, Ga. Low founded the U.S. Girl Scout movement in 1912 and lived to see the organization reach a membership of more than 168,000. She died in 1927. Low's original registration book from March of 1912 shows 102 recruits. Now a century has passed and millions of Americans have taken the Girl Scout promise, sold Samoas and Thin Mints by the truckload and gone on to careers from CEOs to astronauts. (AP Photo/File)

Juliette Gordon Low was the founder of Girl Scouts of the USA. She was born in Savannah, Georgia in 1860. After meeting the founder of the Boy Scouts in 1912, she became committed to the idea of bringing scouting to girls and promoting more egalitarian gender roles.

She established the Girl Scouts in her hometown in Georgia with a small troop of 18 girls. Using her own wealth, including her wedding pearls, Low spread the Girl Scouts across the US and the world. She spent the rest of her life devoting her time to the Girl Scout cause, inspiring girls to get outside, connect with their communities and find ways to make the world a better place.

To date, more than 50 million American women have participated in the Girl Scouts.