Women's HIstory Month

 Welcome to National Women's Month! I'd like to introduce my Diverse Advisory Council member and Women's History Month Representative, 

Laurel Roe Morris.

Laurel is a native of New Hampshire, educated at Wells College, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and UNCC. 

She retired as Director of the Gaston County Public Library after devoting 35 years to public service. 

Laurel is very active in the Gastonia Rotary Club and currently serves as an Assistant Governor for Rotary District 7680. She is also a Board Member of the Gaston Literacy Council and the Dream Center Academy, and she spent over 20 years as a Girl Scout volunteer. 

Her hobbies include travel, sewing, and reading, and she also enjoys assisting with local theater productions.

Welcome, Laurel! You can look for weekly articles celebrating Women's History Month beginning next Wednesday and throughout March! 

  This year, the official theme of Women’s History Month is “Celebrating Women Who Tell Our Stories,” so it seems natural to have a retired librarian to post this month’s think pieces. 

Not only are libraries the

repositories for stories of all kinds and in all media forms, but many librarians specialize in telling and retelling favorite stories and themes in kids’ story times and in programs for all ages. 

I’ve been fortunate to work with many excellent storytellers in my career, as well as having the privilege to help connect library users with stories that they will enjoy.

Throughout history, some of the earliest stories a child hears have come from the lips of a mother, grandmother, or even older sister. 

Women have overcome many obstacles to tell their own stories, sometimes having to use a pen name to get published. We are lucky to live in an age where it is much easier for women’s voices to be heard and told, but there is still work to be done. 

Look at how few women filmmakers are even nominated for the top prizes at the Oscars, let alone chosen as winners. (six nominees,

two winners so far). Seventeen women have won the Nobel Prize for Literature, which represents only 14% of the 119 total awarded, and in the US, 20 women have won the National Book Award for fiction of the 80 total awarded.

We still have a way to go, in other words. But let’s pause this month and honor the women who capture our imaginations through their storytelling gifts, through the printed word, song, or visual arts. We have stories worthy

to be told and retold!

   Each year, a very special part of Women’s History Month for me is Girl Scout Week, which this year began on Sunday, March 12, and ends on Saturday, March 18. 

Girl Scout Week celebrates the anniversary of the founding of Girl Scouts USA, 111 years ago. On March 12, 1912, Juliette Gordon Low, known as Daisy, organized the first Girl Scout troop in Savannah, Georgia, and from those humble beginnings has grown an incredible institution that as of 2020 serves 1.7 million girls and 750,000 adults, both in the USA and, through USA Girl Scouts Overseas, in over 92

countries around the world. 

They are also part of the international World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS), which provides girl empowerment and development opportunities to over 10 million girls and adults in 146 countries.

Daisy Low’s story is interesting itself. Born into a wealthy Georgia family at the beginning of the Civil War, in childhood she demonstrated artistic and dramatic talent and loved the outdoors. She also was faced with some physical challenges, including a hearing impairment as the result of a childhood illness that was made worse in adulthood when a grain of rice thrown at her wedding to William Low lodged in her ear and became infected.

The couple travelled abroad and resided in England and Scotland. Daisy continued her artistic endeavors, learning sculpting, woodworking, and ironworking, enjoyed a social life with many famous and well-connected people, and devoted time to charity work. 

Meanwhile, her marriage to William Low faltered and they were separated for many years before his eventual death in 1905.

Everything changed for Daisy and her future course was set when she met Sir Robert Baden-Powell and learned about his Boy Scout program. In1911, she began working with Sir Robert and his sister Agnes with the newly formed Girl Guides in Scotland and England. 

In early 1912, she returned home to Savannah, called up her cousin, and told her, “I’ve got something for the girls of Savannah, and all America, and all the world, and we’re going to start it tonight!”

The Girl Scout program began as a way for girls to learn outdoor skills like knot-tying, woodcraft, and camping; domestic, First Aid, and nursing skills; arts and crafts; and even sports such as basketball. There was a patriotic aspect to the organization as well, especially during the World Wars. 

The first manual, written by Daisy, was called “How Girls Can Help Their Country.” Daisy used her social connections, her organizational ability, and downright stubbornness to foster the growth of Girl Scouting in the US. 

She was famous for using her hearing impairment as an excuse for not hearing any potential donors or volunteers tell her “No.” She continued to exhibit strong vision and leadership for the organization until her death in 1927, laying the strong foundation for its continued success.

Though many people think of “cookies, crafts, and camping” as the main components of the Girl Scout program today, one crucial element of the organization is its focus on research 

into girl’s development and its adaptation of activities, awards, and methodology to the ever-changing needs of girls from the ages of 6-18. 

Girl Scouts USA has continued to focus on serving girls wholistically, and remaining relevant as the world has changed, with the mission of “building girls of courage, confidence, and character, who make the world a better place.

When I was growing up, my Girl Scout leader and troop was a safe haven for me during difficult times, and I promised to myself to always stay involved in the program and to be a troop leader one day. 

Now a Lifetime Girl Scout with daughters and a stepdaughter who are also Lifetime Girl Scouts, I am still very proud to call myself a Girl Scout, and thankful for the amazing experiences, travel, and friendships that have arisen through Girl Scouting. 

Girl Scout Week will always be an important week that I celebrate, with thanks to Juliette “Daisy” Low and the amazing organization she founded.

 Continuing our series on Women's History Month, Laurel reminds us just how hard women have had to struggle in this country. 

An important anniversary in women’s history, especially in the United States, is coming up this July: the 175 the anniversary of the Seneca Falls Convention in Seneca Falls, New York.

Imagine the courage and fortitude it must have taken to be one of the 300 people, mostly women, who traveled to this little town in the Finger Lakes in 1848! Organized by women’s rights pioneers such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, and Mary M’Clintock, the convention was held to give voice and attention to the fact that women were not considered full citizens by law. 

They could not vote or hold office, and in many cases could not own property or determine their own livelihoods.

The main result of the several days of meetings and debate was the drafting and passage of a “Declaration of Sentiments,” which is very similar to the wording of the well-known Declaration of Independence which is a US founding document:

“When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one portion of the family of man to assume among the people of the earth a position different from that which they have hitherto occupied, but one to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes that impel them to such a course.

We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men and women are created equal…”

Bold words for sure, and a strong call for the men in power to recognize that half of the nation’s citizens were subject to taxation without representation, one of the main issues the colonists fought about in the Revolutionary War.

Of course, despite the hard work of the women’s rights pioneers, it took years and years for their efforts to be fruitful. The right to vote wasn’t passed nationwide until 1920, and other reforms took even longer. 

And efforts to officially enforce equality in all areas between men and women through the Equal Rights Amendment, have still never been fully passed.

A visit to the National Women’s Rights Historical Park in Seneca Falls will give you a great insight into the long, long struggle for equality in this country and is well worth the trip. 

Image: https://votesforwomennhd.weebly.com/seneca-falls-convention-1848.html

Check out their website for a virtual visit

and more information:

Women's Rights National Historical Park 

https://www.nps.gov/wori/index.htm