By Jordan Meadows
Staff Writer
Josephine Amanda Groves Holloway, born on March 10, 1898, in Cowpens, South Carolina, was a determined pioneer who worked to ensure African-American girls had a place in the Girl Scouts.
The seventh of ten children born to Emma Gray Groves and Methodist minister John Wesley Groves, she was raised in a household that deeply valued education. After completing Brewer Normal School in Beaufort, she followed a teacher’s advice and enrolled at Fisk University in Nashville in 1919. Despite struggling with illness and finances, she earned a sociology degree in 1923, later adding a second bachelor’s degree in business from Tennessee A&I State College in 1926.
Her journey into Girl Scouting began soon after graduation, when she became the Girls' Worker at the Bethlehem Center, a settlement house for at-risk women and girls. Inspired by the potential of Girl Scouting and trained by the founder Juliette Gordon Low herself, Holloway organized the first unofficial Black Girl Scout troop in Middle Tennessee in 1924.
She was temporarily interrupted in 1925 when she married Guerney Holloway, the Boys' Worker at the Bethlehem Center. The center’s director believed a married woman couldn’t manage her work duties, and she was forced to resign. The troop dissolved soon after her departure, but Holloway’s mission was far from over.
While raising three daughters and working as a registrar at Fisk and later for the Tennessee Department of Welfare, she continued her fight for inclusion in scouting. When her eldest daughter turned six in 1933, she petitioned the newly formed Nashville Girl Scout Council to create a troop for Black girls. Her request was denied.
Undeterred, Holloway began organizing unofficial troops with over 150 girls, using handbooks her husband acquired while studying in Chicago. She taught the girls everything they needed to know—Scout laws, promises, and skills—without official support.
For nearly a decade, Holloway and other Black women sustained these unofficial troops. In 1942, the increasing number of African-American troops forced the Nashville Council to officially recognize them. One year later, Troop 200, led by Holloway and including her own daughters—Nareda, Josephine, and Weslia—became a reality.
In 1944, Holloway became the first African-American professional hired by the Middle Tennessee Girl Scout Council, serving as field advisor, organizer, and later as a district and camp director. Her work laid the foundation for hundreds of Black girls to engage in scouting, despite continuing segregation. By 1944, there were 13 troops and over 250 Black Girl Scouts in Nashville.
As opportunities for Black Girl Scouts expanded, Holloway recognized the need for facilities. Many state parks remained closed to African Americans, so she used her community connections to help the council purchase land from Black landowners near White House, Tennessee. In 1955, Camp Holloway was opened in her honor.
Despite limited council funding, she and her family maintained the grounds, brought in military surplus buildings, and even constructed a swimming pool, ensuring Black girls could enjoy a full scouting experience.
The council began integrating troops between 1960 and 1965. Nevertheless, Holloway continued advocating for equity until her retirement in 1963.
Her dedication earned her numerous accolades, including the “Hidden Heroine” award during the U.S. Bicentennial in 1976 and honors from organizations like Zeta Phi Beta Sorority and the National Association of Business and Professional Women.
In 1991, the Girl Scout headquarters opened the Josephine G. Holloway Historical Collection and Gallery.
Upon her passing on December 7, 1988, at the age of 90, she bequeathed 50 acres of land next to Camp Holloway, ensuring her legacy of inclusion and empowerment would continue.
