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Girl Scout Alum Jay Johnson, History-Maker
February is Black History Month, and we’re turning the spotlight on our own history-maker, Girl Scout alum and Famous Former, Janice “Jay” Johnson. Founder of the Hampton Storytelling Festival and a long-time leader and member of Virginia Organizing, Jay’s inspiring story is filled with firsts.
Her extraordinary journey in Girl Scouts started as a Brownie in a troop led by Mary Jackson, a NASA engineer whose fame soared after the release of the movie Hidden Figures. Jay said she did not know about Mary’s work or how important she was until her teen years. “To me, she was just Miss Jackson, my Girl Scout leader. She was like a second mom to me and always nudged me to take leadership roles. At 16, I served with her as an assistant troop leader of a Girl Scout Intermediate troop.”
Always known as a risk taker and leader, Jay stepped up to become the first African American Girl Scout in Virginia to serve on a Senior Planning Board and was among the first in the nation to attend an All-State Encampment in Wyoming in 1956 during a time of racial segregation.
The trip exposed her to a world that she was not accustomed to, as she was one of only two Black girls out of the 120 Girl Scouts who attended. “Having the opportunity to be a minority amongst white girls made a difference to me,” Jay shared. “I learned I could make friends no matter where I went and could exist outside of my own community.”
Through her years growing up through the Girl Scout ranks, there was never a doubt that Jay would earn the highest award: the Curved Bar, which is now known as the Girl Scout Gold Award. “Our troop leader informed us about the requirements to earn the Curved Bar award, and it was up to us to pursue completion,” Jay said. “Since I was the only one pursuing this award, I spent a lot of time conferring with my leader about each requirement and its successful completion.” Although Jay and her fellow troop members all began working on the prerequisites together, she was the only one who followed through and earned the award in 1956.
A true go-getter who has always been committed to inclusiveness in Girl Scouts, Jay has been recognized with Girl Scout adult awards as well and received the Thanks Badge, the GSCCC Dorothy Barber Lifetime Achievement Award, and she was recognized as a GSCCC Famous Former in 2019. (Later, she was the featured guest speaker at the 2022 Famous Formers Luncheon which was held in her hometown of Hampton, where three women from NASA who were featured in Hidden Figures were posthumously honored—including Jay’s former troop leader, Mary Jackson.)
“Girl Scouts was the only organization in my childhood and young adulthood where I had positive interracial relations with other girls and adults,” Jay said. “Those experiences influenced my choosing to go outside the norm and attend an integrated college.” Jay went away to attend Wilson College, an all-women college, in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology. Just one year after receiving an undergraduate degree from Wilson College, Jay became a professional Girl Scout Field Director responsible for membership and program in Baltimore, Ohio. Not long after, she took a position with Girl Scouts of the USA as a membership consultant and was assigned to be the assistant to the first African American national president, Gloria Scott. Jay’s career also included serving as the first African American Council Executive Officer of an Ohio Girl Scout Council.
When Jay’s grandmother fell ill, she came back to Hampton to care for her. She entered a Master’s program at Hampton Institute, now known as Hampton University. Upon earning a Master’s degree in counseling, she directed the Hampton Coalition for Youth and cofounded the “Opening the Door to Diversity” book group. After fifteen years of leading Hampton’s youth programs, she retired and dedicated her time to Virginia Organizing, a statewide grassroots organization dedicated to challenging injustice by empowering people in local communities to address issues that affect the quality of their lives. She was a founding member of the State Governing Board, and wore many hats throughout her tenure, including acting as chairperson and sitting on multiple statewide strategy committees, and is still an active member today.
Also now a professional storyteller, Jay will once again be showcased at this summer’s Hampton Storytelling Festival, set for July 16-19. She routinely includes tales from her Girl Scout days in her performances, as well as some of the amazing, history-making adventures she has lived.
