*A teen from Northwest Indiana flies into Black History books this month as the first ever female African-American Eagle Scout.
“As a Scout, I want to be of service to others – lending a helping hand,” wrote Kendall Jackson in an essay for scoutingwire.org last May, when she was a Life Scout (the tier before Eagle). Jackson wrote about how she became interested in crossing the male service group’s gender and racial boundaries.
When my brother, Kenny, was a Scout, my mother was his Scoutmaster. Kenny is nine years older than me, and, at a young age, I was consistently described as his “shadow.” If he was in the dirt, I was in the dirt. If he was doing community service, I was by his side. Since I was always at meetings and outings, mom helped me learn how to be a Scout, too. Just as I learned the Lord’s Prayer, the Beatitudes and the Twenty-Third Psalm for church, I learned the Scout Oath and Law.
After years of hard work, meetings, and camping trips, Kenny earned his Eagle in 2011. At his court of honor, I stood in front of the audience as a proud little sister – looking up at my giant brother, holding my Dad’s hand, seeing the pride in my Grandma’s eyes and thinking, we did it! Right then, I knew I really wanted to be an Eagle Scout. But how could that even be possible for me?
February 1, 2019, everything changed. First thing that morning, Mom and I drove to the Pathway to Adventure Council office. I held the paperwork for the new Scouts BSA Troop 53G so tightly in my hand, I almost smeared the ink. My mom was quiet as we walked in. As I submitted the paperwork, she started wiping her eyes. I didn’t understand at that moment why she was so emotional. I mean I was excited, but why the tears?
Now, I get it. I was no longer the “little sister.” I could now be a Scout! She knew I now had the same opportunities in Scouting as my brother did. I could learn to solve problems and work to come up with my own answers. She could see Scouting as a part of my future, and I could now experience all Scouting had offered my brother and so many other young men she had helped to guide during her 21 years of being a Scoutmaster – Discipline, Knowledge, Responsibility, and Opportunity.
Below, Jackson talks about becoming a part of Black history.
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