The
Girls State History
Girls State began as one- and two-day sessions in the late 1930s. Washington D.C. and Delaware are credited
with first executing the program. In 1939, Girls State was expanded to make it a week-long government education
program. Since 1948, it has been a regular part of the Auxiliary's Americanism curriculum.
For more than 50 years, the American Legion Auxiliary has succeeded in giving these girls the finest citizenship
training program possible. The program has grown from a few hundred participants to nearly 20,000 Girls
State delegates annually.
The Auxiliary has long been recognized by
Freedom's Foundation
at Valley Forge, Pa., for the Girls State and Girls Nation program. It has also received special recognition
from the
National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP), which has placed this program on its
National Advisory List of Contests and Activities.
