California Girls State

About

California Girls State History

Girls Nation History

California Historical Characters

What can happen after Girls State?

Every state in the nation produces a Girls State session each year.

It is estimated that approximately 19,000 young women participate in Girls State programs throughout the nation each year.

The total estimated Girls State Citizenry is 1,179,000 in 2010.

In 1940, the dream of California Girls State became a reality. It was at an Interim Board Meeting of the Auxiliary that Girls State was proposed. Earliest pioneers who helped to create this program include Ruth Mathebat, Muriel Wright, Mary Ann Holt, and others. It was unanimously accepted, visitation at Grant Union High School finalized the plans, and the first Girls State was held June 22-29, 1940.

The 1940 session saw 125 girls in attendance, a $15.00 fee per girl, and a $500.00 working budget for the entire week. The session had only two counties and 4 cities. After the 1941 session, Girls State was in recess due to the war years 1942-1945. It was back in full force in 1946.

The 1950's brought a new location for Girls State. It was moved to California Junior High, Sacramento. The attendance was over 300 girls and the fee per girl was $60.00. It was enlarged to 4 counties and 12 cities. If Girls State was to admit there was ever a bad session it would have to be the 1957 session held at UC Davis. Almost the entire staff and citizens were stricken with the Asian flu. Unfortunately, the flu took its toll on the girls and staff, regretfully losing the Director Ruth Mathebat two weeks after the session.

The 1960's began at the UC Davis campus and had 500 plus girls in attendance. It was now up to our current 4 counties and 16 cities.

With the rise in costs, during the 1970's was a move to Squaw Valley for Girls State. Such a beautiful setting for such a beautiful program! 1971 to 1974 we were at Squaw Valley and these had to be our "Sound of Music" years. The Valley was sold to developers and so we moved again - back home to Sacramento, with 1975 being the first session held on the Sacramento State campus. The fee is now up to $150 per girl and there were 560 girls in attendance.

The 1980s found Girls State adding more instructional parts to the program: school boards, courts system, planning commissions. The limit on the number of girls who could attend was set at 540, assuring Girls State is a quality not quantity program like so many other programs we know. The fee per girl to attend was $250. Due to work being done at Sacramento State campus, in 1988 we moved to Fresno State campus Fresno treated us nicely, and the move helped us to appreciate Sacramento. We were glad to return home to Sacramento State in 1989.

The 1990s included the 50th Anniversary and two more moves. The 1992 session was held at Sonoma State University in Rohnert Park. For the 1993 session the fee was increased to $275, still limiting the number of girls to 540. For the first time in the history of Girls State, the session was moved to Southern California in order to reduce the costs of transportation. At the time, there were a minimum of ten buses used to transport girls from the south to the session. The planners believed that moving the session to the south would reduce the necessary buses to six, thus reducing costs. The 1995 session was held on the campus of Claremont College, a cluster of colleges. The first year session used Pitzer and Harvey Mudd campuses. The following sessions were held at Pitzer and Claremont-McKenna campuses. The number of girls remained at 540 and the fee at $275.

Currently, the session continues to use Claremont-McKenna campus. The fee is $400 per girl. The program grows and adapts to meet the current challenges of our government.

California Girls State total attendance is over 30,000 young women. Future leaders of California and the United States are born here at Girls State. With deepest appreciation we wish to thank and recognize the accomplishments of the American Legion Auxiliary - without you, Girls State is nothing!

Back in the depression ridden days of the early 1930s, The American Legion grew concerned over public statements to the effect that Democracy was on the skids. How, it wondered, could America train its young people in the process of self-government as effectively as Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany seemed to be training their youth groups in the promulgation of totalitarian forms of government. Deciding that the best way to learn something was by practicing it, American Legionnaires began, in 1935, to gather teenage representative high schools together for a few days each summer in a citizenship training program on the processes of city and state government. They called it Boys State.

As this program succeeded and spread throughout the United States, the American Legion Auxiliary began providing similar opportunities for girls of high school age. Thus, Girls State was founded. The first Girls State was conducted in 1938 and since 1948 has been a regular part of the Auxiliary's better citizenship programs. By 1984, Girls State sessions were held in all 50 states.

Girls Nation, the youth citizenship program in the processes of federal government to which Girls States send two senators each, is an annual climax to the Girls State program and has been held in the Nations' Capital for one week each summer since 1947.

Girls State is staffed by American Legion Auxiliary members who volunteer their time and effort to this enterprise. Its administrative costs are defrayed by their Department (state) organizations. All costs for Girls Nation, including transportation, are financed by the American Legion Auxiliary's national organization. Delegates to Girls State are selected with the help of their high school principals on the basis of potential leadership qualities and must be between their Junior and Senior years in high school to qualify. Through these programs, it is estimated that each summer the American Legion Auxiliary is adding 19,000 girls trained in the processes of government to a group that by the end of 2010 will total about 1,179,000.

It is important to note that many people played a vital role in the history of the State of California. Here at Girls State we use their names for our cities and counties.

Vasco Núñez de Balboa Born in 1474, Balboa was a Spanish explorer, governor, and conquistador. He is best known for having crossed the Isthmus of Panama to the Pacific Ocean in 1513, becoming the first European to lead an expedition to have seen or reached the Pacific from the New World. He traveled to the New World in 1500 and, after some exploration, settled on the island of Hispaniola. He founded the settlement of Santa María la Antigua del Darién in present-day Colombia in 1510, which was the first permanent European settlement on the mainland of the Americas. In San Francisco, California, Balboa's name appears among a row of avenues which are named after Spanish conquistadors and in a San Francisco neighborhood Balboa Park. There is also large park (Balboa Park) adjacent to downtown San Diego, California named after Balboa, in which there are many world-class museums.

John Bidwell John Bidwell was born in New York in 1819. In May of 1841, he organized the first emigrant train to California. As clerk of the company, he kept a daily journal, which supplied a wealth of historical material and personal observation. Six months later, his train reached John Marsh's ranch at the foot of Mt. Diablo. He was one of the fearless pioneers who blazed trails which later, the pathfinders were able to follow. Bidwell found employment with John Sutter at New Helvetia. Later, he became very active in California politics. In 1892, he was a presidential nominee for the Prohibition Party. He was the owner of the Rancho Chico which is presently the City of Chico. He was the discoverer of gold while working for Sutter. John Bidwell died in 1900.

Luther Burbank was born in Massachusetts, March 7, 1849. He moved to California when he was 26 years of age. His botanical gardens in Santa Rosa are known all over the world. It was here he conducted his revolutionary experiments and investigations on plants for more than 50 years, some of his experiments taking 35-40 years to complete. He helped mankind conquer nature and serve her own ends, while he incidentally realize his private ambition to produce better fruit and fairer flowers. The City of Burbank and a variety of potatoes are named in his honor. He died April 11, 1926.

Peter Hardeman Burnett 1849 saw the first California Constitutional Convention in Monterey, where territorial politicians drafted documents suitable to admit California as a state in the United States. During the 1849 referendum to adopt the California Constitution, Peter Burnett, with name recognition in Sacramento and San Francisco, and a resume that included the Oregon Provisional Legislature, decided to run for the new territory's first civilian governor, replacing the string of military governors and bureaucracy from the U.S. military. Burnett easily won the election over four other candidates, including John Sutter, and was sworn in as California's first elected civilian governor on December 20, 1849 in San Jose in front of the California State Legislature.

Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo Juan Cabrillo, Portuguese by birth, was a navigator of the 16th century who explored under the Spanish flag. In June 1542, he set out from Natividad to discover a strait which was thought to stretch from the Pacific to the Atlantic Coast. During this trip, on September 28, 1542, Cabrillo discovered a port which was named San Miguel. Later, this port was renamed San Diego by another explorer, Viscaino. Unwittingly, Cabrillo achieved the honor of discovering Alta California. Through Cabrillo did not find the strait he sought or any wealthy kingdom, he did help to make known some 800 miles of coast for New Spain. His tenacity and courage against the face of almost super human odds gave future Californians a noble tradition to follow. The island on which he died in 1543 named "Island of San Juan Rodriguez" was so named by his companions. Neither the name or the merit of his accomplishments have been preserved to him.

Kit Carson Christopher "Kit" Carson was born in Kentucky on December 24, 1809. He has been alternately labeled by historical as Indian Fighter, Hunter, Trader, and Trapper. Even as a very young boy, Carson enjoyed the out-of-doors, and spent most of this time pursuing outdoor activities. Carson led General John C. Fremont's party to Sutter's Fort in 1846. Sonoma has the honor of being the first place at which the freedom of California was declared. There, the Bear Flag, together with the United States flag, were displayed among the shouts of Carson, Fremont, and their followers. As a result of his courage and patriotism, Carson was selected to bear the news to Washington that a thousand men had been added to the soil of the Union. The trip took him 60 days. He rose to be Brigadier-General in the United States Army. Carson City, Nevada, and Carson Pass proudly bear the name of this colorful figure. He died at Fort Lyon, Colorado on May 23, 1868.

Charles Crocker Charles Crocker owned a store which sold clothes, shoes, and blankets to miners. He became one of the "Big Four" who set forth a railroad company known as the Central Pacific Railroad Company. Crocker was in charge of building the railroad. He set thousands of men to work cutting down trees which eventually became railroad ties. The large group of Chinese workers became known as "Crocker's Pets" and would race the other crew of Irish workers to see who could lay the most track in a single day. The Chinese won, laying 10 miles of railroad in just one day.

Juan Bautista de Anza De Anza was a most outstanding figure in the Spanish period. He led the first colonists to San Francisco from Sonora Mexico. He surveyed sites for the presidio and a mission on the San Francisco Bay, while the colonists remained at Monterey. Another of De Anza's expeditions was his famous crossing of the Sierra in the dead of winter over snow peaked mpuntains with dangerous avalanches. This march ended in San Francisco. His soldiers should receive much praise because it was they who opened the great interior valleys of Sacramento and San Joaquin. After De Anza's march to the sea in 1775, he found and made an overland route to the coast mission in order to avoid the perils and uncertainty of communication by sea and to insure the settlement of the upper part of California. He wanted to do more developing, but was killed by a warring tribe of Apaches.

John Charles Fremont Fremont, the Pathfinder, was born January 31, 1813 is Savannah, Georgia. With the opening of the Oregon Trail, it was Fremont's explorations and reports that guided emigrants from the east safely through the perilous Rockies to the long awaited west. After the outbreak of the Bear Flag Revolution between the American and Mexican rulers, Fremont was appointed the Major of the battle and along with Commodore Stockton conquered the territory of California from Mexico for the United States. Fremont was appointed military governor of California, but his term was short-lived because of a change in authority from Washington. He was on of the first two senators from California. It has been said the "From the ashes of Fremont's campfires sprung cities." The city of Fremont is named after this man. He died in New York on July 13, 1890.

Bret Harte Bret Harte was born August 25, 1836 in Albany, New York. He moved to California in 1853, later working there in a number of capacities, including miner, teacher, messenger, and journalist. He spent part of his life in the northern California coastal town of Union (now known as Arcata), a settlement on Humboldt Bay that was established as a provisioning center for mining camps in the interior. When serving as assistant editor for the Northern Californian, Harte editorialized about the slayings during a 1860 massacre of Wiyots at the village of Tutulwat. After publishing the editorial, his life was threatened and he was forced to flee one month later. Harte quit his job and moved to San Francisco, where an anonymous letter published in a city paper is attributed to him, describing widespread community approval of the massacre. His first literary efforts, including poetry and prose, appeared in The Californian, an early literary journal. In 1868 he became editor of The Overland Monthly, another new literary magazine, but this one more in tune with the pioneering spirit of excitement in California. His story, "The Luck of Roaring Camp," appeared in the magazine's second edition, propelling Harte to nationwide fame. Determined to pursue his literary career, in 1871 he and his family traveled back East, to New York and eventually to Boston, where he contracted with the publisher of The Atlantic Monthly for an annual salary of $10,000, "an unprecedented sum at the time."His popularity waned, however, and by the end of 1872 he was without a publishing contract and increasingly desperate. He spent the next few years struggling to publish new work (or republish old), delivering lectures about the gold rush, and even selling an advertising jingle to a soap company. In 1878 Harte was appointed to the position of United States Consul in the town of Krefeld, Germany and then to Glasgow in 1880. In 1885 he settled in London. During the twenty-four years he spent in Europe, he never abandoned writing, and maintained a prodigious output of stories that retained the freshness of his earlier work. He died in England in 1902.

Nancy Roberts Kelsey was the first white woman to visit Utah, and she was the first to cross the Sierra Nevada mountains, arriving in California on November 25, 1841. She said, "Where my husband goes I can go. I can better stand the hardships of the journey than the anxieties for an absent husband." With those words Nancy Kelsey began a journey across country no white woman had ever made. With her baby on her hip, Nancy, who had just turned 18 a few days earlier, became the first woman, other than Native Americans, to walk on Utah soil. The year was 1841 and the Kelsey clan, often on the move, once again had itching feet. A letter from a Dr. John Marsh in California praising the new land excited many yearning for a great adventure. However, when spring came, only a small group gathered at Sapling Grove near Weston, Missouri, to actually make the trip. Among them were several members of the extended Kelsey family, including Nancy, her husband Ben, and their daughter Martha Ann. Known as the Bartleson-Bidwell Party, this group followed dim traces of the new Oregon Trail. Thomas "Broken-Hand" Fitzpatrick, famous mountain man, was their guide as far as Soda Springs, Idaho. Then they were on their own. Seven long, weary months would pass before they arrived at Sutter's Fort in California. The second lap of the trip earned Nancy Kelsey the distinction of being the first white woman to cross the Sierra Nevada.

Thomas Larkin Larkin was born September 16, 1802 in Massachusetts and was a grandson of the Deacon John Larkin who provided the horse for Paul Revere's famous ride. In 1832, Larkin sailed around the Horn to California, where a year later, he married. His wife was the first white woman to settle in California and their son, Thomas Jr., was the first American born in the state. In 1834, Larkin went into the business of exporting timber, lumber, shingles, and horses to the Sandwich Islands, Mazatlan, and Acapulco; and supplying ships to war, whalers, and other vessels touching the coast. In 1844, Larkin was appointed by President Polk as the US Naval agent for the north-west coast of America. He assisted in the hoisting of the national flag over San Jose, San Francisco, Sonoma, and Sutter's Fort, thereby helping to establish California as part of the United States, freeing it from Mexican rule. He spent his remaining years in San Francisco and was thought by some to be the richest man in America.

Peter Lassen Lassen was born in Denmark in 1793. He came to the U.S. when he was twenty-nine. Lassen was one of the first white settlers to settle in the Upper Sacramento Valley and he played an influential part in this area's early history. His ranch stood at the end of the famous Lassen Trail which went through the Sierra Nevada. This was the first emigrant route into California from the eastern section of the country. Lassen brought his first party of emigrants to California in 1848. He discovered gold in the Honey Lake Valley early in 1855 while chasing a band of horse thieves as far north as Red Bluff. He selected land that was later granted to him by the Mexican government. Today, this area is known as the City of Susanville. The end of his valiant life came on April 26, 1859 when he was attacked and killed by a band of savage Indians. A monument over his grave reads, "Erected in honor of Peter Lassen by the people of the Northern Counties of the State of California." Mt. Lassen, an active volcano on the North American continent, is named after him. Today, the northeastern section of California is known as Lassen County.

James Wilson Marshall Born October 8, 1810, Marshall was an American carpenter and sawmill operator, whose discovery of gold in the American River in California on January 24, 1848 set the stage for the California Gold Rush. The mill property was owned by Johan (John) Sutter who employed Marshall to build his mill. The wave of gold seekers turned everyone's attention away from the mill which eventually fell into disrepair and was never used as intended. Neither Marshall nor Sutter ever profited from the gold discovery. The Mexican-American War began in May 1846. Marshall volunteered and served under Captain John C. Frémont's California Battalion during the Bear Flag Revolt. When he left the battalion and returned to his ranch in early 1847, he discovered that all his cattle had either strayed or been stolen. With his sole source of income gone, Marshall lost his land. Marshall died in Kelsey on August 10, 1885. His body was brought to Coloma and buried on the property where he had owned his vineyard. The grave was in a hill that overlooked the south fork of the American River. In May 1890, a monument was erected over his grave site. A statue of Marshall stands on top of the monument, pointing to the spot where he made his discovery in 1848.

John Muir Muir, born April 21, 1838 in Scotland, came to the United States when he was eleven. His great love of nature probably grew from his early life on a Wisconsin farm. He entered the University of Wisconsin and spent four years teaching and working his way through college. He then began the travels that continued through a great part of his life. Muir was one of the first American's to realize the forest should be protected by the government. It was largely through Muir's influence that Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks were established. He also discovered Muir Glacier in Alaska. Muir persuaded President Theodore Roosevelt to support an act in congress to set aside 148 acres of forest reserves. Muir's contribution to forest conservation was honored when a California redwood forest in the coastal range was given to the United States and named Muir Woods. John Muir died December 24, 1914 in Los Angeles.

Don Gaspar de Portola Portola was born in 1723, in Spain. In 1767, Don Carlos II of Spain issued the famous decree expelling the Jesuits from the Spanish dominions. This society established a number of missions in Lower California. Portola, a captain of the Regiment of Spain, was appointed the first governor of California and sailed to the area to dispossess the Jesuits, turning the California missions over to the Franciscan friars. With Friar Junipero Serra as head of the missionaries, Portola led a land expedition to San Diego and then up the coast to seek the part of Monterey. From Monterey, Portola resumed the northward march and consequently achieved the honor of discovering the giant redwoods. Part of the expedition was the first white men to see San Francisco Bay. In 1770, Portola established a presidio and the mission of San Carlos. The City of Portola was named for him. Portola died in 1784.

Father Junipero Serra Father Serra was born in the Isle of Mojorea in Spain, November 24, 1713. At the age of 17, Serra joined the Franciscan Order of St. Francis. He studied for the priesthood and in 1729, sailed for Mexico, there to labor in missionary work among the Native Americans of Sierra Corda. In 1768, the Franciscans were placed in possession of the peninsula missions and Alta California missions until his death on August 28, 1784. He was buried at the Monterey Mission in Carmel. Serra unquestionably stands out as the popular figure in California literature. His life became wholly identified with the history of Christianization and settlement of California. The missions of Alta California were all planned by the padres with the Native Americans performing the manual work. They were located in the most fertile spots along the coast. Each mission was about a day's journey apart, and the well known pathway over which Father Serra traveled is now known as "El Camino Real," the Kings Highway.

Leland Stanford Stanford was born in New York, March 7, 1824. After receiving a common school education and having studied law in New York, Stanford moved to Wisconsin where he married Jane Lathrop. In 1852, Stanford came to California to engage in mining for a short time. With Charles Crocker, Stanford established a general merchandising store in Sacramento. In 1856, he was one of the founders of the Republican Party and later, a delegate to the Republican National Convention where he cast his ballot for Lincoln. In 1861, he was elected the 8th Governor of California, and in 1885, California United States Senator. As governor, Stanford maintained California as a loyal state, giving freely of his time and money to the Union cause. He indicated sympathy for the laboring men and accomplished much for the industrial world. He was one of the four who built the company which built the Central Pacific Railroad. Stanford purchased and improved three of the world's largest ranches: Palo Alto, Vina, and Gridley. Later, he deeded this land to the state for the cause of education. Leland Stanford Junior University was named for his son who died at an early age. Stanford died June 21, 1893, in Palo Alto.

Captain John A. Sutter Sutter, born February 15, 1803, was a Swiss-American pioneer of California known for his association with the California Gold Rush by the discovery of gold by James W. Marshall and the mill making team at Sutter's Mill, and for establishing Sutter's Fort in the area that would eventually become Sacramento, the state's capital. Although famous throughout California for his association with the Gold Rush, Sutter died almost poor, having seen his business ventures fail while those of his elder son, John Augustus Sutter Jr., prospered.

General Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo Vallejo was born in Monterey July 7, 1807. He was an American of Spanish parentage. With a civil, religious, and military background, Vallejo became Commandante of the Presidio at the San Francisco Mission. In 1830, he established the neighboring town of Yerba Buena and proceeded across the bay to Sonoma to colonize the country in that area. Aided be his nephew, General Alvarado, and other men of influence in the southern part of the state, Vallejo was more than sufficient to checkmate the tyranny attempted by the Mexican government. He became an active public man, and was elected in 1849, a member of the convention which framed a constitution for the new American Republic. The California Society of Pioneers, on Admission Day, September 8, 1932, presented to his daughter, Mrs. Lusia Emparan, a bronze plaque bearing these words, "General of the Mexican forces in California. Advocate of annexation to the United States. Member of the Constitutional Convention in 1849. First native born member of this society. Sate Senator, Statesman, Historian." The City of Vallejo bears his name. He died in 1902.

Girls State has provided a valuable learning ground for hundreds of thousands of accomplished women. It instilled in these women a deeper understanding of government operations. They left Girls State less intimidated by government, able to see it for what it is - ordinary people working for the betterment of society. Some past Girls State citizens include:

Jane Pauley: Broadcast Journalist
Ann Richards: Former Governor of Texas
Jessica Mitchell: VP of Design/Director of Apparel for Liz Claiborne
Barbara Cubin: Member of the U.S. House of Representatives, Wyoming
Captain Michelle Johnson: First Female Wing Commander, U.S. Air Force Academy
Connie Morella: Member of the U.S. House of Representatives, Maryland
Terri Utley: Former Miss U.S.A. 1982
Kate Shindle: Former Miss America 1998, Actress, Singer, Dancer
Jennifer Dunn: Member of the U.S. House of Representatives, Washington
Sandra Dorsey Rice: Vice President, Emma Bowen Foundation
Jessica Webb: Senior Airman, Tennessee National Guard Airman of the Year for 2009
Becky Skillman: Lt. Governor of Indiana
Connie Lawson: Indiana Congresswoman
Ericka Dunlap: Miss America 2004
Lynne Cheney: Wife of Vice President Richard Cheney
Stephanie Herseth Sandlin: Member of the U.S. House of Representatives, South Dakota