The first African-American Girl Scout troop in the South was formed in Richmond.

And it met on the campus of Virginia Union University.

A historical marker commemorating history-making Girl Scout Troop 34 will be unveiled 1 p.m. this Saturday, Sept. 20.

Location: Hartshorn Hall at Virginia Union University, 1500 N. Lombardy St. on North Side.

The marker was approved by the Virginia Department of Historical Resources at its December meeting.

The marker commemorates “the first African American Girl Scout troop in the South,” which began meeting in 1932 on the campus. The Richmond troop was started by sponsors Lena Watson, Janie Jones and Mary Virginia Binga just 20 years after the Girl Scout organization was founded in 1912 in Savannah, Ga.

“The Richmond Girl Scouts served as a model for other southern localities as the Girl Scout organization moved toward integration,” according to the marker.

The marker is sponsored by the Girl Scouts of the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Viola O. Baskerville, executive director of the sponsoring scouting council, called the event “very important for establishing where the model for increasing the participation of African-American women and girls in Girl Scouting began.”

She said Troop 34 is no longer active, but noted its legacy lives on with an estimated 22 percent of the Girl Scouts of the Commonwealth of Virginia membership comprised of African-Americans.

Speakers during the unveiling ceremony will include Thomasina T. Binga, a retired educator and daughter-in-law of the troop’s founding sponsor Mary Virginia Binga; Ms. Baskerville; Dr. Claude G. Perkins, president of Virginia Union University; Giovanni Smith and Lisa Kroll, also of GSCV; Dr. Lauranett L. Lee, curator of African-American history at the Virginia Historical Society; and Melina Bezirdjian of the Department of Historic Resources.

Today, the scouting organization celebrates the “multicultural mosaic” of its membership, with more than 2 million girls in the United States and abroad.

Saturday’s ceremony is open to the public.

Details: Randy Jones of VDHR, (540) 578-3031.