Here’s what happened.
The state that gave the USA its first public university (University of Georgia), the first college for women (Wesleyan), and the first college for black women (Spelman) can boast proudly of another important educational innovation. On February 17, 1897, a Georgia native co-convened the first meeting of an organization that would come to be known as the National Parent Teacher Association (PTA).
With hundreds of state and local branches, “The National PTA is the oldest and largest volunteer association working exclusively on behalf of all children and youth. For more than 100 years, the National PTA has promoted the education, health, and safety of children, youth, and families.”
Here’s why it mattered then.
Alice McLellen Birney, a native of Marietta, Georgia, was motivated by her desire to establish an organization that would expand educational and social opportunities for children and women. It was no easy challenge, since the early 20th Century was a period in USA history when such activism was generally not popular. But she forged ahead anyway, and held an organizational meeting at Marietta High School in 1895.
Birney found a kindred spirit in Phoebe Apperson Hearst, the wife of a U.S. Senator from California. Over 2,000 people attended that 1897 meeting of The National Congress of Mothers, the PTA’s forerunner, in Washington, DC. The two women’s efforts had successfully combined not only their zeal, but also Birney’s organizational skills and Hearst’s influence in the nation’s capital.
Here’s why it matters now.
The PTA web site notes, “PTA offers a variety of programs to help parents, students, and communities succeed. PTA presents signature programs such as Healthy Lifestyles as well as annual events such as Start the Art and Teacher Appreciation Week . . .”
The web site further notes, “. . . PTA encourages parent involvement through its hallmark Family-School Partnerships initiative and the accompanying National Standards for Family-School Partnerships. PTA Reflections is the most successful program in the nation, reaching thousands of students each year.”
Here’s the latest update . . .
Despite the PTA’s noble intentions, membership in even service organizations typically reflected the segregation that prevailed throughout the USA in the Jim Crow era. In response, Spelman graduate and Atlanta teacher Selena Sloan Butler founded the National Congress of Colored Parents and Teachers (NCCPT) in 1911. In 1970 the two organizations finally merged into the current National PTA.
Next month, another service organization with strong Georgia connections will be recognized, as it observes its first centennial. Girl Scouts USA was founded in Savannah in 1912.
. . . And here’s an interesting fact!
Phoebe Hearst was certainly more than a senator’s wife. In addition to her historic work with the PTA, she was a generous benefactor of many cultural and educational institutions, including the University of California, Berkeley. She was also the mother of the nation’s first media mogul: William Randolph Hearst. A building on the campus of Oglethorpe University bears her name as a monument to the Hearst family’s generosity.
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