PTA Founders Day and Black History
February is the month set aside to recognize the contributions of African Americans.
Those contributions have and continue to impact National Parent Teachers Association, too.
Adding to history, on February 17, 1897 the journey to be a voice for children began in Washington, DC. Two hundred people were expected, yet over two thousand showed up for the very first meeting to establish National Congress of Mothers, which would later become known as National Parent Teacher Association.
Fast forward to May 7, 1926, Selena Sloan Butler, an African-American teacher and wife of a prominent physician, founded the National Congress of Colored Parents and Teachers. Selena Sloan Butler was elected the first president of NCCPT, whose function was to organize and operate only in states where separate schools for the races were maintained. This was dictated by individual state laws, not by PTA Bylaws. These state laws prevented African-American communities from belonging to the larger, older association.
After schools across the country were no longer legally separated, the National Congress of Parents and Teachers and the National Congress of Colored Parents and Teachers unified as the national PTA on June 22, 1970 in Atlanta, Georgia,
Almost 27 years later in June 1997, Lois Jean White was installed as the first African-American President of the National PTA. She realized that many people weren’t a part of the association because they didn’t know enough about the association. I think that is just as true today, especially for people of color.
It is time to tell our story, to refocus on the vision and contributions of Selena Sloan Butler that will make us more inclusive of the children, families, schools and communities that we serve. Our children are depending on us.
Those contributions have and continue to impact National Parent Teachers Association, too.
Adding to history, on February 17, 1897 the journey to be a voice for children began in Washington, DC. Two hundred people were expected, yet over two thousand showed up for the very first meeting to establish National Congress of Mothers, which would later become known as National Parent Teacher Association.
Fast forward to May 7, 1926, Selena Sloan Butler, an African-American teacher and wife of a prominent physician, founded the National Congress of Colored Parents and Teachers. Selena Sloan Butler was elected the first president of NCCPT, whose function was to organize and operate only in states where separate schools for the races were maintained. This was dictated by individual state laws, not by PTA Bylaws. These state laws prevented African-American communities from belonging to the larger, older association.
After schools across the country were no longer legally separated, the National Congress of Parents and Teachers and the National Congress of Colored Parents and Teachers unified as the national PTA on June 22, 1970 in Atlanta, Georgia,
Almost 27 years later in June 1997, Lois Jean White was installed as the first African-American President of the National PTA. She realized that many people weren’t a part of the association because they didn’t know enough about the association. I think that is just as true today, especially for people of color.
It is time to tell our story, to refocus on the vision and contributions of Selena Sloan Butler that will make us more inclusive of the children, families, schools and communities that we serve. Our children are depending on us.
Dee Jones, National PTA Diversity Chair
Guest Blogger
posted by La'Keisha Gray-Sewell/New Media Relations at
2/18/2010 03:09:00 PM
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