History of the PTA
Throughout its history, PTA has championed the cause of the child in the home, at school, in the community, and before government; exposing the injustice and health risks of child labor, promoting the need for mandatory early childhood education, advocating for quality literature and entertainment for children and families, campaigning for child and family literacy, protecting children from the dangers of substance abuse, educating parents on how to make the world safer for children, and providing parent with information so that they can be effective first teachers of their children. In these and many more ways, the PTA continues to advocate for the welfare of our children.
February is an important month to PTA. It was in February 1897 when the National Congress of Mothers held its first convention. Alice McLellan Birney envisioned a parents' organization that would help children everywhere. Together with co-founder Phoebe Apperson Hearst, they called for a nationwide movement - in a time when social activism was scorned and women did not have the vote. Expecting about 200 participants, they were surprised when over 2000 people - mostly mothers, but also fathers, teachers, laborers and legislators - responded to the commitment to children.
Now known as PTA, and more than 100 years after its founding, PTA can boast about being the largest volunteer child advocacy organization in the nation. The idea in 1897 was simply to improve the lives and futures of all of our children. In 2009, the idea remains the same.