1906 The beloved founder of the National Congress of Mothers, Mrs. Theodore W. Birney, organized the Georgia Mothers’ Congress in May. Mrs. Robert Zahner of Atlanta was the first president.The Congress took an active part in securing the Child Labor Law in Georgia, and will interest itself in the improvement of opportunities for the children and the homes of Georgia.
1907 Became Congress of Mothers and Parent-Teacher Associations (GPTA).
1912 Carried out summer Milk Campaigns in Atlanta to provide fresh milk to poor, sick babies.
1913 Began working for Free Kindergarten Bill, Birth Registration Bill and establishment of a school for special needs children in Georgia
1914 Supported Child Labor Law, health inspection of public schools.
1915 Established the Baby Savings Campaign, a parent education program, and a Home Economics Committee to visit rural schools. First appointment of Legislative Chairman; actively promoted Mother’s Pension Law; Compulsory Education.
1919 Georgia Congress of Colored Parents and Teachers (GCCPT) established.
1922 Alice McLellan Birney Endowment Fund was created by the Georgia Congress of Parents and Teachers. Early leaders felt a need to prepare a solid foundation for PTA and to be ready for whatever future financial needs might arise.
1923 Established a Child Health Center in Athens with American Child Health Association, focused on erasing rural illiteracy.
1924 Endorsed state-funded training schools for girls and boys. Advocated for creating a department of physical education in the State Department of Education. Endorsed the Child Welfare Code to improve state laws affecting delinquent, dependent, defective and neglected children. Insisted on the rights of the rural child to receive as adequate educational provision as the city child receives. Established a permanent PTA committee to create parenthood education programs that could be delivered to the parents in the home.
1925 Georgia PTA recognized by the National PTA as the first in the nation to take up fire prevention in schools. Local units’ projects included “Summer Roundup” health screening and care; funding school nurses; dental screening and care; establishing school lunch programs and providing free lunches; clothes distribution; textbook purchases.
1926 Endorsed narcotic education to combat drug menace; urged enforcement of “Fire or Stampede Hazard in Public Schools”; urged the lifting bans against Jewish boys entering college; recommended school bus drivers be of mature age and reliable nature and required to come to a full stop at crossings; recommended the study of music.Recommended the Legislative Chairman work for the adoption, by all women’s organizations, of a uniform plan for presenting legislation. Recommended engaging someone to be at the Capitol to give out information as to progress of the bills in order that pressure may be brought to bear from local communities and thus “discourage lobbying at the Capitol.”
1926-32 GCCPT advocated for better transporation for African-American children, many of whom had no way to get to school other than to walk. GCCPT advocated for increased salaries for African-American teachers.
1927 GPTA and the State Medical Association administered free diphtheria vaccines to preschool children. Better films committee members rate movies for appropriate material.“Today, when the public is so concerned about what comes out of the public school, it behooves parent-teacher associations to concern themselves with what goes into the school. Child training is the biggest business in the world, and parents cannot expect teachers who have the children for only five hours of the twenty-four, five days a week, to do all the bringing up… Health is the duty of the parents… Sixty-eight percent of first graders, who are “repeaters” are so because of physical defects which might have been remedied in the preschool age-if they had been found. When parents wait until children are six years of age to check on their physical condition they are putting a burden upon the school which does not rightfully belong there. Such children are being denied of their fundamental right – the right to health. The National Congress of Parents and Teachers in 1925 began a Summer Round Up of children to identify early and correct any defects before children enter school. It is hoped every association in Georgia will again participate in order to ensure children entering school in September may be 100 percent perfect and every school a ‘blue ribbon school’.”
1928 Cooperated with Dixie Highway Auxiliary to beautify highways by planting trees in honor of beloved teachers.  Concerted drive for prompt enrollment and regular attendance at school. Continued to demand nine months of school; worked to increase state funding for public health.
1929 Encouraged all PTAs to offer voter registration at their meetings throughout the year; supported enabling counties to use money for public libraries; urged medical examinations for all children, especially for those entering competitive athletics, as part of school-sponsored physical activity.
1930 Worked to establish the Safety Patrol program.
1932 Opposed reducing salaries of trained teachers to the level unskilled labor and underfunding school facilities to deny adequate educational opportunity. Established a Juvenile Protection Committee to develop and promote codes to protect both citizens and child.
1934 Recommended a tax on toy firearms, endorsed Federal Child Labor Law, supported compulsory examination for tuberculosis and stressed prevention and early treatment.
1935 Opposed 15 Mil Tax Limitation Bill for usurping local control of schools. The state’s income would be reduced by $13 to $16 million, half of which would be allocated for education, without a plan to replace the lost revenues.  Approximately half of the property in Georgia at the time was owned by non-residents who would be tax-exempt under the amendment. “The man who needs it least is the man who will profit by the bill if it is allowed to pass. And once is it put on the statute books it wil be almost impossible to remove because of the powerful lobbyists that are backing it.”
1937 Worked to raise the compulsory school age to 16; assist in the fight against venereal diseases; protect children from sale of salacious literature; build closer relations between rural and urban citizens.Paul Munro, Columbus Superintendent of Schools, asserted that our society would never achieve culturally or educationally if the Negros were left out of the equation.Hattie Reese, President of the Georgia Congress of Colored Parents and Teachers, a daily visitor in the balcony throughout the GPTA convention, expressed appreciation for the privilege of attending the convention.
1942-46 GCCPTA conducted Summer (healthcare) Roundup of African-American children.
1946-52 GCCPT called for adequate facilities for recreation, playgrounds, gymnasiums, community centers, public libraries, desirable movie theaters and effective schools for African-American children and families. GCCPT stressed importance of voter registration at every meeting. GCCPT insisted that rural students should be exposed to good books, magazines, music, art, and recreational facilities. The rural youth faced health hazards because in many counties there were inadequate facilities for the negro population.Each local unit was urged to make a special study of the Minimum Foundation Program for Education (MFPE). Georgia activated for the MFPE and began facing the issue of equitable resources for education. GCCPT demanded that all schools have proper ventilation, be well lighted, and include basic adequate facilities.
1950 Atlanta author Miss Lillian Smith gave the shortest speech of the Mid-Century White House Conference: “We speak of dropping of the atomic bomb. Why not substitute by dropping segregation.”
1954 The Georgia Congress of Parents and Teachers at convention voted to invest a portion of the corpus of the Endowment Fund in a Headquarters Building to supplement the building funds raised by the local units.
1956 When the US Supreme Court declared the segregated school systems unconstitutional and the Georgia Legislature closed schools rather than comply, GCCPT lobbied the governor and legislature to keep Georgia’s public schools open.
1959 The new headquarters building of the Georgia PTA was dedicated on September 15.
1963 GCCPT instituted a PTA adult education program.
1970 GPTA and GCCPT merged.
1973 A groundbreaking was held for a school in Marietta and it was named for our founder, Alice McLellan Birney.Successfully advocated for state funded kindergarten.
1978 The Georgia PTA hosted the National PTA Convention held in Atlanta, June 11-14.
1988 The Georgia PTA hosted the National PTA Convention held in Atlanta in June.