Each year on February 17, PTA members across the country celebrate PTA Founders' Day, honoring the visionary leaders who established the largest and oldest child advocacy association in the nation.
National PTA was founded on February 17, 1897, originally as the National Congress of Mothers, by Alice McLellan Birney, a Marietta, Georgia native, and Phoebe Apperson Hearst, a Missouri native residing in California. United by mutual concern for the welfare of children, they addressed critical issues of the time, including the absence of child labor laws, no juvenile justice system, and early childhood education.
Understanding that meaningful change required legislative action, Birney and Hearst organized parents and educators to influence lawmakers and improve conditions for children nationwide.
The First National Congress of Mothers
The first three-day convocation was held at the Arlington Hotel in Washington, D.C. Organizers hoped for 200 attendees and feared no one would attend. Instead, more than 2,000 people arrived, filling the space beyond capacity. The meeting was moved first to a larger church and then to the Central Market Armory to accommodate the overwhelming attendance.
The attendees included mothers, fathers, doctors, lawyers, businessmen, and educators—demonstrating broad support for a national movement focused on children and families.
A Declaration That Shaped the PTA Mission
During this historic gathering, the Declaration of Principles of the National Congress of Mothers was adopted, stating:
"The National Congress of Mothers, irrespective of creed, color, or condition, stands for all parenthood, childhood, and homehood. Its platform is the universe; its organization, the human race."
From this first meeting emerged three fundamental initiatives that continue to guide National PTA more than a century later:
- The establishment of parent education and study groups
- Home–school cooperation through partnerships between parents and teachers
- The full utilization of community agencies concerned with child welfare
Selena Sloan Butler: Founder and Pioneer
On March 3, 1926, Selena Sloan Butler, a Georgia native, founded the National Congress of Colored Parents and Teachers, serving as its first president. For more than four decades, the two congresses worked collaboratively and officially unified on June 20, 1970, in Atlanta, Georgia. Selena Sloan Butler is recognized as a founder of National PTA.
A devoted wife, mother, teacher, organizer, publisher, humanitarian, and pioneer, Butler dedicated her life to the well-being of others and to expanding educational opportunities for all ages. She graduated in 1888 as part of the second class of Spelman College, taught in Atlanta Public Schools, and later taught English at Florida State College.
She embraced the kindergarten movement, organizing and teaching young children at Morris Brown College and later in her own home. In 1964, while living with her son in California, she returned to Atlanta to be honored as the oldest living Spelman College graduate at age 92, a testament to her lifelong commitment to education and leadership.