From the PTASC 25.09.2021

The PTASC hopes all the parents and children had a good month (and a bit) back at school. We thought we would share some early history of how the PTA became an integral part of schools worldwide.

PTA Founders

Alice McLellan Birney

Phoebe Apperson Hearst

In the late 1800s women weren’t allowed yet to vote in elections, and thus it would seem that they wouldn’t be able to wield the political power needed to bring about change. The conventional wisdom of the time was soon to be challenged, however, by two women who first founded the National PTA’s predecessor, the National Congress of Mothers. On February 17, 1897, the two founders, Alice McLellan Birney and Phoebe Apperson Hearst, looked out at the 2,000 people from across the country who gathered for the Mothers Congress’ first meeting in Washington, DC, and saw the beginning of the largest (and now oldest) volunteer organisation that works exclusively on behalf of children and youth – a group of people who had even fewer rights at the time than women. The PTA has evolved from this early beginning to have a presence in some form in countries all over the world to continue to work on behalf of our children by volunteering our time.