The National Education Association began in 1857 when 43 educators gathered after there was a national call to unite as one voice in the cause of the public education. Nearly one hundred years before the NEA was formed the requirements for teaching were to read, write, and stay out of trouble. This lead to a reform that transformed to the education system we see today, including public schools and professional training for teachers. Even after these changes, many teachers made less than $100 a year, and worked in a one-room schoolhouse. Although education associations existed at the state levels, including 15 of the 31 states in the Union, there was no national organization to serve as a voice for teachers in America. At this time an invitation to the nation’s educators would be sent out to unite and form, as we call it today, the National Education Association.
After the Civil War the NEA was dedicated to rebuilding their school system and educating the emancipated population. In 1867 the NEA won’t their first major victory which established the Department of Education to provide and regulate the education today. After growing too large the NEA became a representative Assembly, composed of delegates from affiliated states and locals. At this time the NEA focused on strengthening their system, establishing retirement pensions, and improving teacher pay. After several years the NEA celebrated its 100th birthday, which was now made up of over 700,000 members. Two years later, a law was passed to help usher in an era of teacher bargaining that transformed the Association. In 1926, NEA and Ata started working together as advocates for black education. After the Civil Rights Act was passed, NEA established one million dollars to “pro...
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...am also a member of NEA. Throughout my schooling all of the issues NEA supports, or deals with have been issues I have had to take a stance on and work with myself. The NEA is the voice of education professionals like I will be in the near future. They believe every student deserves a great public school and education. The NEA stood up for female teachers like myself, and continues to stand up for women in the educational workforce today.
Works Cited
Holcomb, S. (n.d.). Answering the call. National Education Association. Retrieved from http://www.nea.org/home/12172.htm
Issues. (n.d.). Issues and Actions. National Education Association. Retrieved from http://www.nea.org/home/IssuesAndAction.html
NEA. (2011). NEA delegates vote to support president barack obama in re-election bid. National Education Association. Retrieved from http://www.nea.org/home/46078.htm
In 1954, the Supreme Court ruled in the case of Brown vs. The Board of Education that schools needed to integrate and provide equal education for all people and it was unconstitutional for the state to deny certain citizens this opportunity. Although this decision was a landmark case and meant the schools could no longer deny admission to a child based solely on the color of their skin. By 1957, most schools had began to slowly integrate their students, but those in the deep south were still trying to fight the decision. One of the most widely known instances of this happening was at Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. It took the school district three years to work out an integration plan. The board members and faculty didn't like the fact that they were going to have to teach a group of students that were looked down upon and seen as "inferior" to white students. However, after much opposition, a plan was finally proposed. The plan called for the integration to happen in three phases. First, during the 1957-1958 school year, the senior high school would be integrated, then after completion at the senior high level, the junior high would be integrated, and the elementary levels would follow in due time. Seventeen students were chosen from hundreds of applicants to be the first black teenagers to begin the integration process. The town went into an uproar. Many acts of violence were committed toward the African-Americans in the city. Racism and segregation seemed to be on the rise. Most black students decid...
The National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People and National Urban League, founded in 1909 and 1910 respectively, were established to serve the growing needs and pressing concerns of African-Americans at the time. The issues were basically of integration and equality. The period of Reconstruction had seen constitutional reform but proper interpretation and implementation was still unrealized. By the late 1800s the southern states were again led by white supremacist interests and segregation was comprehensive and legal: the Jim Crow system.
Their story started in 1954 when Brown v Board of Education ruled that segregation in schools was unconstitutional. It was the first legal decision that opposed the ‘separate but equal’ doctrine that had become standard since the Plessy v Ferguson case in 1896 which propagated segregation: “'separate' facilities provided for blacks and whites were legally acceptable provided that they were of an 'equal' standard” (Kirk, “Crisis at Central High”). Little Rock, Arkansas, was on...
The civil rights movement saw one of it’s earliest achievements when The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) (founded in 1909), fought to end race separation in the case of Brown Vs. The Board of Education. The court thereby rejected the “separate but equal” doctrine and overturned the case of Plessy vs. Ferguson. Public schools were finally integrated in the Fall of 1955.
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At the end of the American Civil War in 1865 many free African Americans searched for a place with education and employment opportunities. They ended up finding this place in Harlem, New York. This was where the first black middle class was created. In the early 1900’s the African American middle class began to publicize for racial equality. During this time W.E.B DuBois was the head of the civil rights movement. Soon after, he began to work closely together with other civil rights workers and activists. Together they discovered the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, also known as t...
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