The following timeline has been compiled from the Springer book.

Developments of Teachers Unions in the U.S.

1857-The National Teachers' Association was formed in 1857 by ten state teachers' organization with the common objective of upgrading the teaching profession.  Teachers had a hard time gaining any power in the organization and women were excluded the first year of the organization.  In 1870 it was changed to the National Education Association.  

1870- The National Teacher's Association was changed to the National Education Association.  By 1890, The NEA had become a major leader in formulating educational policies.

1897- The Chicago Federation of Teachers (CFT) was organized by Margaret Haley and Catherine Goggin.  This militant and radical union was the forerunner of the American Federation of Teachers.

1909- Ella Flagg Young was appointed (by the Chicago Board of Education and largely due to CFT activism) as superintendent of schools.  She was one of the first women to hold this position in a large city.   At fist she worried about the radical nature of being associated with the CFT.  But a few years later said, "I was not large enough in the beginning to see, I had not the insight to see, which, that these women were realizing that they had not the freedom, the power, which people should have who are to train the minds of the children."

1912- The Department of Classroom Teachers within the NEA formed and greater attention by the leadership to teacher welfare issues. This new Department was largely due to Margaret Haley's activism.

1916- The American Federation of Teachers was formed in 1916 at a meeting in Gary, Indiana, of three Chicago Teachers' Organizations- the Chicago Federation of Teachers, the Chicago Federation of Men Teachers, and the Chicago Federation of Women High School Teachers.  It quickly expanded to include locals from Indiana, New York, Pennsylvania, and Washington, D.C.

1917- The NEA moved to Washington D.C. as a way to strengthen relations with the federal government.  They formed the Commission on the National Emergency to publicize war work in the schools and to develop new ideas about the role of government in education.  Federal aid to education emerged from this commission.

1919-The American Legion organized in the wake of WWI.  Their primary focus in public schools was to weed out any "un-American" ideas and to ensure the teaching of American basic values.

1921-The American Legion passed a resolution calling for state laws to cancel certificates of teachers "found guilty of disloyalty to government."  Their pressure followed through the 1930's and into the 1950's.

1922- Will Hays, president of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America, appeared at the annual meeting of the NEA.  The debate between education and media began...

1933- The NEA formed the Joint Commission on the Emergency in Education (JCEE) with the goal of increasing public relations and gathering support from businesses (during the Depression) in order to fight retrenchment. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce proposed in a letter retrenchment through the "elimination of evening classes and kindergartens, the shortening of the school day, an increase in the size of classes, and the imposition of tuition for high school attendance."

1950-1960's- Public schools and professional educators were under attack by the federal government due to the anti-intellectual state of the schools  (and the Cold War).  The NEA was considered the source of the problem due to their influence on schools.

1951- The executive secretary of the National commission for the Defense of Democracy through Education reported in a slightly hysterical tone that the number of "attacks" on public schools had increased rapidly since the closing days of WWII.


1958-Congress passed the National Defense education Act (NDEA) in response to Sputnik I and public outcries about conditions in schools.  The NDEA became a means by which the federal government could control local educational policy simply by offering money for the establishment of specified educational programs.

1960-The United Federation of Teachers (UFT, an affiliate of the AFT) broke the no-strike policy and launched a strike against the New York City school system.  This strike acted as a catalyst for more teachers to join the union and to increase the level of militancy.

1962-The NEA launched a program for collective negotiations.  Since WWII the NEA had transformed from an organization dominated by school administrators into a militant teachers union.
1966-1981-AFT membership grew from 125,421 to 580,000.  This increased membership combined with the increased militancy of the NEA heralded a new era in the relationship between teachers' organizations and the managers of American education.

1970-The teacher power movement began to successfully challenge reforms they had been challenging since the turn of the century.

1976-NEA supported Jimmy Carter and he promised to establish the Department of Education.  This ensured the role of federal government in establishing national educational policy.

1980s and 1990s- Teachers unions were more militant and actively engaged in national politics.  School administrators started to unionize and could often be found bargaining with representatives from teachers unions.