Atlanta Education Association records

The Atlanta Education Association began its existence in 1905 as the Atlanta Public School Teachers Association. The APSTA was an independent association devoted to raising the salaries and improving the working conditions of the teachers, principals, and other staff members in the schools for white students in Atlanta's segregated school system. (The Gate City Teachers Association served the same purpose for Atlanta's black teachers.) In 1919, the APSTA became Local 89 of the American Federation of Teachers, a national organization affiliated with the American Federation of Labor. The APSTA also affiliated with the Atlanta Federation of Trades and the Georgia Federation of Labor. Mary Barker served as President of Local 89 from 1921 to 1923, and then served as President of the American Federation of Teachers from 1925 to 1931.

In 1956, the American Federation of Teachers threatened to expel Local 89 if the local did not remove the word "white" from its constitution and begin merger talks with the Gate City Teachers Association, which was also affiliated with the AFT. Local 89 President Roger Derthick represented the local at the 1956 AFT convention in Pittsburgh. Derthick explained to the convention delegates that Local 89 was not opposed to admitting black teachers into its ranks, but would not and could not do so until the state of Georgia and the city of Atlanta made integrated organizations legally possible. In late 1956, consequently, Local 89, facing certain expulsion from the AFT, surrendered its charter as a constituent member of the AFT. Local 89 did, however, continue as an affiliate of the Atlanta Federation of Trades and the Georgia Federation of Labor, both of which continued to be composed of white and black members but organized into segregated local unions.

In 1959, the once again independent APSTA began paying per capita dues on a voluntary basis to the Georgia Education Association, an affiliate of the National Education Association. The NEA was not associated with the American Federation of Labor and had always represented itself to America's teachers as a professional organization for teachers as opposed to the more trade union approach of the AFT. In 1966, the APSTA (now usually referred to as the Atlanta Teachers Association) removed the "whites only" provision from its constitution and began merger discussions with its counterpart organization for Atlanta's black teachers. In June of 1967, the successfully integrated organization was renamed the Atlanta Education Association and officially affiliated with the National Education Association.

(Note: In 1970 the American Federation of Teachers issued a charter to a new local union in Atlanta. This new labor union affiliated organization for teachers, AFT Local 1565, has since 1970 competed with the Atlanta Education Association for the right to represent Atlanta's teachers before the Atlanta Board of Education and the Atlanta City Council.)