Abstract
What prompted New York City teachers to form a union in the Progressive Era? The founding of the journal American Teacher in 1912 led to creation of the Teachers’ League in 1913 and then the Teachers Union in 1916, facilitating formation of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT). Despite historiographical claims that teacher union drives needed a focus on bread-and-butter issues to succeed, ideals of educational democracy and opposition to managerial autocracy motivated the Teachers’ League. Contrary to claims that early New York City teacher unionism was unrepresentative because dominated by radical male Jewish high-school instructors, heterogeneous majorities of women and elementary school teachers formed the Teachers’ League and Teachers Union leaderships. Board of Education representation, maternity leave, free speech, and pensions were aims of this radically democratic movement led by socialists and feminists, which received demonstrably greater mass teacher support than the conservative feminism of a rival association.
Highlights
What prompted New York City teachers to form a union in the Progressive Era? The founding of the journal American Teacher in 1912 led to creation of the Teachers’ League in 1913 and the Teachers Union in 1916, facilitating formation of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT)
Contrary to claims that early New York City teacher unionism was unrepresentative because dominated by radical male Jewish high-school instructors, heterogeneous majorities of women and elementary school teachers formed the Teachers’ League and Teachers Union leaderships
Board of Education representation, maternity leave, free speech, and pensions were aims of this radically democratic movement led by socialists and feminists, which received demonstrably greater mass teacher support than the conservative feminism of a rival association
Summary
What prompted New York City teachers to form a union in the Progressive Era? The founding of the journal American Teacher in 1912 led to creation of the Teachers’ League in 1913 and the Teachers Union in 1916, facilitating formation of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT). Jr., PS 17, Brooklyn, responded, saying that a draft of the new organization’s constitution was required to provide a basis for discussion; that in Fall River, Massachusetts, all women, teachers included, had the right to vote in school board elections; and that since the meeting was about whether to form a Teachers’ League it should be one of teachers This last point implied criticism of Strachan’s presence, since she was superintendent of two Brooklyn districts in the city system. The League grew increasingly estranged from the FTA, calling it “undemocratic” because most presidents of teachers’ associations were principals and superintendents, a composition reflected in the FTA’s preferred form of pensions, which an anonymous circular called a “principals’ measure.”105 For all the tumult, the moment was not without humor, as when the American Teacher, in an advertisement most likely the work of Schmalhausen as circulation manager, declared itself in favor of “pensions (before dying).”106
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