Alabama State Teachers Association (ASTA) was founded in 1882 in response to the deliberate disregard for Reconstruction gains and the growing repression of Negro education in Alabama. The association was created to establish a network of Negro teachers committed to the educational advancement of black children. Booker T. Washington, the third president of the association, is responsible for fueling the momentum of the organization in its earlier years through his commitment to gathering resources and funding support from northern philanthropists. The ASTA merged with the Alabama Education Association (AEA) in 1969.
History of the Alabama State Teachers Association
By Jerome A. Gray, Joe L. Reed, and Norman W. Walton
Published 1987 by the National Education Association
Organization Name
Alabama Teachers Association
Publications
- Yearbooks/Handbooks 1931-1939, 1958-1959 (annual studies of educational conditions in the state)
- ASTA News 1955-1969
- ASTA Journal 1959-1969
Headquarters
ASTA Building, 853 Thurman St., Montgomery, Alabama
Executive Secretaries
- Felix L. Paul (1941)
- Robert C. Hatch (1941-1955)
- J. Garrick Hardy (1955-1957)
- George W. Jones (1957-1961)
- Robert H. Hatch (1961-1964)
- Joe L. Reed (1964-1969)
Presidents
- William B. Paterson (1882-1885)
- G.M. Elliott (1885-1888)
- Booker T. Washington (1888-1891)
- Nathan B. Young, Sr. (1891-1892)
- R.B. Hudson (1892-1894)
- John W. Beverly (1894-1896)
- G.S. Lewis (1896-1898)
- Stephen E. Moses (1898-1900)
- Arthur H. Parker (1900-1902)
- William A. Caldwell (1902-1904)
- J.R.E. Lee (1904-1907)
- Wilham C. Davis (1907-1910)
- George Washington Trenholm (1910-1912)
- William Pickens (1912-1914)
- J.A. Lawrence (1914-1916)
- George W. Scott (1916-1918)
- James A. Bray (1918-1920)
- Clinton J. Calloway (1920-1921)
- Walker R. Wood (1921-1923)
- William H. Holloway (1923-1925)
- Marquis H. Griffin (1925-1927)
- Cornelia Bowen (1927-1929)
- Albert G. Dobbins (1929-1931)
- H. Council Trenholm (1931-1933)
- Joseph F. Drake (1933-1935)
- Carol W. Hayes (1935-1937)
- Alphonse Henningburg (1937-1938)
- W. McKinley Menchan (1938-1939)
- Zelia S. Evans (1939-1941)
- J.W. Nicholson (1941-1942)
- Taylor S. Jackson (1942-1944)
- Charles W. Orr (1944-1946)
- McDonald Hughes (1946-1948)
- Robert C. Johnson (1948-1950)
- Walker J. Carroll (1950-1952)
- James D. Thompson (1952-1954)
- Jonathan T. Gaines (1954-1956)
- Vernon McDaniel (1956-1958)
- Bessie S. Estell (1958-1960)
- Wayman R.F. Grant (1960-1962)
- Edmund J. Oliver (1962-1964)
- Savage J. Whisenhunt (1964-1966)
- Anthony S. Butler (1966-1967)
- Robert E. Lawson 1967-1968)
- Herman L. Harris (1968)
- James A. Smith (1968-1969)