# Selena Sloan Butler > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Selena_Sloan_Butler > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Selena_Sloan_Butler.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selena_Sloan_Butler > Source revision: 1340453168 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) American activist Selena Sloan Butler **Selena Sloan Butler** (1872–1964) was the founder and first president of the National Congress of Colored Parents and Teachers Association (NCCPT). President [Herbert Hoover](/source/Herbert_Hoover) appointed her to the White House Conference on Child Health and Protection in 1929. During [World War II](/source/World_War_II), she organized the Red Cross' first black women's chapter of "Gray Ladies." When Congress merged the NCCPT with the National PTA in 1970, Butler was posthumously recognized as one of the organization's founders. Today, Butler is considered a co-founder of the National [Parent-Teacher Association](/source/Parent-Teacher_Association).[1][2] ## Early life Selena Sloan Butler, from an 1899 publication. Butler was born in [Thomasville, Georgia](/source/Thomasville%2C_Georgia) to William Sloan and Winnie Williams on January 4, around 1872, just seven years after slavery was abolished.[3] Her father was white, and her mother was of mixed descent, half Indian and half African-American. She started life with her mother and sister but without her father's presence, although she did receive his monetary support. She attended a missionary-operated elementary school in Thomas County and studied at Spelman Seminary (later [Spelman College](/source/Spelman_College)). At the age of sixteen Butler graduated from Spelman in 1888 (with a high school diploma) and began her teaching career in Atlanta. She later became a member of the Eta Sigma chapter of [Sigma Gamma Rho](/source/Sigma_Gamma_Rho) sorority.[1] She married Henry Rutherford Butler, a prominent African American doctor in Atlanta who had studied medicine at [Harvard University](/source/Harvard_University) in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The couple had one son, Henry Jr. As their son, Henry, Jr., approached school age, Selena looked for a preschool. Finding none in her neighborhood or in any black neighborhood in the city, she decided to start a kindergarten in her home.[3] ## Career When Henry entered the Yonge Street Elementary School, Selena began seeking ways to help parents get involved in their children's education. Enlisting support from other parents, in 1911, Butler founded the National Congress of Colored Parents and Teachers Association (NCCPT) at Yonge Street Elementary School; the first parent-teacher association for African Americans in the United States. In 1919, she formed a statewide parent-teacher association in Georgia. What began as a local venture grew into a nationally recognized organization. Butler's dedication to children and families stirred her to reach out to parents on a national level. She wrote several letters encouraging parents and teachers of color to form a union with the primary purpose of uniting home and school into a planned program for child welfare. Her letters stimulated interest in the parent-teacher movement and her own state Georgia became the first to organize. By 1926, Mrs. Butler aroused sufficient interest and issued the first call for a national convention. To this call, four states responded and sent delegates. During that same year, the once statewide parent-teacher association became the National Congress of Colored Parents and Teachers Association. The NCCPT was modeled closely after its white only counterpart, the National Congress of Parents and Teachers (today, the National [Parent-Teacher Association](/source/Parent-Teacher_Association)). Butler dedicated her life to forming an organization which would have the same objectives as the National Congress of Parents and Teachers. The NCCPT and the Congress of Mothers worked closely with each other to improve the conditions in schools for all children, regardless of race, as well as for teachers. ## Presidential appointment Her efforts inspired President [Herbert Hoover](/source/Herbert_Hoover) to appoint her to serve on his 1929 [White House](/source/White_House) Conference on Child Health and Protection representing the National Congress of Colored Parents and Teachers and working on the Committee on *The Infant and Pre-School Child*, whose work contributed to the writing of the *Children's Chapter*. Between 1929 and 1930, she served on the president's Committee (presently, the [White House Conference on Children and Youth](/source/White_House_Conference_on_Children_and_Youth)) and would go on to lead the NCCPT for more than thirty years. Butler was active in her community not only as an educator but also as an organizer. She co-founded the Spelman College Alumnae Association, organized the [Phyllis Wheatley](/source/Phyllis_Wheatley) Branch of the Atlanta [YWCA](/source/YWCA), and was the first president of the Georgia Federation of Colored Women's Club. Burler's entire life was dedicated to service. She was also a delegate to the founding convention of the [National Association of Colored Women](/source/National_Association_of_Colored_Women); a member of the Georgia Commission on Interracial Cooperation; a member of the Chatauqua Circle of Atlanta; a member of [Sigma Gamma Rho](/source/Sigma_Gamma_Rho) sorority, Gamma chapter, and the [Prince Hall Order of the Eastern Star](/source/Prince_Hall_Order_of_the_Eastern_Star). ### Later years Following the death of her husband in 1931, Butler relocated to England where she worked in the Nursery School Association. Thereafter, she returned to the United States to live with her son and his wife in Arizona where she organized the first black women's chapter of the [Gray Ladies](/source/Gray_Ladies) Corps.[3] At the age of 92, Butler died of congestive heart failure on October 7, 1964, and was buried beside her husband in [Oakland Cemetery](/source/Oakland_Cemetery_(Atlanta)) in Atlanta. A portrait of Butler is displayed in the [Georgia State Capitol](/source/Georgia_State_Capitol) building. In 1966, the [City of Atlanta](/source/City_of_Atlanta) dedicated the Selena Sloan Butler Park in her honor. In 1970, Butler was named a founder of the National [Parent-Teacher Association](/source/Parent-Teacher_Association). In 1995, Butler was posthumously inducted into the [Georgia Women of Achievement](/source/Georgia_Women_of_Achievement) Hall of Honorees.[3] ## References 1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Georgiaencyclopedia.org_1-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Georgiaencyclopedia.org_1-1) ["New Georgia Encyclopedia: Selena Sloan Butler (ca. 1872-1964)"](http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-2508). Georgiaencyclopedia.org. Retrieved 2011-05-10. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** ["Selena Sloan Butler - Founder"](http://www.vapta.org/founders-day.html). Vapta.org. 2009-09-30. Retrieved 2011-05-10.{{[cite web](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Cite_web)}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service ([link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:CS1_maint:_deprecated_archival_service)) 1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-georgiawomen1_3-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-georgiawomen1_3-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-georgiawomen1_3-2) [***d***](#cite_ref-georgiawomen1_3-3) ["SELENA SLOAN BUTLER - activist, founder"](https://www.georgiawomen.org/selena-sloan-butler). *[Georgia Women of Achievement](/source/Georgia_Women_of_Achievement)*. March 1995. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20200827200104/https://www.georgiawomen.org/selena-sloan-butler) from the original on August 27, 2020. Retrieved August 27, 2020. ## Further reading - Strazer, Michelle M. (1999). ["Butler, Selena Sloan (04 January 1872?–07 October 1964), community leader and child-welfare activist"](https://www.anb.org/view/10.1093/anb/9780198606697.001.0001/anb-9780198606697-e-1500107). In Garraty, John A.; Carnes, Mark C. (eds.). *[American National Biography](/source/American_National_Biography)*. Vol. 4. p. 109. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1093/anb/9780198606697.article.1500107](https://doi.org/10.1093%2Fanb%2F9780198606697.article.1500107). [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-19-860669-7](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-19-860669-7). [OCLC](/source/OCLC_(identifier)) [39182280](https://search.worldcat.org/oclc/39182280). Retrieved 27 August 2020. - The PTA Story: A Century of Commitment to Children (Chicago: National PTA, 1997). ## External links - Newberry, Brittany; Shabazz, Kayin; Wright, Trashinda. ["Women Who Changed Atlanta and the World"](https://digitalexhibits.auctr.edu/exhibits/show/womenwhochangedatlanta/overview). *Digital Exhibits*. [Atlanta University Center Robert W. Woodruff Library](/source/Atlanta_University_Center_Robert_W._Woodruff_Library). - [Stories of Atlanta - The Value of Getting Involved](https://web.archive.org/web/20180926123936/http://www.pba.org/programming/stories-atlanta/value-getting-involved/?wiki) - [Building Together for Youth](http://georgiainfo.galileo.usg.edu/topics/historical_markers/county/fulton/building-together-for-youth) historical marker in Selena Sloan Butler Park v t e Georgia Women of Achievement 1990s 1992 Martha Berry Lucy Craft Laney Juliette Gordon Low Flannery O'Connor 1993 Dicksie Bradley Bandy Mary Musgrove Cassandra Pickett Durham Viola Ross Napier Ma Rainey 1994 Julia Flisch Carson McCullers Margaret Mitchell Ruth Hartley Mosley Emily Harvie Thomas Tubman 1995 Selena Sloan Butler Anna Colquitt Hunter Hazel Jane Raines 1996 Susan Cobb Milton Atkinson Nellie Peters Black Ellen Craft Corra Harris Lugenia Burns Hope 1997 Rebecca Latimer Felton Mary Ann Harris Gay Nancy Hart Lucy Barrow McIntire 1998 Lettie Pate Whitehead Evans Julia Collier Harris Rhoda Kaufman Carrie Steele Logan 1999 Moina Michael Lillian Smith 2000s 2000 Sallie Ellis Davis Laura Askew Haygood Ellen Axson Wilson 2001 Julia L. Coleman Catherine Evans Whitener 2002 Wessie Gertrude Connell Lula Dobbs McEachern Alice Harrell Strickland 2003 Madeleine Kiker Anthony Helena Maud Brown Cobb Julia Lester Dillon Leila Ross Wilburn 2004 Mathilda Beasley Louise Frederick Hays Helen Dortch Longstreet Sarah McLendon Murphy Emily Barnelia Woodward 2005 Alice Woodby McKane Nina Anderson Pape Jeannette Rankin 2006 Eliza Frances Andrews Grace Towns Hamilton Sarah Porter Hillhouse 2007 Margaret O. Bynum Edith Lenora Foster Helen Douglas Mankin Sara Branham Matthews 2008 Elfrida De Renne Barrow Amilee Chastain Graves Susan Dowdell Myrick 2009 Caroline Pafford Miller Jane Hurt Yarn Harriet Powers 2010s 2010 Mary Ann Lipscomb Celestine Sibley Madrid Williams 2011 Lillian Gordy Carter Mary Francis Hill Coley May duBignon Stiles Howard 2012 Sarah Randolph Bailey Beulah Rucker Oliver Ethel Harpst 2013 Lollie Belle Wylie Mary Gregory Jewett Henrietta Stanley Dull 2014 Rebecca Stiles Taylor Ella Gertrude Clanton Thomas Bazoline Estelle Usher 2015 Allie Carroll Hart Frances Freeborn Pauley Nell Kendall Hodgson Woodruff 2016 Sarah Harper Heard Ellamae Ellis League Katie Hall Underwood 2017 Carolyn Mackenzie Carter Clermont Huger Lee Lucile Nix 2018 Ludie Clay Andrews Susie Baker King Taylor Mamie George S. Williams 2019 Leila Denmark Mary Dorothy Lyndon 2020s 2020 Clarice Cross Bagwell Katharine DuPre Lumpkin Juanita Marsh Jean Elizabeth Geiger Wright 2021 Ruby M. Anderson Mary G. Bryan Laura Pope Forester Allie Murray Smith 2022 Lizzie Lurline Collier Josephine Fields Sanders Hedy West Josephine Wilkins 2023 Phyllis Jenkins Barrow Alice Coachman Luck Flanders Gambrell Dorothy Rogers Tilly 2024 Beatrice Hirsch Haas Adella Hunt Logan Valerie Murphey Elizabeth "Bessie" Tift 2025 Jessye Norman Alma Thomas Authority control databases International ISNI VIAF WorldCat National United States --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Selena Sloan Butler](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selena_Sloan_Butler) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selena_Sloan_Butler?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.