Mabel Williams Hughes, president, National Congress of Parents and Teachers, 1946 – 1949 (Tennessee)

In 1946 a joint committee of the N.C.P.T. and the NCCPT was formed. In 1947 N.C.P.T. celebrated their Golden Jubilee.  At the December 1946 meeting of the N.C.P.T. board of managers a resolution was made setting $2,400 as a minimum salary for all beginning teachers with college training.  Soon states made this minimum legal.  The National Congress proposed that its local units throughout the country strive to do, as a minimum, these four things:

1.  Cultivate friendly feelings toward other peoples and other nations.
2. Encourage people of different national origins to participate in community affairs.
3. Build public opinion to sustain world understanding.
4. Develop a world community outlook through education.

Mrs. William W. M. Henry, president, National Congress of Colored Parents and Teachers, 1945 – 1949

Minnetta A. Hastings, president, National Congress of Parents and Teachers, 1943 – 1946 (Wisconsin)

Theme for 1943-44 – “All Children Are Our Children.”  The 1944 convention was held in New York City, New York and the 1945 convention was to have the theme “Together We Build” however because of the war the convention was canceled.  Membership in 50 state branches was 3,487,138. The N.C.P.T. was one of forty-two organizations represented at the United Nations Charter Conference which helped provide desirable provisions for educational and human welfare issues to be incorporated into the Charter. The 1946 national convention was held in Denver, Colorado and the membership was just under 4,000,000 members.

Anna M. P. Strong, president, National Congress of Colored Parents and Teachers, 1942 – 1945

She was the first NCCPT president to address the N.C.P.T.’s annual convention.  The Congress of Colored Parents and Teachers had 20 state congresses encompassing all of the South as well as units as far away as New Mexico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Mary Foster McDavid, president, National Congress of Colored Parents and Teachers, 1939 – 1942

Virginia Kletzer, president, National Congress of Parents and Teachers, 1940 – 1943 (Oregon)

The theme for this term was “The Child in His Community.”  Membership reached 2,379,599. The 1941 annual convention was held in Boston, Massachusetts with more than 900,000 men members and a total membership of 2.5 million.  In 1942 convention  was held in San Antonio, Texas.  In September 1942, the Birney Memorial was dedicated at Marietta, Georgia.  Each state branch of the National Congress contributed a stone slab for the Plaza of the States.  The 1943 annual convention was originally scheduled for Chicago but because of government  restrictions on travel, the election of officers was held by mail.

Frances S. Pettengill, president, National Congress of Parents and Teachers, 1937 – 1940 (Michigan)

Three-year theme was “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.” The 1938 annual convention was held in Salt Lake City, Utah. The N.C.P.T.’s membership soared from 100,000 in 1919 to 2.5 million in 1939.  The N.C.P.T. headquarters relocated from Washington, D.C. to the Midwest, specifically to Chicago, where the entire staff could work in rented space at 600 South Michigan Avenue, the office location from 1939 to 1954.