For one week each May, we celebrate the teachers that work tirelessly to shape our minds and enrich our lives, but where did it all start?  

In 1954, former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt argued to congress that there needed to be a national day to celebrate teachers. While it’s rumored that prior to that, there had been some sort of annual celebration for educators, the facts behind that are very unclear.  

The First Lady had supposedly received letters from a teacher from either Wisconsin or Arkansas asking to push for a national day for teachers.  A theory called the Arkansas theory states Mattye Whytte Wooldridge, an African American woman who taught in a school in the segregated South, first communicated with educational leaders before writing letters to Roosevelt to ask for a day to celebrate teachers. While Roosevelt did get the support of Congress, there wouldn’t be an official national day for teachers until 1980.  

The National Education Association (NEA) and the Kansas and Indiana State Boards of Education lobbied to congress for a national day in 1980 and the day was officially recognized as March 7th.  In 1984, the National Parent Teacher Association helped expand it to a whole week of celebrating teachers during the first full week of May.  In 1985, The NEA named the new National Teacher Appreciation Day Tuesday of that week. However, in some areas they still celebrate differently, such as in Massachusetts, who honors teachers on the first Sunday in June.  

Don’t forget to show your teachers gratitude each Teacher’s Appreciation Week; whether it’s through kind words or a small gift, a little appreciation goes far.