American Federation of Teachers (AFT)

 American Federation of Teachers (A.F.T. Logo image)



The American Federation of Teachers was founded in 1916 to represent the economic, social and professional interests of classroom teachers. Five divisions within the organization represent the broad spectrum of AFT's membership: teachers; paraprofessionals and school-related personnel; local, state and federal employees; higher education faculty and staff; and nurses and other healthcare professionals. In addition, the union includes more than 170,000 retiree members. Many well-known Americans have been AFT members, including John Dewey, Albert Einstein, Hubert Humphrey, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Frank McCourt, Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel, former Senate Majority Leader and Ambassador to Japan Mike Mansfield, and former United Nations Under Secretary and Nobel Peace Prize winner Ralph Bunche.

The AFT quick link returns all content that has been tagged AFT, which currently contains collection abstracts, audio files, selected speeches and images. Please note the pager at the bottom of this page. Your main contact at the Reuther is Dan Golodner - American Federation of Teachers Archivist (AFT).

For additional information about AFT please visit the American Federation of Teachers Web site.

AFT ConferenceSpeeches
AFT Conference on Building Alliances for Youth at Risk Speeches
AFT Conference on Racism AddressSpeeches
AFT Convention 1980 State of the Union SpeechSpeeches
AFT Convention 1994: State of the Union SpeechSpeeches
AFT Convention AddressSpeeches
AFT Convention: "State of our Union"Speeches
AFT Convention: Keynote AddressSpeeches
AFT Convention: “State of the Union”Speeches
AFT Convention: “The State of our Union”Speeches
AFT Convention: “The State of our Union”Speeches
AFT Detroit Regional Conference Albert Shanker Address and Press Conference, 1985Speeches
AFT Leads the Revolution in EducationSpeeches
AFT Local President's ConferenceSpeeches
AFT Paraprofessional and School-Related Personnel ConferenceSpeeches
AFT Regional Conference AddressSpeeches
AFT Sixty-Third Convention AddressSpeeches
AFT State Federation Presidents ConferenceSpeeches
Albert Shanker Oral History for UFT 25th Anniversary bookletSpeeches
Albert Shanker Speech at the Brookings Institute, May 1994Speeches
Alternative Assessment ConferenceSpeeches
American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education: "Professional Relationships: Reality and Action"Speeches
American Education Research Association Annual Conference Speeches
American Enterprise Institute (AEI) Public Policy Forum: “Crisis in Education: Whose Responsibility?”Speeches
American Federation of Teachers Convention Speech, 2000Speeches
British Columbia TeacherSpeeches
Building a Movement of Militant ProfessionalsSpeeches
Building and Construction Trades Department ConventionSpeeches
California Commission of the Teaching Profession PresentationSpeeches
California Commission on Teacher CredentialingSpeeches
california english: “Improving Our Schools: Drastic Change or Fine Tuning? An Interview with Albert Shanker”Speeches
California Legislature on the Commission on the Teaching ProfessionSpeeches
Carnegie ForumSpeeches
Celebrating UUP's 25th AnniversarySpeeches
Change Magazine: “Three Union Leaders Talk about Academic Future”Speeches
Changing the Culture of American SchoolsSpeeches
Christian Congress on Public Education AddressSpeeches
City Club Forum, Cleveland City ClubSpeeches
Civil, Human, and Women's Rights ConferenceSpeeches
Collective Bargaining - The New York WaySpeeches
Collective Bargaining and the New Status of EducationSpeeches
Collective Bargaining for New York City TeachersSpeeches
Collective Bargaining Negotiations in New York City, 1962-63Speeches
College Board Western Regional OfficeSpeeches
College Board, National Forum Speeches
Committee on Education and LaborSpeeches
Committee on Education and Labor; Subcommittee on Select EducationSpeeches
Commonwealth Magazine: “What Schools Should—and Shouldn't—Learn From Markets”Speeches
Compass InterviewSpeeches
Compass: “Thoughts on Education: An Interview with William Bennett and Albert Shanker”Speeches