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The Smith-Hughes Vocational Education Act

    In 1917, the Smith-Hughes Vocational Education Act passed through the halls of Congress. Two Democratic lawmakers from georgia, Sen. Hoke Smith and Rep. Dudley Mays Hughes, were chiefly responsible for this historic bill, which brought vocational education, particularly agriculture education, to the nation's attention by establishing it as a federal program.
    Hoke Smith was born in Newton, N.C., on sept. 2, 855, and was home-schooled by his father, a professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Smith soon made a life for himself in Atlanta, studying and practicing law there after he was admitted to the bar in 1873. From 1887-1990, he was editor and president of the Atlanta Evening Journal.
    Dudley M. Hughes was born on Oct. 10, 1848, in Jeffersonville, Ga. He attended local country schools for his basic education and graduated in 1870 from the University of Georgia at Athens. He explored various agricultural activities beginning in 1871, then turned his attention to politics, serving as a state senator in 1882 and 1883.
    Both Smith and Hughes had extensive background in education-related politics, which made them the perfect politicians to tackle such significant legislation once they were in Congress. Smith was president of the Atlanta Board of Education from 1896=1907, before serving as governor of the state from 1907-1909. He was a U.S. Senator Nov. 11, 1911, to March 3, 1921, during which time he was chairman of the Committee on Education and Labor (63rd - 65th Congresses).
    Early in his career, Hughes was involved in agriculture and agriculture education throughout Georgia. He was president of the Georgia State Agricultural Society from 1904-1906, trustee of the Danville School, the State Normal Institute, the University of Georgia and the Georgia State Agricultural College and president of the Georgia Fruit Growers' Association. Hughes served in Congress March 4, 1909, to March 3, 1917, and was chairman of the Committee on Education in the 63rd and 64th Congresses.
    In 1914, Smith helped prepare the legislation that created the Commission on National Aid to Vocational Education. President Woodrow Wilson then appointed Hughes to serve on the commission. ---Marnie Roberts

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