In the 1920s, Smith-Cotton High School hosted an assembly for students each week. Attendance at the assembly, which was hosted in the auditorium, was mandatory. The programs varied — some celebrated holidays, others presented programs by students from various classes. Others showcased entertainment by school drama and music groups. Still others featured guest speakers.
One of the more interesting speakers appeared Tuesday, Nov. 22, 1927. The speaker, former Congressman W.D. Upshaw, of Georgia, visited both Martha Letts Junior High School on Massachusetts Avenue and Smith-Cotton. He spoke to the community at First Baptist Church that evening.
Upshaw gave an inspiring speech based in part on his experiences. He had grown up in a poor farming family in Georgia, and spoke of plowing fields with a team of mules. He was injured in a farming accident that left him confined to his bed for seven years. While bedfast, he studied, wrote letters to important people and wrote pamphlets expressing his views about issues of the day.
He was finally, with the aid of a back brace and crutches, able to walk. He entered college, worked to support himself and pay his tuition, and graduated at the age of 31. He went into politics, crediting his background in farming for his decision.
“I used to make speeches to an old Georgia mule that I intended to make in Congress. The mule died shortly afterwards. I decided to try them on Congress,” he told the students.
Upshaw’s favorite issue while in Congress was Prohibition, which he favored. He believed a bootlegger was a far more dangerous and corrupt criminal than a counterfeiter, for “a counterfeiter deals in money, but a bootlegger deals in souls.”
Despite his pro-Prohibition stance, Upshaw’s speech was not a temperance lecture. It was instead a motivational message. He spoke of his determination to walk, to finish college, and to go into politics, telling the students to “let nothing discourage you, never give up.” Upshaw noted that the world was ready to crown winners no matter what or how they won, and cautioned students to win by working hard and by being honest and genuine.
At a time when mandatory school attendance laws were weak and many students dropped out of school at age 16, Upshaw stressed the importance of finishing high school.
Upshaw told the students to believe thoroughly in themselves: “You will never win unless you believe you can.” He pointed to his own experiences and noted that the strong, healthy young people could rise in the world as he had, and accomplish “anything in the world God wants you to do.”
Upshaw praised the notion of “being under the dominion of a great ideal.” For Upshaw, that ideal had four components. The first was determination. The second was education. The third was loyal, enthusiastic belief in oneself. The fourth was a God-fearing character that exemplified honesty and truthfulness.
Upshaw’s speech, though given 90 years ago, still carries with it a set of truths that both young and old would do well to follow.
