:For his wife Elenora Albrecht Cawthon, see last section of this article.
John Ardis Cawthon (March 16, 1907 - October 5, 1984) was an educator and regional historian from Ruston in Lincoln Parish in north Louisiana, who was affiliated with Louisiana Tech University from 1939-1940, 1948, and from January 12, 1954, until retirement on May 31, 1972. Cawthon was a frequent contributor to North Louisiana History, which named its John Ardis Cawthon Memorial Printing Fund in his honor.
Background
Cawthon was born in south Bossier Parish to James Alexander Cawthon (1878-1961), a native of the McDade community, and the former Maggie Mae Dance (1878-1968), originally from nearby Webster Parish. He was named for a family friend, John Houston Sibley, and the Reverend H. Z. Ardis, a pioneer Baptist minister who had taught at the early Mount Lebanon College in Bienville Parish. He hence shared his father's initials, "J. A." He was first home-schooled by his mother, who had attended Athens Academy in Claiborne Parish. From the fifth through the eighth grades, Cawthon attended the one-room school in the Koran community of south Bossier Parish. The family then relocated to Doyline in south Webster Parish, where John Cawthon completed high school.
James and Maggie Cawthon married in 1905 in Athens in southern Claiborne Parish. Cawthon had a brother, James Dance Cawthon (1915-2011) of Shreveport, who taught briefly at Springhill High School in Springhill in northern Webster Parish before he began a long career in the accounting department of the United Gas and Pennzoil companies. James Dance Cawthon, who served as the business administrator for a decade of the First Presbyterian Church of Shreveport, also did some historical writing which was published by the North Louisiana Historical Association. Cawthon had two sisters, Maggie Lee McIntyre (1911-2007) of Doyline, a state social work supervisor from 1935 to 1976, based in Minden, and Miss Annis Ella Cawthon (1909-1999), a former educator in Springhill. In 1950, Annis Cawthon was elected president of the Webster Parish Classroom Teachers Association. She later taught mathematics at Louisiana Tech from 1959-1974.
Cawthon's parents and sisters are interred at Doyline Cemetery. All of the Cawthon siblings graduated from Louisiana Tech. He taught in Webster Parish high schools during the 1930s at Cotton Valley (1934-1935)) and Sarepta (1935-1939).
After the war, Cawthon returned briefly to Northwestern and then left to study for his Ed.D. (since recognized by the National Science Foundation as equivalent to a Ph.D.) at the University of Texas at Austin.
In 1955, Cawthon wrote for the Arkansas Historical Quarterly the article entitled "George W. Dance", a biography of one of his own kinsmen, George Washington Dance, a native of Oglethorpe, Georgia, who spent his life primarily in Claiborne Parish just south of the Arkansas state line. Cawthon writes: "Referred to as poor whites from the hills, by the plantation owners on the big rivers, George Dance and his kind were not considered worthy of historical record. . . . The unpretentious George Washington Dance, however, wrote news articles for the Claiborne Parish weekly newspaper and compiled a history book. He expressed amazement at the progress of a wonderful nation, which he and his neighbors believed they had helped to produce."
In 1948, Cawthon and the former Elenora Albrecht, a native of Mission Valley in Victoria County some 135 miles west of Houston in South Texas, received their Doctor of Education degrees from UT at Austin, some twenty-four hours after they had wed at her Lutheran Church in Mission Valley. Elenora had also studied under Dr. Umstattd
Another Cawthon work of local history, since out-of-print, is Ghost Towns Of Old Claiborne, which notes the lack of information available on the ghost town of Russellville, named the seat of Claiborne Parish in 1828. The parish government is now based in Homer. Cawthon's relative George W. Dance said on the moving of the courthouse: "When the courthouse moved, the glory departed. The village is now an old worn-out field."
*"Among the Tombs Bossier," Vol. 4, No. 2, Winter 1973: 58-63
*"Among the Tombs Claiborne Parish," Vol. 5, No. 3, Spring 1974: 103-113
*"Among the Tombs De Soto Parish," Vol. 10, No. 1, Winter 1979: 8-12
*"Among the Tombs Jackson Parish," Vol. 6, No. 1, Fall 1974: 12-21
*"Among the Tombs Lincoln Parish," Vol. 4, No. 3, Spring 1973: 90-94
*"Among the Tombs Morehouse Parish," Vol. 5, No. 1, Fall 1973: 10-13
*"Among the Tombs Natchitoches," Vol. 8, No. 3, Spring 1977: 114-117
*"Among the Tombs Ouachita Parish," Vol. 12, No. 1, Winter 1981: 42-49
*"Among the Tombs Shreveport," Vol. 6, No. 4, Summer 1975: 165-173
*"Among the Tombs Union Parish," Vol. 5, No. 2, Winter 1974: 68-72
*"Among the Tombs Webster Parish," Vol. 4, No. 4, Summer 1973: 134-140
*"Among the Tombs Winn Parish," Vol. 6, No. 2, Winter 1975: 74-80
*"The Doyle Saga, 1843-1981," Vol. 12, No. 4, Fall 1981: 147-155
*"Doyline School," Vol. 8, No. 5, Fall 1977: 185-186
*"Fredrick Miller, First White Man Buried," Vol. 7, No.1, Fall 1975: 27-30
*"Make a Joyful Noise," Vol. 9, No. 1, Winter 1978: 29-35
*"Nine Forks, Frontier Crossroads," Vol. 11, No. 3, Summer 1980: 3-10
who was of German extraction, was the daughter of Lillie Lassmann and Otto H. Albrecht. From 1955 to 1988, she was the Louisiana Tech placement services director, though the position had various titles over the years. From 1972 to 1973, she was the president of the National College Placement Council. She was a president of the Ruston . She received her three degrees from the University of Texas in 1938, 1939, and 1948, respectively. Elenora and John Ardis Cawthon married in 1948, spent the summer of that year at Louisiana Tech, and then accepted faculty appointments from 1948 to 1954 at Arkansas Tech University in Russellville, Arkansas. (Coincidentally, he had written about the ghost town of Russellville, Louisiana.) John Ardis Cawthon was an education professor at Arkansas Tech, and Elenora was the director of teacher education there. One of his first publications there was "The Curriculum: Secondary Schools" in The Encyclopedia of Educational Research.
The couple returned to Ruston in 1954 to accept their terminal faculty appointments. They lived in a white house on the edge of the Tech campus. Elenora remained in the house for fifteen years after her husband's death. At the age of eighty-one in 1999, she returned to Mission Valley to become a working cattle rancher, which had also been her father's occupation.
In 1984, Mrs. Cawthon deposited their family and professional papers dating back to 1827 to Louisiana Tech Special Collections. In 1994, Mrs. Cawthon completed an oral history about the careers of her husband as well as herself for Louisiana Tech Special Collections. Elenora Cawthon was also an appointed member of the Louisiana State University Board of Supervisors, having served in that capacity after her retirement from Louisiana Tech. In 2003, she was honored by Tech with its "Distinguished Service Award." Elisabeth is married to John Stephen Saunders (born 1954), and the couple has two children. They reside in the Dallas suburb of Coppell.<ref namemph2007/><ref nameecawthon/> Eleanor died in Carrollton, Texas, at the age of ninety-six.<ref name=eleanorobit/>
John A. and Elenora A. Cawthon are interred at Mt. Zion Lutheran Cemetery in Mission Valley, Texas.<ref name=eleanorobit/>
John Ardis Cawthon (March 16, 1907 - October 5, 1984) was an educator and regional historian from Ruston in Lincoln Parish in north Louisiana, who was affiliated with Louisiana Tech University from 1939-1940, 1948, and from January 12, 1954, until retirement on May 31, 1972. Cawthon was a frequent contributor to North Louisiana History, which named its John Ardis Cawthon Memorial Printing Fund in his honor.
Background
Cawthon was born in south Bossier Parish to James Alexander Cawthon (1878-1961), a native of the McDade community, and the former Maggie Mae Dance (1878-1968), originally from nearby Webster Parish. He was named for a family friend, John Houston Sibley, and the Reverend H. Z. Ardis, a pioneer Baptist minister who had taught at the early Mount Lebanon College in Bienville Parish. He hence shared his father's initials, "J. A." He was first home-schooled by his mother, who had attended Athens Academy in Claiborne Parish. From the fifth through the eighth grades, Cawthon attended the one-room school in the Koran community of south Bossier Parish. The family then relocated to Doyline in south Webster Parish, where John Cawthon completed high school.
James and Maggie Cawthon married in 1905 in Athens in southern Claiborne Parish. Cawthon had a brother, James Dance Cawthon (1915-2011) of Shreveport, who taught briefly at Springhill High School in Springhill in northern Webster Parish before he began a long career in the accounting department of the United Gas and Pennzoil companies. James Dance Cawthon, who served as the business administrator for a decade of the First Presbyterian Church of Shreveport, also did some historical writing which was published by the North Louisiana Historical Association. Cawthon had two sisters, Maggie Lee McIntyre (1911-2007) of Doyline, a state social work supervisor from 1935 to 1976, based in Minden, and Miss Annis Ella Cawthon (1909-1999), a former educator in Springhill. In 1950, Annis Cawthon was elected president of the Webster Parish Classroom Teachers Association. She later taught mathematics at Louisiana Tech from 1959-1974.
Cawthon's parents and sisters are interred at Doyline Cemetery. All of the Cawthon siblings graduated from Louisiana Tech. He taught in Webster Parish high schools during the 1930s at Cotton Valley (1934-1935)) and Sarepta (1935-1939).
After the war, Cawthon returned briefly to Northwestern and then left to study for his Ed.D. (since recognized by the National Science Foundation as equivalent to a Ph.D.) at the University of Texas at Austin.
In 1955, Cawthon wrote for the Arkansas Historical Quarterly the article entitled "George W. Dance", a biography of one of his own kinsmen, George Washington Dance, a native of Oglethorpe, Georgia, who spent his life primarily in Claiborne Parish just south of the Arkansas state line. Cawthon writes: "Referred to as poor whites from the hills, by the plantation owners on the big rivers, George Dance and his kind were not considered worthy of historical record. . . . The unpretentious George Washington Dance, however, wrote news articles for the Claiborne Parish weekly newspaper and compiled a history book. He expressed amazement at the progress of a wonderful nation, which he and his neighbors believed they had helped to produce."
In 1948, Cawthon and the former Elenora Albrecht, a native of Mission Valley in Victoria County some 135 miles west of Houston in South Texas, received their Doctor of Education degrees from UT at Austin, some twenty-four hours after they had wed at her Lutheran Church in Mission Valley. Elenora had also studied under Dr. Umstattd
Another Cawthon work of local history, since out-of-print, is Ghost Towns Of Old Claiborne, which notes the lack of information available on the ghost town of Russellville, named the seat of Claiborne Parish in 1828. The parish government is now based in Homer. Cawthon's relative George W. Dance said on the moving of the courthouse: "When the courthouse moved, the glory departed. The village is now an old worn-out field."
*"Among the Tombs Bossier," Vol. 4, No. 2, Winter 1973: 58-63
*"Among the Tombs Claiborne Parish," Vol. 5, No. 3, Spring 1974: 103-113
*"Among the Tombs De Soto Parish," Vol. 10, No. 1, Winter 1979: 8-12
*"Among the Tombs Jackson Parish," Vol. 6, No. 1, Fall 1974: 12-21
*"Among the Tombs Lincoln Parish," Vol. 4, No. 3, Spring 1973: 90-94
*"Among the Tombs Morehouse Parish," Vol. 5, No. 1, Fall 1973: 10-13
*"Among the Tombs Natchitoches," Vol. 8, No. 3, Spring 1977: 114-117
*"Among the Tombs Ouachita Parish," Vol. 12, No. 1, Winter 1981: 42-49
*"Among the Tombs Shreveport," Vol. 6, No. 4, Summer 1975: 165-173
*"Among the Tombs Union Parish," Vol. 5, No. 2, Winter 1974: 68-72
*"Among the Tombs Webster Parish," Vol. 4, No. 4, Summer 1973: 134-140
*"Among the Tombs Winn Parish," Vol. 6, No. 2, Winter 1975: 74-80
*"The Doyle Saga, 1843-1981," Vol. 12, No. 4, Fall 1981: 147-155
*"Doyline School," Vol. 8, No. 5, Fall 1977: 185-186
*"Fredrick Miller, First White Man Buried," Vol. 7, No.1, Fall 1975: 27-30
*"Make a Joyful Noise," Vol. 9, No. 1, Winter 1978: 29-35
*"Nine Forks, Frontier Crossroads," Vol. 11, No. 3, Summer 1980: 3-10
who was of German extraction, was the daughter of Lillie Lassmann and Otto H. Albrecht. From 1955 to 1988, she was the Louisiana Tech placement services director, though the position had various titles over the years. From 1972 to 1973, she was the president of the National College Placement Council. She was a president of the Ruston . She received her three degrees from the University of Texas in 1938, 1939, and 1948, respectively. Elenora and John Ardis Cawthon married in 1948, spent the summer of that year at Louisiana Tech, and then accepted faculty appointments from 1948 to 1954 at Arkansas Tech University in Russellville, Arkansas. (Coincidentally, he had written about the ghost town of Russellville, Louisiana.) John Ardis Cawthon was an education professor at Arkansas Tech, and Elenora was the director of teacher education there. One of his first publications there was "The Curriculum: Secondary Schools" in The Encyclopedia of Educational Research.
The couple returned to Ruston in 1954 to accept their terminal faculty appointments. They lived in a white house on the edge of the Tech campus. Elenora remained in the house for fifteen years after her husband's death. At the age of eighty-one in 1999, she returned to Mission Valley to become a working cattle rancher, which had also been her father's occupation.
In 1984, Mrs. Cawthon deposited their family and professional papers dating back to 1827 to Louisiana Tech Special Collections. In 1994, Mrs. Cawthon completed an oral history about the careers of her husband as well as herself for Louisiana Tech Special Collections. Elenora Cawthon was also an appointed member of the Louisiana State University Board of Supervisors, having served in that capacity after her retirement from Louisiana Tech. In 2003, she was honored by Tech with its "Distinguished Service Award." Elisabeth is married to John Stephen Saunders (born 1954), and the couple has two children. They reside in the Dallas suburb of Coppell.<ref namemph2007/><ref nameecawthon/> Eleanor died in Carrollton, Texas, at the age of ninety-six.<ref name=eleanorobit/>
John A. and Elenora A. Cawthon are interred at Mt. Zion Lutheran Cemetery in Mission Valley, Texas.<ref name=eleanorobit/>
Ste Richardsson is the co-director of XJW Friends, a support group for former members of the Jehovah's Witnesses with over 1000 members UK-wide, as well as the co-director of Deptford Pride, an annual community pride in the south-east London district of Deptford.
Life
Richardsson left the religion in 2007 after a long battle between his faith and his sexuality. Upon becoming a humanist, he left the religion, and a series of events left him homeless.
Humanist Activism
In 2010, he joined Terri O'Sullivan becoming a co-director of events at XJW Friends, a group which supports ex-members of the Jehovah's Witnesses who have been (shunned and ostracised) by their friends and family, and he has continued to support former Jehovah's Witnesses primarily through peer-support socials and tours.
He is currently a committee member of Faith to Faithless a section of Humanists UK which supports people who have left high-control religions of all kinds. He has also spoken at several events for the Association of Black Humanists most notably at an event at common House and another one at the organisation's first Festival of Reason and Free-thought in 2018..
In June 2019, Richardsson will be chairing a panel discussion entitled "LGBT and BAME communities; fighting bigotry, and making use of allies" at Leicester University for the LGBT Humanists UK Conference, interviewing founder of UK Black Pride, Ms Phyll Opoku-Gyimah and Daniel Asaya who founded the House of Rainbow.
== LGBTQ+ Activism ==
In 2018, Ste and his partner, Peter Collins, began to run Deptford Pride as a local community event. The event attracted over 500 people from the local area in 2017 and close to 1000 in 2018.
Ste led a guided tour of the black history of the Deptford area for Black History Month in 2018 emphasising the intersection of black and LGBT history, and the Deptford Pride team continue to organise events throughout the year.
Education
He holds a bachelor’s degree in linguistics from Queen Mary University of London, UK where he conducted research into the treatment of religious minorities such as Jehovah's Witnesses in both the UK and France. He went on to gain a masters in Medical Translation and in Secondary Education and currently works as a language teacher and lecturer.
In 2010, he used his knowledge from his medical translation degree to lead tours of the Natural History Museum about evolution, natural selection and comparative anatomy and consequently set up his own tour company. His company now offers tours of the Natural History Museum, the British Museum and the V&A.
Life
Richardsson left the religion in 2007 after a long battle between his faith and his sexuality. Upon becoming a humanist, he left the religion, and a series of events left him homeless.
Humanist Activism
In 2010, he joined Terri O'Sullivan becoming a co-director of events at XJW Friends, a group which supports ex-members of the Jehovah's Witnesses who have been (shunned and ostracised) by their friends and family, and he has continued to support former Jehovah's Witnesses primarily through peer-support socials and tours.
He is currently a committee member of Faith to Faithless a section of Humanists UK which supports people who have left high-control religions of all kinds. He has also spoken at several events for the Association of Black Humanists most notably at an event at common House and another one at the organisation's first Festival of Reason and Free-thought in 2018..
In June 2019, Richardsson will be chairing a panel discussion entitled "LGBT and BAME communities; fighting bigotry, and making use of allies" at Leicester University for the LGBT Humanists UK Conference, interviewing founder of UK Black Pride, Ms Phyll Opoku-Gyimah and Daniel Asaya who founded the House of Rainbow.
== LGBTQ+ Activism ==
In 2018, Ste and his partner, Peter Collins, began to run Deptford Pride as a local community event. The event attracted over 500 people from the local area in 2017 and close to 1000 in 2018.
Ste led a guided tour of the black history of the Deptford area for Black History Month in 2018 emphasising the intersection of black and LGBT history, and the Deptford Pride team continue to organise events throughout the year.
Education
He holds a bachelor’s degree in linguistics from Queen Mary University of London, UK where he conducted research into the treatment of religious minorities such as Jehovah's Witnesses in both the UK and France. He went on to gain a masters in Medical Translation and in Secondary Education and currently works as a language teacher and lecturer.
In 2010, he used his knowledge from his medical translation degree to lead tours of the Natural History Museum about evolution, natural selection and comparative anatomy and consequently set up his own tour company. His company now offers tours of the Natural History Museum, the British Museum and the V&A.
Nonpolar is an umbrella term describing any sexual orientation that is neither heterosexual or homosexual (or the "poles" of sexual identity). As such it would be inclusive of any other sexual identity, including both bisexual and pansexual as well as others. The originator of the term, Emma Frye, initially used Nonbinary Sexuality, but found in practice that Nonpolar was less confusing.
Kinsey scale
In the 1940s, the zoologist Alfred Kinsey created a scale to measure the continuum of sexual orientation from heterosexuality to homosexuality. Kinsey studied human sexuality and argued that people have the capability of being hetero- or homosexual even if this trait does not present itself in the current circumstances. The Kinsey scale is used to describe a person's sexual experience or response at a given time. It ranges from 0, meaning exclusively heterosexual, to 6, meaning exclusively homosexual. People who rank anywhere from 2 to 4 are often considered bisexual; they are often not fully one extreme or the other. The sociologists Martin S. Weinberg and Colin J. Williams write that, in principle, people who rank anywhere from 1 to 5 could be considered bisexual.
Demographics and prevalence
Kinsey's 1948 work Sexual Behavior in the Human Male found that "46% of the male population had engaged in both heterosexual and homosexual activities, or 'reacted to' persons of both sexes, in the course of their adult lives". Kinsey himself disliked the use of the term bisexual to describe individuals who engage in sexual activity with both males and females, preferring to use bisexual in its original, biological sense as hermaphroditic, stating, "Until it is demonstrated taste in a sexual relation is dependent upon the individual containing within his anatomy both male and female structures, or male and female physiological capacities, it is unfortunate to call such individuals bisexual." The Janus Report on Sexual Behavior, published in 1993, showed that 5 percent of men and 3 percent of women considered themselves bisexual and 4 percent of men and 2 percent of women considered themselves homosexual.
Kinsey scale
In the 1940s, the zoologist Alfred Kinsey created a scale to measure the continuum of sexual orientation from heterosexuality to homosexuality. Kinsey studied human sexuality and argued that people have the capability of being hetero- or homosexual even if this trait does not present itself in the current circumstances. The Kinsey scale is used to describe a person's sexual experience or response at a given time. It ranges from 0, meaning exclusively heterosexual, to 6, meaning exclusively homosexual. People who rank anywhere from 2 to 4 are often considered bisexual; they are often not fully one extreme or the other. The sociologists Martin S. Weinberg and Colin J. Williams write that, in principle, people who rank anywhere from 1 to 5 could be considered bisexual.
Demographics and prevalence
Kinsey's 1948 work Sexual Behavior in the Human Male found that "46% of the male population had engaged in both heterosexual and homosexual activities, or 'reacted to' persons of both sexes, in the course of their adult lives". Kinsey himself disliked the use of the term bisexual to describe individuals who engage in sexual activity with both males and females, preferring to use bisexual in its original, biological sense as hermaphroditic, stating, "Until it is demonstrated taste in a sexual relation is dependent upon the individual containing within his anatomy both male and female structures, or male and female physiological capacities, it is unfortunate to call such individuals bisexual." The Janus Report on Sexual Behavior, published in 1993, showed that 5 percent of men and 3 percent of women considered themselves bisexual and 4 percent of men and 2 percent of women considered themselves homosexual.
Vicennium means a period of twenty years in Latin. Ma'din Academy, an educational institution based in Kerala, India named its 20th anniversary celebration as Vicennium. Thus the latin word became popular in the state.
Ma'din's Vicennium Celebration started in 2015 and concluded in 2018. In 2015, the then Chief minister of Kerala Ommen Chandi inaugurated the vicennium and the concluding session was inaugurated by chief minister of Kerala Pinarayi Vijayan in December 2018. UN Secretary-General's Special Adviser for the Prevention of Genocide Adama Dieng was the guest of honor. Number of social workers, politicians and religious leaders also attended the four day long concluding conference of Vicennium. Kerala Governor Justice P. Sathasivam, Hadhramaut scholar Umar bin Hafiz, Adama Dieng, High Representative for the Alliance of Civilizations of the United Nations Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, Justice Markandey Katju, are major guests to name few.
Ma'din also conducted an international history conference on Ibn Battuta as part of this Vicennium Celebration. 20 history scholars from across the globe presented papers.
A vicennium song was penned by picking sentences from 20 languages to denote the vicennium meaning such as Parsi, Spanish, Chinese, German, Arabic, Malayalam, English, Urdu, Melayu, Tamil, Kashmiri, Kannada, Portuguese, Gujarati, Telugu, Turkish, Latin, Greek, French and Polish.
Ma'din's Vicennium Celebration started in 2015 and concluded in 2018. In 2015, the then Chief minister of Kerala Ommen Chandi inaugurated the vicennium and the concluding session was inaugurated by chief minister of Kerala Pinarayi Vijayan in December 2018. UN Secretary-General's Special Adviser for the Prevention of Genocide Adama Dieng was the guest of honor. Number of social workers, politicians and religious leaders also attended the four day long concluding conference of Vicennium. Kerala Governor Justice P. Sathasivam, Hadhramaut scholar Umar bin Hafiz, Adama Dieng, High Representative for the Alliance of Civilizations of the United Nations Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, Justice Markandey Katju, are major guests to name few.
Ma'din also conducted an international history conference on Ibn Battuta as part of this Vicennium Celebration. 20 history scholars from across the globe presented papers.
A vicennium song was penned by picking sentences from 20 languages to denote the vicennium meaning such as Parsi, Spanish, Chinese, German, Arabic, Malayalam, English, Urdu, Melayu, Tamil, Kashmiri, Kannada, Portuguese, Gujarati, Telugu, Turkish, Latin, Greek, French and Polish.