Clifton Ellis Byrd (December 14, 1859 - February 26, 1926) was among the most prominent educators in Louisiana in the first quarter of the twentieth century. The nationally recognized C.E. Byrd High School (founded 1925) in Shreveport, the "alma mater" of many of that city's civic and political leaders, bears his name. C.E. Byrd is Shreveport's oldest public high school. Byrd was born in Bath County, Virginia (near the West Virginia state line), …

David Allen Lee (born 1943) played football for the former Baltimore Colts and subsequently retired from a career as a General Motors executive in Shreveport, the seat of Caddo Parish, in northwestern Louisiana. He accumulated several sports records in punting for the Colts in a 12-year career from 1966 until 1978. Lee was born to Roy Lee (1916-1994) and the former Hazel Braley (1919-2007). He grew up in the small town of Minden, the seat of Webster Parish, …

Randy Lew Ewing (born February 10, 1944) is a Jackson Parish businessman who, as a Democrat, represented District 35 (Jackson, Lincoln, Union, and part of Ouachita parishes) in the Louisiana State Senate from 1988-2000. He was the State Senate President in his last term from 1996-2000, which corresponded with the first term of Republican Governor Murphy J. "Mike" Foster, Jr. Ewing recalls his humble roots.

Robert William "Bob" Kostelka (born February 18, 1933) is a former district attorney, district judge, and circuit judge, and, currently, a conservative Republican state senator from Monroe, Louisiana, who has represented Ouachita, Lincoln, and Jackson parishes in Senate District 35 since 2004. Kostelka retired from his circuit judgeship in 2003, when he reached the age of seventy, as required by an amendment to the Louisiana Constitution.

Billy Wayne Montgomery (born July 7, 1937) is a former educator who has represented the Bossier City-based District 9 in the Louisiana House of Representatives since 1988. Montgomery has relocated from his previous residence in Haughton in western Bossier Parish to live once again in Bossier City. He was elected as a Democrat, but he switched affiliation to the Republican Party on October 3, 2006.

Francis Coleman Thompson (born October 29, 1941) is a wealthy developer from Delhi in Richland Parish, Louisiana, USA, and a senior Democratic member of the Louisiana House of Representatives, who has served continuously since 1975. Because of state term limits, he is ineligible to seek a ninth four-year term in the jungle primary pending on October 20, 2007. In addition to his own Richland Parish, Thompson represents all or portions of the parishes of East Carroll, …

Keith Paul Hightower (born 1957) is a businessman who is the former Democratic mayor of Shreveport, Louisiana. Hightower graduated from Louisiana Tech University in Ruston in Lincoln Parish in 1979. He was one of the relatively few graduates in his college class from Shreveport who returned to live and work in their hometown. First, however, Hightower was employed by Acme Brick Co. in Baton Rouge; the firm transferred him to Shreveport.

Riley Joseph Wilson (November 12, 1871 - February 23, 1946) was a Louisiana educator, attorney, and legislator in the first half of the late 19th century and the first decades of the 20th Century. A Democrat, Wilson served in the United States House of Representatives from from 1915 until 1937. He was defeated for renomination in 1936. He was born near Goldonna in Winn Parish, the traditional In 1894, he graduated from Iuka Normal Institute in Iuka (Tishomingo County), …

James Benjamin Aswell, Sr. (December 23, 1869 - March 16, 1931) was a prominent educator and a Democratic U.S. representative from Louisiana, who served from 1913 until his death, which occurred twelve days into his tenth term. Aswell was born in the Vernon community in rural Jackson Parish in north Louisiana to Benjamin W. Aswell and the former Elizabeth A. Lyles. He attended local schools and graduated with teaching credentials in 1892 from Peabody College, …

Louise Brazzel Johnson (October 6, 1924 -- January 6, 2002) was a little-known insurance agent in Bernice in Union Parish who rocketed to state prominence when she upset the Speaker of the Louisiana House of Representatives in the 1971 Democratic primary. Johnson unseated 24-year incumbent John Sidney Garrett of Haynesville in Claiborne Parish to win the nomination for the District 11 seat in the legislature. After she defeated Garrett, Mrs.

Kim Gandy is serving her second term as president of the National Organization for Women, elected by the group's grassroots members in 2001 and again in 2005. She has served as a national officer of NOW since 1987 and in state, local and regional leadership positions since 1973. Gandy also is president of the NOW Foundation , chair of NOW's Political Action Committees , and serves as the principal spokesperson for all three entities.

Paul McMillian Davis, Jr. (September 1, 1919 - February 12, 2007), was a distinguished orthopedic surgeon in Alexandria, the seat of Rapides Parish in central Louisiana, who wrote numerous instructional articles relating to his speciality which were published in the "Bulletin of Tulane University", the "Journal of the Louisiana State Medical Society", the "Journal of Trauma", and the "Southern Medical Journal".

Leon Charles Weiss (December 10, 1882 - April 1, 1953) was the politically-connected architect who designed most major monuments of the Huey Pierce Long, Jr., gubernatorial administration in Louisiana, including the skyscraper-shaped capitol, the governor's mansion, and Louisiana State University buildings, all in Baton Rouge, and the LSU Medical School in New Orleans. Weiss was born in Farmerville, the seat of Union Parish, north of Ruston.

Charles Emmett "Cap" Barham (September 26, 1905 -- February 23, 1972), was the Democratic lieutenant governor of Louisiana from 1952 - 1956, who is credited with having established the office independent from that of the governor. He was frequently at odds with then Governor Robert F. Kennon of Minden, the seat of Webster Parish.