1. Personal life

2. Politics

3. References

Reverend Lyscum Elbert Crowson (June 26, 1903 - August 26, 1993) was a Methodist preacher who gained notoriety in the 1960s for leading West Virginia's "dry" movement.^[1] As the chairman of the West Virginia Citizens Committee for Defeat of the Liquor Amendment, Crowson frequently engaged in high profile debates with politicians, the press, and civilians alike. Crowson was known for being fiery and unwavering in his politics, and often courted controversy.

Personal life

L.E. Crowson was born in De Kalb, Mississippi in 1903 to Frederick Lawrence Crowson, a Methodist preacher and Elizabeth S. Pope. Frederick was very active in the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Crowson and his family moved often around the South, spending large amounts of time in Florida, Mississippi, and Alabama.

At 18, Crowson received his license to preach. He subsequently attended Asbury University. After returning to Florida from Asbury, he married Aline Purdom in 1924; they had two daughters.

Politics

Throughout his adult life, Crowson was often involved in the insider politics of the wider Methodist church. On multiple occasions, Crowson made waves within annual Methodist Conferences with his conservative beliefs.

At the 1960 Methodist General Conference in Denver, Colorado, Crowson presented a resolution aimed at discrediting the presidential aspirations of then-candidate John F. Kennedy, on the grounds that Kennedy's Catholicism caused fundamental problems for American sovereignty. The resolution was overwhelmingly rejected, and Crowson was strongly rebuked by fellow ministers.^[2]

In 1962, Crowson was the leader of a successful statewide campaign to defeat a constitutional amendment in favor of loosening alcohol laws for restaurants. Crowson's actions ranged from engaging in high-profile debates to going undercover to liquor establishments, as well as regularly preaching the evils of drink from the pulpit.^[3] While it was the newspaper coverage that made him a familiar figure in West Virginia politics, it was more often the stories about Crowson's undercover exploits that delighted the public. Despite questionable authenticity, various iterations of a story of Crowson pouring his drink onto the shoe of a stranger circulated West Virginia for decades after the "dry" debate.^[4][5]

References

• Separate Ways (World's Apart)
• Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)
• Separate Ways (Worlds Apart) (Dawson's Creek)
• Separating Axis Theorem
• Separating funnel
• Separating funnels
• Separating hyperplane theorem
• Separating line theorem
• Separating plane theorem
• Separating set
• Separating vertex
• Separation (aeronautics)
• Separation (Air Traffic Control)
• Separation Anxieties
• Separation Anxiety Disorder
• Separation Anxiety (episode)
• Separation Anxiety (That's So Raven)
• Separation Anxiety (That's So Raven episode)
• Separation Anxiety (TSR episode)
• Separation barriers
• Separation between state and church
• Separation by variables
• Separation (disambiguation)
• Separation EP
• Separation (EP)