Biography:

Educator; professor of education. Born– January 7, 1890, Luverne. Parents– James Hausford and Mary Jane (Larkin) Cowart. Married Gladys Godbey, June 28, 1920. Education– Luverne and Goshen public schools,  Troy State Normal School (graduated 1910); University of Alabama, B.S., 1914;  Columbia University, M.A., 1921; additional graduate study at Columbia, the University of Michigan, and the University of Bristol (England). Served with the AEF in France, 1918-19. Taught in Andalusia 1910-1911, Castleberry 1911-1912; principal of New Decatur High School 1914-15; superintendent of Albany City Schools, 1915-25.  First full-time secretary of the Alabama Education Association, 1925-27. Professor of Education at the University of Alabama, 1927-60; Interim Dean, 1959-60. Member of Phi Beta Kappa, AEA, NEA, AAUP, Phi Delta Kappa and the Rotary Club.  Awarded the honorary LL. D. by the University of Alabama, 1960.  Died August 6, 1974.

Sources:

Brunson, Marion, and Cowart, Nancy. A History of Our Cowart Family.  Tuscaloosa, 1964.

Files at Alabama Department of Archives and History and at the University of Alabama Alumni Association.

Obituary, Alabama Alumni News, November-December 1974.

Publication(s):

A Citizen’s Catechism on the Public Schools of Alabama; Being a Compendium of Information in the Form of Eighty-six Questions and Answers. Montgomery, Ala.; Alabama Education Association, 1926.