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East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana

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George A. Caldwell , sometimes known as Big George Caldwell (August 24, 1892 – March 12, 1966), was a Louisiana building contractor and state official. In the 1930s, during the Great Depression , he served as Superintendent for Construction at Louisiana State University , where he was known to "rake off 2 per cent of the cost of all building projects." Caldwell managed the construction of nine buildings on the campus as federal Public Works Administration (PWA) projects in Baton Rouge . These included the university library and the structures housing the dairying and physics departments.

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91-472: East Baton Rouge Parish ( French : Paroisse de Bâton-Rouge Est ; Spanish : Parroquia del Este de Bastón Rojo ) is the most populous parish in the U.S. state of Louisiana . Its population was 456,781 at the 2020 census . The parish seat is Baton Rouge , Louisiana's state capital. East Baton Rouge Parish is located within the Greater Baton Rouge area . According to the U.S. Census Bureau ,

182-720: A French official to teachers in the department of Finistère , in western Brittany, included the following: "And remember, Gents: you were given your position in order to kill the Breton language". The prefect of Basses-Pyrénées in the French Basque Country wrote in 1846: "Our schools in the Basque Country are particularly meant to replace the Basque language with French..." Students were taught that their ancestral languages were inferior and they should be ashamed of them; this process

273-655: A U.S. Senator, won 57% of the vote and 110,694 votes in East Baton Rouge Parish. Republican John Neely Kennedy won 41% of the vote and 80,222 votes. In the 2004 presidential election, East Baton Rouge Parish cast the majority of its votes for Republican George W. Bush , who won 54% of the votes and 99,943 votes. Democrat John F. Kerry won 45% of the votes and 82,298 votes. In 2016, John Kennedy lost East Baton Rouge Parish in his otherwise highly successful U.S. Senate race against Democratic Louisiana Public Service Commissioner Foster Campbell , who prevailed 52-48%. By

364-417: A captain in the department after retiring from sports. Other law enforcement agencies in the parish include: The 769th Engineer Battalion (Combat) a unit of the 225th Engineer Brigade is located in East Baton Rouge Parish. Two companies of this battalion deployed to Iraq in 2007–2008. Another company-sized unit, the 927TH Sapper Company, deployed to Afghanistan in 2008–2009. As of 2011, yet another company,

455-431: A comprehensive academic study entitled "The World's 10 most influential languages". In the article, Weber ranked French as, after English, the second-most influential language of the world, ahead of Spanish. His criteria were the numbers of native speakers, the number of secondary speakers (especially high for French among fellow world languages), the number of countries using the language and their respective populations,

546-543: A foreign language. Due to the rise of French in Africa, the total French-speaking population worldwide is expected to reach 700 million people in 2050. French is the fastest growing language on the continent (in terms of either official or foreign languages). French is increasingly being spoken as a native language in Francophone Africa, especially in regions like Ivory Coast , Cameroon , Gabon, Madagascar , and

637-410: A large amount of money. The mansion featured air conditioning, solid gold bathroom fixtures, and black marble floors, ceilings and walls. Caldwell's salary at the time was $ 6,000 annually. The New Orleans States newspaper began publishing exposés of the corruption scandals in early 1939. With state and federal investigations underway into what was called the "Louisiana Hayride" scandals, Caldwell

728-495: A nearly identical margin, Democrat Sharon Weston Broome defeated Republican Bodi White to claim the Baton Rouge mayor -president position to succeed Democrat Kip Holden . The East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Office employs approximately 850 deputies, making it one of the largest law enforcement agencies in the state of Louisiana . Notable past sheriffs include politician Philemon Thomas ; baseball player Terry Felton became

819-688: A period of prosperity and prominence among European nations. Richelieu established the Académie française to protect the French language. By the early 1800s, Parisian French had become the primary language of the aristocracy in France. Near the beginning of the 19th century, the French government began to pursue policies with the end goal of eradicating the many minorities and regional languages ( patois ) spoken in France. This began in 1794 with Henri Grégoire 's "Report on

910-494: A relic of the old nominal case system of Latin longer than most other Romance languages (with the notable exception of Romanian which still currently maintains a case distinction), differentiating between an oblique case and a nominative case. The phonology was characterized by heavy syllabic stress, which led to the emergence of various complicated diphthongs such as -eau which would later be leveled to monophthongs. The earliest evidence of what became Old French can be seen in

1001-573: A second language. French is the second most taught foreign language in the EU. All institutions of the EU use French as a working language along with English and German ; in some institutions, French is the sole working language (e.g. at the Court of Justice of the European Union ). French is also the 16th most natively spoken language in the world, the sixth most spoken language by total number of speakers , and

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1092-513: A second language. However it has also become a native language in a number of urban areas, especially in regions like Ivory Coast , Cameroon , Gabon, Madagascar , and the Democratic Republic of the Congo . In some North African countries, though not having official status, it is also a first language among some upper classes of the population alongside indigenous languages, but only

1183-897: A second one among the general population. In 2015, approximately 40% of the Francophone population (including L2 and partial speakers) lived in Europe, 36% in sub-Saharan Africa and the Indian Ocean, 15% in North Africa and the Middle East, 8% in the Americas, and 1% in Asia and Oceania. French is the second most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union . Of Europeans who speak other languages natively, approximately one-fifth are able to speak French as

1274-536: A variant of Canadian French , is spoken in parts of New England . Missouri French was historically spoken in Missouri and Illinois (formerly known as Upper Louisiana ), but is nearly extinct today. French also survived in isolated pockets along the Gulf Coast of what was previously French Lower Louisiana , such as Mon Louis Island , Alabama and DeLisle, Mississippi (the latter only being discovered by linguists in

1365-437: Is 95%, and in the French collectivity of Wallis and Futuna , it is 84%. In French Polynesia and to a lesser extent Wallis and Futuna, where oral and written knowledge of the French language has become almost universal (95% and 84% respectively), French increasingly tends to displace the native Polynesian languages as the language most spoken at home. In French Polynesia, the percentage of the population who reported that French

1456-745: Is a Romance language of the Indo-European family . Like all other Romance languages, it descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire . French evolved from Gallo-Romance , the Latin spoken in Gaul , and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives are the other langues d'oïl —languages historically spoken in northern France and in southern Belgium, which French ( Francien ) largely supplanted. French

1547-467: Is a widespread second language among the Lebanese people , and is taught in many schools along with Arabic and English. French is used on Lebanese pound banknotes, on road signs, on Lebanese license plates , and on official buildings (alongside Arabic). Today, French and English are secondary languages of Lebanon , with about 40% of the population being Francophone and 40% Anglophone. The use of English

1638-484: Is also a working language in nonprofit organisations such as the Red Cross (alongside English, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic and Russian), Amnesty International (alongside 32 other languages of which English is the most used, followed by Spanish, Portuguese, German, and Italian), Médecins sans Frontières (used alongside English, Spanish, Portuguese and Arabic), and Médecins du Monde (used alongside English). Given

1729-430: Is among the top five most studied languages worldwide, with about 120 million learners as of 2017. As a result of French and Belgian colonialism from the 16th century onward, French was introduced to new territories in the Americas, Africa, and Asia. French has a long history as an international language of literature and scientific standards and is a primary or second language of many international organisations including

1820-456: Is an official language in 27 countries , as well as one of the most geographically widespread languages in the world, with about 50 countries and territories having it as a de jure or de facto official, administrative, or cultural language. Most of these countries are members of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF), the community of 54 member states which share

1911-628: Is enacted only in New Brunswick, where about one third of the population is Francophone. French is also an official language of all of the territories ( Northwest Territories , Nunavut , and Yukon ). Out of the three, Yukon has the most French speakers, making up just under 4% of the population. Furthermore, while French is not an official language in Ontario , the French Language Services Act ensures that provincial services are available in

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2002-495: Is growing in the business and media environment. Out of about 900,000 students, about 500,000 are enrolled in Francophone schools, public or private, in which the teaching of mathematics and scientific subjects is provided in French. Actual usage of French varies depending on the region and social status. One-third of high school students educated in French go on to pursue higher education in English-speaking institutions. English

2093-404: Is known as Old French. The period of Old French spanned between the 8th and 14th centuries. Old French shared many characteristics with Latin. For example, Old French made use of different possible word orders just as Latin did because it had a case system that retained the difference between nominative subjects and oblique non-subjects . The period is marked by a heavy superstrate influence from

2184-462: Is often considered to be a useful skill by business owners in the United Kingdom; a 2014 study found that 50% of British managers considered French to be a valuable asset for their business, thus ranking French as the most sought-after foreign language there, ahead of German (49%) and Spanish (44%). MIT economist Albert Saiz calculated a 2.3% premium for those who have French as a foreign language in

2275-504: Is one of 26 public buildings constructed by contractor George A. Caldwell in the 1930s. In 2010, the 19th Judicial District Court moved into the new courthouse on North Blvd. The Jetson Center for Youth , a former juvenile prison operated by the Louisiana Office of Juvenile Justice , is located near Baker in an unincorporated area . Since 1980, East Baton Rouge Parish has been a bellwether in presidential elections, voting for

2366-775: Is one of the official languages of such major international and regional courts, tribunals, and dispute-settlement bodies as the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights , the Caribbean Court of Justice , the Court of Justice for the Economic Community of West African States , the Inter-American Court of Human Rights , the International Court of Justice , the International Criminal Tribunal for

2457-562: Is taught in universities around the world, and is one of the world's most influential languages because of its wide use in the worlds of journalism, jurisprudence , education, and diplomacy. In diplomacy, French is one of the six official languages of the United Nations (and one of the UN Secretariat 's only two working languages ), one of twenty official and three procedural languages of the European Union , an official language of NATO ,

2548-538: Is the language of business and communication, with French being an element of social distinction, chosen for its emotional value. French is an official language of the Pacific Island nation of Vanuatu , where 31% of the population was estimated to speak it in 2023. In the French special collectivity of New Caledonia , 97% of the population can speak, read and write French while in French Polynesia this figure

2639-479: Is the native language of about 23% of the Swiss population, and is spoken by 50% of the population. Along with Luxembourgish and German, French is one of the three official languages of Luxembourg , where it is generally the preferred language of business as well as of the different public administrations. It is also the official language of Monaco . At a regional level, French is acknowledged as an official language in

2730-473: Is the public library system. The parish is in the service area of Baton Rouge Community College . The city of Baton Rouge and the Parish of East Baton Rouge have been run by a consolidated government since 1947, which combined the city of Baton Rouge government with the rural areas of the parish. The city and parish are served by the metropolitan council and the mayor-president. The parish courthouse in Baton Rouge

2821-492: Is the second-most spoken language (after English) in the states of Maine and New Hampshire . In Louisiana , it is tied with Spanish for second-most spoken if Louisiana French and all creoles such as Haitian are included. French is the third most spoken language (after English and Spanish) in the states of Connecticut , Rhode Island , and New Hampshire . Louisiana is home to many distinct French dialects, collectively known as Louisiana French . New England French , essentially

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2912-424: Is the sole official language in the province of Quebec , where some 80% of the population speak it as a native language and 95% are capable of conducting a conversation in it. Quebec is also home to the city of Montreal , which is the world's fourth-largest French-speaking city, by number of first language speakers. New Brunswick and Manitoba are the only officially bilingual provinces, though full bilingualism

3003-738: The Aosta Valley region of Italy where it is the first language of approximately 50% of the population, while French dialects remain spoken by minorities on the Channel Islands . It is also spoken in Andorra and is the main language after Catalan in El Pas de la Casa . The language is taught as the primary second language in the German state of Saarland , with French being taught from pre-school and over 43% of citizens being able to speak French. The majority of

3094-459: The Aosta Valley region of Italy; and various communities elsewhere. French is estimated to have about 310 million speakers, of which about 80 million are native speakers. According to the OIF, approximately 321 million people worldwide are "able to speak the language" as of 2022, without specifying the criteria for this estimation or whom it encompasses. In Francophone Africa, it is spoken mainly as

3185-539: The Democratic Republic of Congo . There is not a single African French , but multiple forms that diverged through contact with various indigenous African languages . Sub-Saharan Africa is the region where the French language is most likely to expand, because of the expansion of education and rapid population growth. It is also where the language has evolved the most in recent years. Some vernacular forms of French in Africa can be difficult to understand for French speakers from other countries, but written forms of

3276-485: The European Union , French was the dominant language within all institutions until the 1990s. After several enlargements of the EU (1995, 2004), French significantly lost ground in favour of English, which is more widely spoken and taught in most EU countries. French currently remains one of the three working languages, or "procedural languages", of the EU, along with English and German. It is the second-most widely used language within EU institutions after English, but remains

3367-547: The Francien dialect is one that not only continued but also thrived during the Middle French period (14th–17th centuries). Modern French grew out of this Francien dialect. Grammatically, during the period of Middle French, noun declensions were lost and there began to be standardized rules. Robert Estienne published the first Latin-French dictionary, which included information about phonetics, etymology, and grammar. Politically,

3458-820: The International Olympic Committee , the Council of Europe , the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development , Organization of American States (alongside Spanish, Portuguese and English), the Eurovision Song Contest , one of eighteen official languages of the European Space Agency , World Trade Organization and the least used of the three official languages in the North American Free Trade Agreement countries. It

3549-609: The Oaths of Strasbourg and the Sequence of Saint Eulalia , while Old French literature began to be produced in the eleventh century, with major early works often focusing on the lives of saints (such as the Vie de Saint Alexis ), or wars and royal courts, notably including the Chanson de Roland , epic cycles focused on King Arthur and his court , as well as a cycle focused on William of Orange . It

3640-951: The United Nations , the European Union, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization , the World Trade Organization , the International Olympic Committee , the General Conference on Weights and Measures , and the International Committee of the Red Cross . French is a Romance language (meaning that it is descended primarily from Vulgar Latin ) that evolved out of the Gallo-Romance dialects spoken in northern France. The language's early forms include Old French and Middle French . Due to Roman rule, Latin

3731-748: The Zachary Community School Board . Central residents, and those of a section of Brownfields , as well as some other unincorporated areas, attend the Central Community School System schools. The State of Louisiana also operates the Louisiana School for the Visually Impaired and Louisiana School for the Deaf . The Roman Catholic Diocese of Baton Rouge operates Catholic parochial schools. East Baton Rouge Parish Library

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3822-502: The 1990s) but these varieties are severely endangered or presumed extinct. French is one of two official languages in Haiti alongside Haitian Creole . It is the principal language of education, administration, business, and public signage and is spoken by all educated Haitians. It is also used for ceremonial events such as weddings, graduations, and church masses. The vast majority of the population speaks Haitian Creole as their first language;

3913-798: The 20th century, when it was replaced by English as the United States became the dominant global power following the Second World War . Stanley Meisler of the Los Angeles Times said that the fact that the Treaty of Versailles was written in English as well as French was the "first diplomatic blow" against the language. During the Grand Siècle (17th century), France, under the rule of powerful leaders such as Cardinal Richelieu and Louis XIV , enjoyed

4004-868: The 926TH Mobility Augmentation Company located in Baker has been alerted for overseas deployment. The 769th Engineers have two other companies, the 922nd Horizontal Engineer Company located in Gonzales, Louisiana , and the 928th Sapper Company located in Napoleonville, Louisiana . Major hospitals include: Emergency Medical Services in EBR Parish are provided by East Baton Rouge EMS and Acadian Ambulance . 30°32′N 91°05′W  /  30.54°N 91.09°W  / 30.54; -91.09 French language French ( français [fʁɑ̃sɛ] or langue française [lɑ̃ɡ fʁɑ̃sɛːz] )

4095-682: The Canadian capital, is also effectively bilingual, as it has a large population of federal government workers, who are required to offer services in both French and English, and is just across the river from the Quebecois city of Gatineau . According to the United States Census Bureau (2011), French is the fourth most spoken language in the United States after English, Spanish, and Chinese, when all forms of French are considered together and all dialects of Chinese are similarly combined. French

4186-886: The Caribbean that are collectively referred to as the French West Indies , namely Guadeloupe , Saint Barthélemy , Saint Martin , and Martinique . French is the official language of both French Guiana on the South American continent, and of Saint Pierre and Miquelon , an archipelago off the coast of Newfoundland in North America. French was the official language of the colony of French Indochina , comprising modern-day Vietnam , Laos , and Cambodia . It continues to be an administrative language in Laos and Cambodia, although its influence has waned in recent decades. In colonial Vietnam,

4277-408: The Empire, this local elite had been slowly abandoning Gaulish entirely, but the rural and lower class populations remained Gaulish speakers who could sometimes also speak Latin or Greek. The final language shift from Gaulish to Vulgar Latin among rural and lower class populations occurred later, when both they and the incoming Frankish ruler/military class adopted the Gallo-Roman Vulgar Latin speech of

4368-416: The Germanic Frankish language , which non-exhaustively included the use in upper-class speech and higher registers of V2 word order , a large percentage of the vocabulary (now at around 15% of modern French vocabulary ) including the impersonal singular pronoun on (a calque of Germanic man ), and the name of the language itself. Up until its later stages, Old French , alongside Old Occitan , maintained

4459-415: The Panhellion, one of the Works Progress Administration projects on the LSU campus, was completed in thirty days. Another (Building "G") was completed in ten days. Neither is still standing. Investigations later revealed that Caldwell was keeping 2 percent of the funds budgeted for the construction projects at LSU. He built a lavish mansion near the university; it was estimated to have cost $ 45,000, then

4550-417: The country near French-speaking Quebec, however, it is the foreign language more commonly taught. Vowel phonemes in French George Caldwell (Louisiana official) He also built three parish courthouses, and numerous other major public projects during his career. In what were called the "Louisiana scandals", in 1939 Caldwell was indicted for misuse of PWA funds and pleaded guilty to federal charges. He

4641-404: The demographic prospects of the French-speaking nations of Africa, researcher Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry wrote in 2014 that French "could be the language of the future". However, some African countries such as Algeria intermittently attempted to eradicate the use of French, and as of 2024 it was removed as an official language in Mali and Burkina Faso . Significant as a judicial language, French

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4732-448: The economic power of the countries using the language, the number of major areas in which the language is used, and the linguistic prestige associated with the mastery of the language (Weber highlighted that French in particular enjoys considerable linguistic prestige). In a 2008 reassessment of his article, Weber concluded that his findings were still correct since "the situation among the top ten remains unchanged." Knowledge of French

4823-489: The elites primarily spoke French, while many servants who worked in French households spoke a French pidgin known as " Tây Bồi " (now extinct). After French rule ended, South Vietnam continued to use French in administration, education, and trade. However, since the Fall of Saigon and the opening of a unified Vietnam's economy, French has gradually been effectively displaced as the first foreign language of choice by English in Vietnam. Nevertheless, it continues to be taught as

4914-406: The first government authority to adopt Modern French as official was the Aosta Valley in 1536, while the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts (1539) named French the language of law in the Kingdom of France . During the 17th century, French replaced Latin as the most important language of diplomacy and international relations ( lingua franca ). It retained this role until approximately the middle of

5005-439: The former Yugoslavia , International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda , the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea the International Criminal Court and the World Trade Organization Appellate Body . It is the sole internal working language of the Court of Justice of the European Union , and makes with English the European Court of Human Rights 's two working languages. In 1997, George Weber published, in Language Today ,

5096-715: The gender of the corresponding word in Gaulish. The estimated number of French words that can be attributed to Gaulish is placed at 154 by the Petit Robert , which is often viewed as representing standardized French, while if non-standard dialects are included, the number increases to 240. Known Gaulish loans are skewed toward certain semantic fields, such as plant life ( chêne , bille , etc.), animals ( mouton , cheval , etc.), nature ( boue , etc.), domestic activities (ex. berceau ), farming and rural units of measure ( arpent , lieue , borne , boisseau ), weapons, and products traded regionally rather than further afield. This semantic distribution has been attributed to peasants being

5187-401: The language are very closely related to those of the rest of the French-speaking world. French is the second most commonly spoken language in Canada and one of two federal official languages alongside English. As of the 2021 Canadian census , it was the native language of 7.7 million people (21% of the population) and the second language of 2.9 million (8% of the population). French

5278-424: The language, although it has now given way to Tamil and English. A former French mandate , Lebanon designates Arabic as the sole official language, while a special law regulates cases when French can be publicly used. Article 11 of Lebanon's Constitution states that "Arabic is the official national language. A law determines the cases in which the French language is to be used". The French language in Lebanon

5369-501: The language. The Act applies to areas of the province where there are significant Francophone communities, namely Eastern Ontario and Northern Ontario . Elsewhere, sizable French-speaking minorities are found in southern Manitoba, Nova Scotia , Prince Edward Island and the Port au Port Peninsula in Newfoundland and Labrador, where the unique Newfoundland French dialect was historically spoken. Smaller pockets of French speakers exist in all other provinces. The Ontarian city of Ottawa ,

5460-428: The last to hold onto Gaulish. The beginning of French in Gaul was greatly influenced by Germanic invasions into the country. These invasions had the greatest impact on the northern part of the country and on the language there. A language divide began to grow across the country. The population in the north spoke langue d'oïl while the population in the south spoke langue d'oc . Langue d'oïl grew into what

5551-420: The necessity and means to annihilate the patois and to universalize the use of the French language". When public education was made compulsory , only French was taught and the use of any other ( patois ) language was punished. The goals of the public school system were made especially clear to the French-speaking teachers sent to teach students in regions such as Occitania and Brittany . Instructions given by

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5642-460: The official use or teaching of French. It is spoken as a first language (in descending order of the number of speakers) in France; Canada (especially in the provinces of Quebec, Ontario, and New Brunswick); Belgium ( Wallonia and the Brussels-Capital Region ); western Switzerland (specifically the cantons forming the Romandy region); parts of Luxembourg; parts of the United States (the states of Louisiana, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont); Monaco;

5733-475: The other main foreign language in the Vietnamese educational system and is regarded as a cultural language. All three countries are full members of La Francophonie (OIF). French was the official language of French India , consisting of the geographically separate enclaves referred to as Puducherry . It continued to be an official language of the territory even after its cession to India in 1956 until 1965. A small number of older locals still retain knowledge of

5824-414: The parish has a total area of 470 sq mi (1,200 km), of which 15 sq mi (39 km) (3.2%) are covered by water. As of the 2020 United States census , there were 456,781 people, 161,536 households, and 95,243 families residing in the parish. The 2019 American Community Survey estimated 443,763 people lived in East Baton Rouge, up from 440,171 at the 2010 United States census . Of

5915-501: The population, 5.7% were foreign-born, and 8.3% spoke a language other than English at home. There were 164,346 households and 45,760 businesses operating in the parish. At the 2019 census estimates, the racial and ethnic makeup of East Baton Rouge Parish was 46.8% non-Hispanic white , 46.1% Black and African American , 0.2% American Indian and Alaska Native , 3.2% Asian alone, 1.8% some other race, and 1.9% two or more races ; Hispanic and Latin Americans of any race made up 4.2% of

6006-401: The preferred language of certain institutions or administrations such as the Court of Justice of the European Union , where it is the sole internal working language, or the Directorate-General for Agriculture . Since 2016, Brexit has rekindled discussions on whether or not French should again hold greater role within the institutions of the European Union. A leading world language , French

6097-407: The rest largely speak French as a first language. As a French Creole language , Haitian Creole draws the large majority of its vocabulary from French, with influences from West African languages, as well as several European languages. It is closely related to Louisiana Creole and the creole from the Lesser Antilles . French is the sole official language of all the overseas territories of France in

6188-399: The same time as Caldwell in this scandal included Governor Richard W. Leche , whose offenses also included illegal oil dealing; LSU President James Monroe Smith , and LSU Business Manager E. S. Jackson. Monte Hart , Caldwell's partner in his firm, was convicted of contracting-related charges and died before serving his sentence. The two-year sentence of Dr. Clarence Lorio was suspended; he

6279-403: The state, including six hospitals, East Baton Rouge Parish and Webster Parish courthouses; the Louisiana State Library; the Louisiana State University Library (Baton Rouge); the state highway department office building; five churches; two church youth centers; five schools; the Grambling University Science Building; and the dairy and physics buildings at LSU-Baton Rouge." In the 1930s, Caldwell

6370-414: The total number of French speakers will reach approximately 500 million in 2025 and 650 million by 2050, largely due to rapid population growth in sub-Saharan Africa . OIF estimates 700 million French speakers by 2050, 80% of whom will be in Africa. In a study published in March 2014 by Forbes , the investment bank Natixis said that French could become the world's most spoken language by 2050. In

6461-553: The total population. In 2010, the racial and ethnic makeup of the parish was 45.9% Black and African American, 49.5% White American , 0.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 3.0% Asian, 0.12% Pacific Islander , 1.02% from other races, and 1.2% from two or more races. About 3.8% of the population were Hispanic or Latin American of any race. Of the 164,346 households at the 2019 American Community Survey, there were 6.6% of people aged 5 and under; 77.2% were aged 18 and older, and 13.7% were 65 and older. The median age of East Baton Rouge

6552-738: The two official languages—along with Dutch —of the Brussels-Capital Region , where it is spoken by the majority of the population (approx. 80%), often as their primary language. French is one of the four official languages of Switzerland, along with German, Italian, and Romansh , and is spoken in the western part of Switzerland, called Romandy , of which Geneva is the largest city. The language divisions in Switzerland do not coincide with political subdivisions, and some cantons have bilingual status: for example, cities such as Biel/Bienne and cantons such as Valais , Fribourg and Bern . French

6643-508: The urban intellectual elite. The Gaulish language likely survived into the sixth century in France despite considerable Romanization . Coexisting with Latin, Gaulish helped shape the Vulgar Latin dialects that developed into French contributing loanwords and calques (including oui , the word for "yes"), sound changes shaped by Gaulish influence, and influences in conjugation and word order. Recent computational studies suggest that early gender shifts may have been motivated by

6734-479: The use of French in official government publications, public education except in specific cases, and legal contracts; advertisements must bear a translation of foreign words. In Belgium, French is an official language at the federal level along with Dutch and German. At the regional level, French is the sole official language of Wallonia (excluding a part of the East Cantons , which are German-speaking ) and one of

6825-435: The winner of the presidency in all but two elections (it voted for George H. W. Bush in 1992 and Hillary Clinton in 2016), but not necessarily the winner of Louisiana. In the 2008 presidential election, the parish voted for Democrat Barack Obama , who won 51% of the vote and 99,652 votes. Republican John McCain won 48% of the votes and 95,390 votes. In the 2008 Senate election, Democrat Mary Landrieu , who kept her seat as

6916-531: The workplace. In 2011, Bloomberg Businessweek ranked French the third most useful language for business, after English and Standard Mandarin Chinese . In English-speaking Canada, the United Kingdom, and Ireland, French is the first foreign language taught and in number of pupils is far ahead of other languages. In the United States, French is the second-most commonly taught foreign language in schools and universities, although well behind Spanish. In some areas of

7007-402: The world's French-speaking population lives in Africa. According to a 2023 estimate from the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie , an estimated 167 million African people spread across 35 countries and territories can speak French as either a first or a second language . This number does not include the people living in non-Francophone African countries who have learned French as

7098-592: Was $ 933. Males had a median income of $ 55,862 versus $ 38,817 for females. An estimated 61.2% of the parish was employed, and of the 45,760 businesses, 19,537 were minority-owned. Veteran-owned businesses numbered approximately 4,637. Most sections of the parish are zoned to schools in East Baton Rouge Parish School System . Baker residents attend the City of Baker School System . Zachary residents and residents of unincorporated areas around Zachary attend

7189-422: Was 34, up from 32 at the 2010 U.S. census. In 2010, for every 100 females, there were 91.90 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.50 males. In the parish, the median household income was $ 54,948 and there were 194,326 housing units. East Baton Rouge Parish had a home-ownership rate of 59.8%, and the median value of an owner-occupied housing unit was $ 194,000. The median gross rent for residents

7280-621: Was a master bricklayer. George became interested in the firm and started working there when young; he became its leader, as Summa's son was involved in other activities in New Orleans. Monte Hart also became a partner of Caldwell Brothers and Hart, which had a prominent role in Louisiana's major public building projects in the 1930s and for the next two decades. After getting his work underway, Caldwell married Zellie Belle Wahl. In his total career, Caldwell built "twenty-six major buildings throughout

7371-417: Was also influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgica and by the ( Germanic ) Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. Today, owing to the French colonial empire , there are numerous French-based creole languages , most notably Haitian Creole . A French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French. French

7462-484: Was appointed as State Superintendent of Construction, during which time he completed several WPA projects at LSU. Governor Richard W. Leche had benefited by the late Senator Huey Long 's alliance with President Franklin D. Roosevelt , and the state received funds from the Public Works Administration for major projects. Caldwell had a talent for organization and swift construction. Under his direction,

7553-856: Was asked to resign as superintendent. In 1939, he and his successor were arrested for violating the Federal Emergency Relief Act . Caldwell was later indicted by a federal grand jury on a number of other charges related to misusing WPA funds. The prosecutor, Malcolm Lafargue of the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana in Shreveport , alleged that Caldwell and his cronies were using federal funds to pay contractors for work conducted at their own houses. Caldwell ultimately pleaded guilty to seven federal charges. State officials convicted and jailed at

7644-454: Was born in 1892 Abbeville , the seat of government of Vermillion Parish in southwestern Louisiana, to Charlie Caldwell and the former Camille LeBlanc. He was reared Roman Catholic. After his parents died when he was young, George was cared for by his paternal uncle Summerfield "Summa" Caldwell, who had founded a contracting firm in Abbeville with two other brothers, Vernon and Tom. The latter

7735-791: Was during the period of the Crusades in which French became so dominant in the Mediterranean Sea that became a lingua franca ("Frankish language"), and because of increased contact with the Arabs during the Crusades who referred to them as Franj , numerous Arabic loanwords entered French, such as amiral (admiral), alcool (alcohol), coton (cotton) and sirop (syrop), as well as scientific terms such as algébre (algebra), alchimie (alchemy) and zéro (zero). Within Old French many dialects emerged but

7826-447: Was gradually adopted by the inhabitants of Gaul. As the language was learned by the common people, it developed a distinct local character, with grammatical differences from Latin as spoken elsewhere, some of which is attested in graffiti. This local variety evolved into the Gallo-Romance tongues, which include French and its closest relatives, such as Arpitan . The evolution of Latin in Gaul

7917-684: Was known in the Occitan-speaking region as Vergonha . Spoken by 19.71% of the European Union's population, French is the third most widely spoken language in the EU, after English and German and the second-most-widely taught language after English. Under the Constitution of France , French has been the official language of the Republic since 1992, although the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts made it mandatory for legal documents in 1539. France mandates

8008-407: Was one of several top-ranking Louisiana leaders convicted and jailed in this scandal, including Governor Richard W. Leche . Sentenced to four years in prison in 1940, Caldwell was paroled in 1941. Later in the 1940s, he was pardoned by President Harry Truman . After that, Caldwell returned to business, getting commissions to construct public buildings, such as parish courthouses. George A. Caldwell

8099-506: Was president of the Louisiana State Medical Society. After being convicted of tax evasion and bribery , for requiring kickbacks from contractors, Caldwell was sentenced in 1940 to four years in a federal prison. In 1941, he was paroled . He was subsequently pardoned by U.S. President Harry Truman . He later gained new commissions for construction of public buildings, such as parish courthouses. Caldwell Brothers had

8190-575: Was shaped by its coexistence for over half a millennium beside the native Celtic Gaulish language , which did not go extinct until the late sixth century, long after the fall of the Western Roman Empire . The population remained 90% indigenous in origin; the Romanizing class were the local native elite (not Roman settlers), whose children learned Latin in Roman schools. At the time of the collapse of

8281-554: Was the language they use the most at home rose from 67% at the 2007 census to 74% at the 2017 census. In Wallis and Futuna, the percentage of the population who reported that French was the language they use the most at home rose from 10% at the 2008 census to 13% at the 2018 census. According to a demographic projection led by the Université Laval and the Réseau Démographie de l'Agence universitaire de la Francophonie ,

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