Jesse Monroe Knowles (July 23, 1919 – April 23, 2006) was an American businessman, civic leader, and politician, elected as a Democratic Party member to both houses of the Louisiana State Legislature for Calcasieu Parish.
From Lake Charles, Knowles was a United States Army Air Forces veteran and a survivor of the Bataan Death March in World War II.
At the turn of the 20th century, Louisiana and other former Confederate states disenfranchised most blacks by raising barriers to voter registration.
In 1969, Knowles emerged as a leading critic of sex education in public schools, an issue that was controversial in a period of social change.
State Senator Edgar G. "Sonny" Mouton, Jr., of Lafayette, said that sponsors of the punitive legislation, including Knowles, were "storm troopers".