OCTAVUS ROY COHEN

Octavus Roy Cohen was a writer specializing in works dealing with black African Americans from the 1910s to the 1950s. He wrote over 250 stories covering comedies, detective fiction, and much more. Although he himself was white (born in South Carolina and lived in Alabama), his stories about black African Americans gained popularity after being published in the Saturday Evening Post and were adapted into a series of short films by Al Christie featuring actors Charles Olden, Spencer Williams Jr., Evelyn Preer, and Edward Thompson. Because most of his stories used dialect that is considered derogatory by modern standards, Cohen is not well remembered today, but he did much to bring black African Americans into the forefront of American fiction. Cohen passed away in 1959 at the age of 67.