Joseph Seamon Cotter, Jr. was the son of noted educator, playwright and poet from Louisville,Kentucky Joseph Seamon Cotter, Sr. The young Cotter published only one volume of poetry, "The Band of Gideon and Other Lyrics" in 1918. Cotter was the equal of the Harlem Renaissance poets such as Hughes, McKay, and Cullen;however, he died of tuberculosis at the age of twenty-four. Had he lived he would have undoubtedly have produced significant works.