The papers consist mainly of drafts of Cohen's biography of black activist Robert Franklin Williams. In addition to materials relating to this book, there are a few clippings and documents pertaining to various projects dating from the 1960s, but for the most part the information about Cohen's career is disappointingly scarce.
The papers have been separated into four series: PRODUCTION MATERIALS, WRITINGS, BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION, and MISCELLANEOUS RECORDINGS. Production materials consist of two folders. The first contains miscellany concerning various documentaries that Cohen produced. The other folder consists of clippings and reviews of Mondo Hollywood (also known as Hollywood U.S.A.), which document the manner in which the film became a key issue in the 1978 race for lieutenant governor of California between incumbent Marvin Dymally and Mike Curb, the film's musical director.
Writings mainly consist of various drafts of Black Crusader (1972) and the supporting material used in writing the book. These include clippings, speeches, miscellaneous interview transcripts, correspondence, and Listen, Brother, a pamphlet by Williams. Taken together, they provide excellent documentation of the life and character of the book's subject, Robert F. Williams. This material includes a 27-page letter from Williams to Fidel Castro dated August 28, 1966, which details Williams' reasons for his eventual emigration from Cuba to China.
The Black Crusader files have been arranged to approximate the sequence in which the book was written. That is, the research and correspondence is arranged first; next, the transcripts of the long 1968 interview between Cohen and Williams; and finally, the various drafts of the actual manuscript. The researcher should note that the book was originally planned as an auto-biography written in collaboration with Cohen. As such, the earliest drafts are written in the first person and are little more than revisions of the tape transcripts. Early in 1970, Williams refused to work further with Cohen, who then decided to continue writing the book as an unauthorized biography. The third draft is thus a transition from first-person to a third-person presentation and the fourth draft is a further third-person revision. Other information concerning Cohen's relationship with Williams and the circumstances under which the book was written can be found in the folders marked Correspondence, Introduction-Early Drafts, and Epilogue.
Following the Black Crusader files are two folders dealing with other writing efforts by Cohen: a 1968 article and related materials for True Magazine about Williams and a book The Color of Man, together with material dealing with its use as a text in California public schools.
The tapes in this collection all deal with Robert Franklin Williams, and for the most part, represent background research accumulated by Cohen prior to writing Black Crusader. Most important are the reels which constitute the 1968 interview with Williams, which became the basis of Cohen's book. Unlike the transcripts, the recorded version includes Cohen's questions. Other tapes relating to Williams, but not specifically to Black Crusader are a 1962 interview recorded at the Hotel Capri in Havana for WBAI-FM (New York) (later published as Negroes with Guns), a rerecording of a 1963 episode of Williams' propaganda show, Radio Free Dixie, originally recorded during the “Birmingham Crisis” and consisting of a mixture of music, news, and commentary by Williams; and a combined recording of several interviews and speeches.
