The son of a former slave, Joseph Seamon Cotter was born on a farm in Bardstown, Kentucky, and worked as a laborer from the age of eight. At 22 he enrolled in night school, slowly earning his certification as a grammar school teacher and principal. He taught in several Louisville schools over the next 50 years. He also published nine volumes of poetry, plays, and fiction. Cotter maintained a close friendship with poet Paul Laurence Dunbar, and his own poetry ranges from historical tribute to social satire, engaging racial issues and philosophy in a wide range of formal styles.