Roger Solomon Osborne (July 3, 1936 – May 30, 2007), a resident of

Fairborn, Ohio Fairborn is a city in Greene County, Ohio, United States. The population was 34,620 at the 2020 census. It is a suburb of Dayton and part of the Dayton metropolitan area. The city is home to Wright State University, which serves nearly 12,000 und ...

, was the author of five books about

Appalachia Appalachia ( ) is a geographic region located in the Appalachian Mountains#Regions, central and southern sections of the Appalachian Mountains in the east of North America. In the north, its boundaries stretch from the western Catskill Mountai ...

: ''Land of Yesterday'', ''The Mountains Wept'', ''Pilgrimage To An Appalachian Mining Camp'', ''Voices from Appalachia'', and ''My Mountain Angel''. He also was the author of ''Appalachia—The Land And Its People'', a 20-page newspaper supplement published in 1992 by the ''

Dayton Daily News The ''Dayton Daily News'' (''DDN'') is a daily newspaper published in Dayton, Ohio. It is owned by Cox Enterprises, Inc., a privately held global conglomerate headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, with approximately 55,000 employee ...

'' for use in schools in the

Dayton, Ohio Dayton () is a city in Montgomery County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of cities in Ohio, sixth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 137,644 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Dayton metro ...

, area. In 1996, ''Land of Yesterday'', Osborne's

autobiography An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life, providing a personal narrative that reflects on the author's experiences, memories, and insights. This genre allows individuals to share thei ...

about growing up in a

mining Mining is the Resource extraction, extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agriculture, agricultural processes, or feasib ...

community in

West Virginia West Virginia is a mountainous U.S. state, state in the Southern United States, Southern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.The United States Census Bureau, Census Bureau and the Association of American ...

during the 1940s and 1950s, was adopted by

Dayton Public Schools Dayton Public Schools is the school district in the U.S. state of Ohio that serves Dayton, Ohio. The district covers 49 square miles. Dayton Public Schools (DPS) is the 12th largest PreK-12 district in the state, with a 2017–2018 enrollment ...

for use in its classrooms. In 2000, ''The Mountains Wept'', an autobiographical

novel A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ...

, also was adopted by Dayton City Schools. His books are also being used in numerous other school systems throughout

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

and

. ''Land of Yesterday'' and ''The Mountains Wept'' were both selected as commemorative items of Dayton's Bicentennial Celebration in 1996. Osborne's newsletter, Mountain Ink, has subscribers in 39 states. The newsletter serves as a link between Appalachians—those who now live in Appalachia and those who were forced to migrate to other parts of the country, especially during the 1950s and '60s. ''Ohio Magazine'' featured Osborne's writings in a 12-page article in its September 1997 issue. Osborne has been published in numerous local, regional and national periodicals throughout the country, and portions of ''The Mountains Wept'' were used in a

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

ese television

documentary A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

. Osborne is a native of

Wharton, West Virginia Wharton is an unincorporated community and coal town on the Pond Fork River in Boone County in the U.S. state of West Virginia. Wharton lies along West Virginia Route 85. Wharton was named for Joseph Wharton, a large landowner from Philadelphia ...

, a coal mine community located in the southern part of the state. Roger Osborne was born July 3, 1936, in Wharton, West Virginia. He died May 30, 2007, at 5:17 a.m. in Hospice of Dayton. He is buried in Byron Cemetery, Fairborn, Ohio.

External links

Roger Osborne's official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Osborne, Roger 20th-century American non-fiction writers People from Fairborn, Ohio 2007 deaths 1936 births 20th-century American male writers