Samuel Washington Allen (December 9, 1917 – June 27, 2015), sometimes publishing as Paul Vesey, was an American writer, literary scholar, and lawyer. Samuel Washington Allen was born on December 9, 1917, in Columbus, Ohio. He graduated as valedictorian of Fisk University in 1938 with an AB in sociology. At Fisk, he studied with James Weldon Johnson. He received a JD from Harvard Law School in 1941 and was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1942. He was an officer in the Army, which was then segregated. Allen died on June 27, 2015, in Norwood, Massachusetts.