John Mason Brewer (March 24, 1896 – January 24, 1975) was an American folklorist, scholar, and writer noted for his work on African-American folklore in Texas.

[1] Brewer's father told him Texas stories as a child, while his mother provided him with access to books on African-American history as well as the works of Paul Laurence Dunbar.

Following this, he taught for a year in Austin before joining the American Expeditionary Forces in 1918, serving as a corporal in France, where he worked as an interpreter due to his knowledge of French, Italian, and Spanish.

In 1919, Brewer returned from Europe to teach and serve as a principal in Fort Worth, working there in the public schools for five years.

He studied folklore formally for the first time at Indiana University Bloomington, under the direction of Stith Thompson, ultimately earning his Master of Arts degree there in 1933.

[13] The next year he published Mexican Border Ballads and Other Lore, which included his story collection entitled "John Tales", with the Texas Folklore Society.

[8] Jet magazine named it its Book of the Week on February 11, 1954, noting how Brewer had "interviewed old-timers and carefully collected tales which have been handed down for generations.

[2] While at ETSU, he organized symposia and workshops in addition to teaching classes, which he occasionally lectured in verse, while also turning his major research focus to African influences on Mexican folklore.

"[34] Brewer is often compared with Floridian Zora Neale Hurston because, in the words of Byrd, "they were both successful in collecting and publishing Negro folklore.

[35] He has additionally been compared to Alain Locke, although Brewer himself criticized the Harlem Renaissance as "unrepresentative" of the African American experience.

[36] Byrd considers Brewer's best long works, in order of publication, to be The Word on the Brazos, Aunt Dicy Tales, Dog Ghosts, and Worser Days and Better Times.

[37] According to Texas scholar Michael Phillips, themes prevalent in Brewer's stories include "intelligence winning over brute force" and "a defiant attitude toward white America".

[39] In 1999, the University of Texas at Austin's Harry Ransom Center held an exhibition on Aunt Dicy Tales that prominently featured the illustrations created by John Biggers.

Among them are tales that have their roots deeply embedded in African, Irish, and Welsh mythology; other have parallels in pre-Columbian Mexican traditions; and a few have versions that can be traced back to Chaucer's England.