Phyllis R. Klotman (September 9, 1924 – March 30, 2015) was a film theorist, archivist, professor and later dean for women's affairs at Indiana University, Bloomington.
Her father, Isadore Rauch, migrated to the United States from Eastern Europe and came to Texas as part of the Galveston Movement.
She grew up poor during the Great Depression and has recounted being discriminated against by her teachers and peers for following Orthodox Judaism.
The left-wing union was one of the few integrated spaces in Galveston, and Klotman became good friends with the secretary, an African-American woman.
Robert, who was originally from Cleveland, Ohio, served in the United States Army during WWII, and Klotman followed him during his relocations to bases in Missouri and California while working for the American Red Cross.
She earned her master's degrees in American studies and English in 1963 and was a teaching fellow at Case Western for two years after.
She received doctoral degrees in English and Afro-American literature/American literature from Case Western in 1969 with a dissertation on African American narrative.