Janet Langhart

Janet Langhart Cohen (born December 22, 1940) is an American model, television journalist and author. She serves as President and CEO of Langhart Communications and is the spouse of former Defense Secretary William Cohen. In June 2009, her one-act play Anne and Emmett premiered at the United States Holocaust Museum.

Early life

She was born as Janet Leola Floyd in Indianapolis, and raised in an Indianapolis housing project by her mother, who worked as a maid and hospital ward secretary. According to her book, Love in Black and White: A Memoir of Race, Religion, and Romance, her parents were both African-American; she also has European and Native American heritage. Her unmarried mother, Mary, formed a relationship with her father, Sewell Bridges, at a young age. Bridges served in World War II and abandoned his family after the war.

In 1959, Floyd earned her high school diploma from Crispus Attucks High School in Indianapolis. She was a member of the band and debate team. From 1960 until 1962, she attended Butler University, a private liberal arts university in Indianapolis founded by abolitionist and attorney Ovid Butler in 1855.