Lawrence-Lightfoot Featured in New PBS Series

Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot, the Fisher Professor of Education, will be featured in the new PBS series African American Lives, which will premiere on Wednesday, February 1 at 9 pm.

The four-part series, hosted by Harvard's Henry Louis Gates, Jr., examines the genalogy, oral history, family stories, and DNA analysis to trace the lineage through American history and back to Africa.

Lawrence-Lightfoot is featured along with several other highly-accomplished African Americans including Dr. Ben Carson, Whoopi Goldberg, Bishop T.D. Jakes, Dr. Mae Jemison, Quincy Jones, Chris Tucker, and Oprah Winfrey.

"Being selected was a great honor and I'm quite moved by this," Lawrence-Lightfoot said.

Lawrence-Lightfoot's experience with oral history and family narratives through her book, Balm in Gilead: Journey of a Heale, became one of the topics in the documentary.

But, despite the series focus, Lawrence-Lightfoot said the show is relevant to anyone from any background.

Lawrence-Lightfoot's research examines the culture of schools, the patterns and structures of classroom life, socialization within families and communities, and the relationships between culture and learning styles. In March 1998, she was the recipient of the Emily Hargroves Fisher professorship, which, upon her retirement, will become the Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot professorship, making her the first African American woman in Harvard's history to have an endowed professorship named in her honor. She also has an endowed professorship named in her honor at Swarthmore College.

For more information about the series, visit: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/aalives/about.html