Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot facts for kids

Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot (born August 22, 1944) is an American sociologist. A sociologist studies how people live and interact in groups. Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot looks closely at schools and classrooms. She also studies how families and communities teach children. She explores how different cultures affect the way people learn. She is a special professor at Harvard University and won a big award called the MacArthur Genius Award in 1984.

Her Work and Career

Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot created a unique way to study people called "portraiture." This method combines art and science. It's like painting a detailed picture with words to understand social situations. She uses this method in all her studies.

She has written many books. One book, I've Known Rivers, looks at how people become creative and wise. Her book The Art and Science of Portraiture explains her special way of studying people. Another book, The Third Chapter, is about new adventures people can have after age 50. Her book Exit: The Endings That Set Us Free was nominated for an award in 2013.

Awards and Honors

In 1984, Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot received a MacArthur Fellowship. This award is also known as the "MacArthur Genius Grant." She was the first person to receive this grant and then join the foundation's board. She even became the chair of the board.

In 1993, Harvard University gave her the George Ledlie Prize. This award is for research that helps science and people. In 1990, she received a Candace Award from the National Coalition of 100 Black Women.

In 1998, Harvard University honored her with a special teaching position. It was named the Emily Hargroves Fisher endowed chair. When she retires, this position will be renamed the Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot endowed chair. This makes her the first African-American woman at Harvard to have a professorship named after her. She also has a similar honor at Swarthmore College. In 2003, she was named the Margaret Mead Fellow by the Academy of Political and Social Sciences.

In 2006, she was featured in a PBS TV show called African American Lives. In 2008, she became a member of the American Philosophical Society.

Books She Has Written

• Worlds Apart: Relationships Between Families and Schools (1978)
• Beyond Bias: Perspectives on Classrooms (1978)
• The Good High School: Portraits of Character and Courage (1983)
• Balm in Gilead: Journey of a Healer (1988) – This book is about her mother, Margaret Morgan Lawrence.
• Respect: An Exploration (1990)
• I've Known Rivers: Lives of Loss and Liberation (1995)
• The Art and Science of Portraiture (1997)
• The Essential Conversation: What Parents and Teachers Can Learn from Each Other (2003)
• The Third Chapter: Passion, Risk, and Adventure in the 25 Years After 50 (2009)
• Exit: The Endings That Set Us Free (2012)
• Growing Each Other Up: When Our Children Become Our Teachers (2016)

Her Family Life

Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot comes from a family of teachers and scholars. Both of her grandparents on her father's side were teachers in Mississippi. One of her grandparents on her mother's side was also a teacher, and the other was a priest.

Her mother, Margaret Morgan Lawrence, was the only African-American student at Cornell University at one time. She received a full scholarship to study there. Sara's father, Charles Lawrence II, was a sociology professor at Brooklyn College. He was also a civil rights activist.

Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot is the middle child of three siblings. Her brother, Charles Lawrence III, is a law professor at the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa. Her sister is an Episcopal priest. Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot has two children, a daughter and a son.

Sources

• Harvard Profile