We thrive not when we've done it all, but when we still have more to do.

— Sarah Lewis

About Sarah Lewis

Sarah Lewis is the John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Humanities and Associate Professor of African and African American Studies at Harvard University and the founder of Vision & Justice. She has authored and edited over 60 publications including The Unseen Truth, winner of the American Book Award; the bestseller, The Rise; the award-winning volumes, Carrie Mae Weems and “Vision & Justice”; as well as Coreen Simpson and Race Stories. Lewis was named to the 2026 TIME List, The Closers, in recognition of her work toward greater equality in the United States. She has organized landmark convenings, founded a Vision & Justice Book Series, and curated exhibitions, including If Emmett Till Lived: Freedom on American Ground, opening at the Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago in September 2026. Her writing has been published in The New Yorker, The New York Times, Artforum, and The New York Review of Books, and her work has been the subject of profiles from Vogue to The Boston Globe to The New York Times. Lewis is the recipient of an honorary degree from Pratt Institute, along with the Walter Channing Cabot Fellowship at Harvard University, the Andrew Carnegie Fellowship, the Arthur Danto/ASA Prize from the American Philosophical Association, the Freedom Scholar Award from the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, and the Infinity Award for Critical Writing and Research from the International Center of Photography.

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Acclaimed author and scholar

The Unseen Truth: When Race Changed Sight in America. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2024.

The Rise: Creativity, the Gift of Failure, and the Search for Mastery, New York: Simon & Schuster, 2014.

Coreen Simpson: A Monograph, Sarah Lewis, Deborah Willis, and Leigh Raiford, eds., New York: Aperture, 2025.

Race Stories: Essays on the Power of Images, Sarah Lewis, Deborah Willis, and Leigh Raiford, eds., New York: Aperture and The New York Times, 2024.

Carrie Mae Weems, Sarah Lewis with Christine Garnier, ed., Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2021.

Vision & Justice: A Civic Curriculum. New York: Aperture, April 2019.

“Vision & Justice” Special Issue, Aperture 223 (2016).

Recent Awards and Recognition

Founder and organizer

Sarah lewis and Vision & Justice

Lewis founded Vision & Justice, a catalytic civic initiative that generates original research and programs that reveal the foundational role of visual culture in America’s representational democracy. Through institutional collaborations, leadership convenings, publications, and public programs, Vision & Justice serves as an organizer, partner, and resource for today’s leaders—and those to come—in fostering representational excellence.

Vision & Justice homepage

Keynote speaker

Lewis is a sought-after public speaker whose mainstage TED Talk has garnered over three million views. She has delivered keynote addresses at venues ranging from the UN General Assembly and the World Business Forum to the Urban League of Hampton Roads, as well as numerous universities and organizations across the United States and abroad.

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Upcoming appearances

Recent appearances