Sarah Lewis AB ‘01 is an art and cultural historian and founder of Vision & Justice. Her research focuses on the intersection of visual representation, racial justice, and democracy in the United States from the nineteenth century through the present. She is the John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Humanities and Associate Professor of African and African American Studies at Harvard University where she serves on the Standing Committee on American Studies and Standing Committee on Women, Gender, and Sexuality. Come see Sarah speak with The Black List founder Franklin Leonard '00 at our virtual Harvardwood event on Sept. 23!

Sarah Lewis AB ‘01 didn’t expect to become a leading voice in the intersection of visual culture, race, and justice when she first stumbled upon a striking image in the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale. The photograph, part of a series of 19th-century women marketed as “Circassian Beauties,” revealed white women with teased, afro-like hairstyles, their pale faces presented as idealized symbols of white racial purity. These women were one of the most popular "shows" in nineteenth-century America, mounted on the stage by none other than P. T. Barnum. As Sarah dug deeper, she uncovered a forgotten history that exposed the fragility of America’s racial constructs— and the lies that have sustained them.

The image marked the beginning of a historical journey that culminated in her forthcoming book, The Unseen Truth: When Race Changed Sight in America. “At first, I tried to ignore what I learned,” Sarah recalls. “But I wrote the book because, despite the evidence in the archives, there was no secondary literature about this history. My book exposes a time when Americans saw the lies that undergirded the nation’s regime of racial hierarchy, and then chose to disregard them.” Sarah recalls. The book uncovers a moment in American history when myths of racial superiority were exposed, yet society collectively chose to ignore the truth.

“The main point of the book is to show how we can love the country without lying about it, and to show how hidden those lies are,” Sarah explains. “The Unseen Truth takes seriously the consequences of refusing to acknowledge the fictions at the core of the racial order we still live with in the US. Racial fictions are not only formed by racist caricatures and stereotypes, but also by what we have been conditioned not to see. I wrote this book to show how visual regimes have secured our racial hierarchy in spite of its false foundations— and to offer a way to begin to dismantle it.”

The road to completing this project was anything but straightforward. Access to certain archives was unexpectedly blocked once some institutions learned about her subject. “The way I overcame that was truly inexplicable.” Sarah laughs. “For example, in one case, it just so happened that a former student had started working at the institution, and she found a way to enforce my right to access certain images of files. Or, I would get stumped trying to link ideas and a friend would send over just the right book, seemingly far afield, that I needed to make it work. So, I just learned to trust that we get assistance in ways we might never understand when our work needs to come into the world. It encouraged me onward.”

Sarah’s fascination with how art shapes society is deeply rooted in her upbringing. Growing up surrounded by creatives. Her mother an actress and her grandfather a musician and painter, she was always drawn to how art forms influence the world we create. Yet, it wasn’t just the beauty of art that intrigued her, but its power to effect justice. “I think we live with this idea that the artist and the arts function outside of political life. I became interested in how, when, and why we have achieved justice in America’s racialized democracy through images, through visual culture itself.”

From curating at MoMA and the Tate Modern to teaching at Harvard, Sarah has consistently sought to bridge the academic and mainstream worlds. “Know your why. Everything is story. Everything is narrative at its core,” she emphasizes. “What’s key to making a story translate from academic to mainstream publications is the why. Why does this matter? In academic writing, the why can get lost for a broader audience. Defining the stakes can make the why clear as you translate academic writing for mainstream outlets.”

Her message extends beyond the pages of her books and articles. As a speaker at TED, SXSWedu, and other major events, Sarah challenges audiences to rethink the ways they perceive creativity, failure, and resilience. “I wanted to discuss the joy and gifts of improbable foundations in the arts, and also in the dynamic through which we create our lives. We somehow know that failure, even near wins, coming just shy of your goal, propel us forward.”

One of her most recognized initiatives, Vision & Justice, grew out of this intersection of art and justice and was inspired by one thing: “Need,” Sarah says. Launched after her course and guest-edited issue of Aperture magazine by the same name, Vision & Justice examines the central role visual culture plays in securing equity. The initiative included a two-day cultural convening at Harvard, featuring performances and panels by Bryan Stevenson, Ava DuVernay, Franklin Leonard, Yara Shahidi, Carrie Mae Weems, Hank Willis Thomas, Deborah Willis, Leigh Raiford, Vijay Iyer, and more. “American citizenship has long been a project of vision and justice. The centuries-long effort to craft an image to pay honor to the full humanity of Black life is a corrective task for which visual culture, from photography to cinema, has been central, even indispensable.” Interested in learning more? Subscribe to the Vision & Justice newsletter!  

For Sarah, the core purpose of Vision & Justice is fostering representational literacy. “Law alone would never be enough to rectify the original sin at the foundation of the United States. Slavery dehumanized how we see. It was always going to take something other than laws. The failure of laws to redress the legacy of the harm it caused made visual culture central for justice in the United States. It has made learning to see and be literate critical for the work of culture for justice.” 

As she looks ahead, Sarah is focused on what she describes as “looking at the seemingly unimportant and identifying its value.” Her upcoming projects include a new book for One World/Random House, a potential essay collection on contemporary artists, and the Vision & Justice Book Series, for which she is co-editor with Leigh Raiford and Deborah Willis and includes an Advisory Board of artists, curators, scholars, and more. She says, “The first book is Race Stories— a collection of award-winning short essays by the late Maurice Berger that explore the intersections of photography, race, and visual culture.“

In between her scholarly pursuits, Sarah finds time for the activities she loves. “I used a lot of my personal time to write this latest book, so I’m mainly trying to spend time with the people I love and doing things I adore.” She smiles. “Dancing. I returned to it, so you can catch me at studios just having fun trying out new things from time to time. I love running because it lets you speed through the beauty of nature… the energy and joy I get from it is like none other.”

Sarah has just moved into her new office at Harvard, which once belonged to Jamaica Kincaid. “She just retired from teaching,” Sarah reflects. “It’s bittersweet. But I sit there and think of what it means to be in a kind of lineage, and how collective the creative enterprise really is. We each inspire each other, even when we are unaware. She likely has no idea, for example, how often I think of her encouragement when I walk into my new office now. When I first joined the faculty, one of the first dinners I had was just her and [me]. Her advice? Gold. I will never forget it.” 

With her work pushing forward critical conversations about race, culture, and justice, Sarah continues to illuminate how what we see, as well as what we fail to see, shapes the world we live in.

You can pre-order The Unseen Truth: When Race Changed Sight in America here.