Karen Jennings Lewis ’74

Karen Jennings Lewis ’74 of Chicago died February 8 after battling brain cancer for many years. Originally from the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago and the daughter of public school teachers, Karen began her undergraduate studies at Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts before coming to Dartmouth when coeducation was adopted, the only Black woman among transfers into her class. Karen majored in sociology and music and was a member of the Afro-American Society and the Dartmouth Players. After Dartmouth Karen studied for two years at the University of Illinois College of Medicine and earned an M.A. in education at Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago and an M.F.A. from Columbia College Chicago. She considered career options in medicine, music, standup comedy, and filmmaking before she dedicated herself to her passion of teaching chemistry in the Chicago public schools. Karen served on a local school council while teaching and became involved in union activities. In 2010 she was elected president of the 25,000-member Chicago Teachers Union, serving three terms until stepping down in 2018 following cancer surgery. An audacious, charismatic, and devoted leader with a sharp sense of humor, Karen was a powerful voice for fairness and justice in education. Beyond her impact on Chicago, Karen was a national figure in the labor and education movements, holding leadership roles in the Illinois Federation of Teachers and the American Federation of Teachers. She is survived by her husband, John, three stepchildren, eight grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and sister Keli.