It is with immense sadness that I share with you the news that the brilliant, charismatic Karen Lewis has died. As leader of the Chicago Teachers Union, she led the union to strike for “the schools our children deserve.” She understood that the union had to organize families and communities, not just their own members. She fearlessly confronted the powerful. She was considering a run against Rahm Emanuel for mayor when she learned she had an aggressive brain tumor.
Karen and her devoted husband John were dear personal friends. I saw them when I was in Chicago a year ago. She was in a nursing home. It was terribly sad.
All of us who care about children and their schools will miss her dynamic leadership.
Every time teachers strike for better education for children, they should remember this tireless, inspiring woman, our friend, Karen Lewis.
So sad.
RIP, Karen Lewis.
Your voice has mattered to students and teachers. You made a positive difference to many.
Condolences to Lewis’ family, friends and colleagues in Chicago. Lewis will be remembered as a fearless advocate for public education.
A great education leader, irreplaceable. Very sorry for your loss, Diane, and ours, and condolences to Ms. Lewis’s family.
What a great person. She will live on in us.
Teachers teach to empower children and change their lives in a positive manner. Karen Lewis was a teacher’s teacher, so her impact was exponential.
I remember well your conversation with her, Diane, at the NPE conference in Chicago. Her contribution to public education in our country was towering.
Oh! What a loss. My condolences to her loved ones.
I knew Karen Lewis primarily through this blog and Diane’s praise for her at several NPE conferences. My heart goes out to her family and friends for this loss… and to Diane, her champion to the end..
And her influence lives on today – if anyone doubts it, they can look at CTU’s website, “bargaining movement” chart which presents the course of negotiations over school re-openings. The city of Chicago essentially started with no position beyond a few masks and hand sanitizer for returning teachers; CTU has forced the Mayor and CPS to accede to almost every health-and-safety demand they made. If the offer is ratified by the membership, CTU will have achieved the safest re-opening plan of any big urban district to date. (We’ll see what membership says, but the concessions were very significant on CPS’ part.)
Chicago Teachers Union |
‘Karen did not just lead our movement. Karen was our movement.’
Our union is in deep mourning today at the passing of our sister, our leader and our friend, President Emerita Karen GJ Lewis. We are sending heartfelt condolences to her husband, John Lewis, and her surviving family and friends. She will be dearly missed.
Karen taught us how to fight, and she taught us how to love. She was a direct descendant of the legendary Jackie Vaughn, the first Black, female president of our local. Both were fierce advocates for educators and children, but where Jackie was stately elegance, Karen was a brawler with sharp wit and an Ivy League education. She spoke three languages, loved her opera and her show tunes, and dazzled you with her smile, yet could stare down the most powerful enemies of public education and defend our institution with a force rarely seen in organized labor.
She bowed to no one, and gave strength to tens of thousands of Chicago Teachers Union educators who followed her lead, and who live by her principles to this day.
Karen had three questions that guided her leadership: ‘Does it unite us, does it build our power and does it make us stronger?’ Before her, there was no sea of red — a sea that now stretches across our nation. She was the voice of the teacher, the paraprofessional, the clinician, the counselor, the librarian and every rank-and-file educator who worked tirelessly to provide care and nurture for students; the single parent who fought tremendous odds to raise a family; and the laborer whose rights commanded honor and respect. She was a rose that grew out of South Side Chicago concrete — filled with love for her Kenwood Broncos alumni — to not only reach great heights, but to elevate everyone she led to those same heights.
But Karen did not just lead our movement. Karen was our movement. In 2013, she said that in order to change public education in Chicago, we had to change Chicago, and change the political landscape of our city. Chicago has changed because of her. We have more fighters for justice and equity because of Karen, and because she was a champion — the people’s champion.
Our hearts are heavy today, but it brings us joy to know that Karen has joined Jackie Vaughn, Marion Stamps, Addie Wyatt and Willie Barrow as the vanguard of Black women who have forged a heroic path of labor, justice and civil rights in our city. Karen now sits among them, still guiding our every move, and still guiding our vision for the schools our students and their families deserve.
Chicago Teachers Union • 1901 W. Carroll Ave. • Chicago, IL 60612 • 312-329-9100
http://www.ctulocal1.org
for the schools Chicago’s students deserve
Oh so sad, a painful loss, she was unique. She modeled what a teacher union leader should be–articuate, brilliant, respectful, militant, inspiring confidence.
What a magnificent leader she was! She had it all: courage, integrity, passion, intellect, and an unparalleled fearlessness. She stood up to power and was never impressed or awed. Karen was going to run against Rahm. Many people think she would have beaten him. Then she was struck down by this terrible brain tumor. She continued to lead the CTU until her deteriorating health made it impossible. Last year, when I saw her in a nursing home, she was a shell of herself. Very little remained of her vitality. Her death, sad as it was, was a blessing. Everything had been taken away from her except her breath. She was a proud Black woman who converted to Judaism after considering the alternatives. She was a faithful Jew. She studied for her bat mitzvah. Her life was a gift to everyone who knew her other than the politicians she regularly upbraided and held accountable for shortchanging the children of Chicago.
a truly inspiring leader
She was a vital presence.
Her passing is a great loss to everyone whose lives she touched.
Rest In Heaven KJL
I will mise this great and fearless woman. I first saw Karen Lewis on a Democracy Now! interview right after she had been elected as president of the CTU and was floored by her vision and intellect. She was an inspiring leader and a beautiful person. I bookmarked this video of her speech to the CTU during the 2012 strike. It is exemplary of her wit, passion and fearlessness.
Thank you!
She seems like someone I would have liked to hang around with. I was aware of her name, but not much more. Obviously a feisty, committed, compassionate mensch.
Yes, you would have enjoyed hanging out with her. She was the real deal.