She also held factory jobs at home during summers to help pay for her education. She pursued seven different types of employment to pay for her education, including working as a resident assistant and as a cook for the school's football team. Despite not knowing the subject, she initially hoped to become a systems engineer following the advice of her oldest brother. Lightfoot received her Bachelor of Arts in political science from the University of Michigan in 1984, graduating with honors. Her punishment for the boycott was detention.

Her boycott was a success as the school provided more flavorful pizza. While in high school, Lightfoot helped organize a boycott of her school's lunch program over the quality of its pizza. Her high school alumni association named her a 'Distinguished Citizen' in 2013. Her campaign slogan while running for high school class president was 'Get on the right foot with Lightfoot'. She was elected high school class president three times. She is a graduate of Washington High School in Massillon, where she was a trumpet player in the school band, sang alto in the choir, point guard on the basketball team, volleyball player, softball player, yearbook editor, and Pep Club member. She grew up in a primarily white neighborhood on the west side of the city. Her mother, Ann Lightfoot, was a nighttime healthcare aide and school board member, and her father, Elijah Lightfoot, was a local factory worker and janitor. Lightfoot was born in Massillon, Ohio, the youngest of four children. She is also the first black woman, the second woman (after Byrne), and the third black person (after Harold Washington and Eugene Sawyer) to serve as mayor of Chicago. Lightfoot is the first openly lesbian black woman to serve as mayor of a major city in the United States, and the second openly lesbian woman (after Annise Parker) to serve as mayor of one of the ten most populous cities in the United States. She ran again in 2023 but failed to qualify for the runoff, becoming the city's first incumbent mayor to not be reelected since Jane Byrne in 1983. In 2019, Lightfoot defeated Toni Preckwinkle in a runoff election for Chicago mayor.

She served as president of the Chicago Police Board and chair of the Chicago Police Accountability Task Force. Before becoming mayor, Lightfoot worked in private legal practice as a partner at Mayer Brown and held various government positions in Chicago. Lori Elaine Lightfoot (born August 4, 1962) is an American politician and attorney who was the 56th mayor of Chicago from 2019 until 2023.

Snapshots by Matthew Lightfoot