As part of American Education Week, actress Tonea Stewart will be coming to Selma High School Friday, said Selma High School Librarian Nancy Sewell.

The

Education Week program, which will begin at 10 a.m., will feature Stewart giving a performance along with drama students from Alabama State University.

Sewell said all the public is invited to attend.

Sewell said Stewart, who is known for her role as Etta Kibbee on the television series &uot;In The Heat of The Night,&uot; is a native of Greenwood, Miss., and is a graduate of Jackson State University, the University of California, Santa Barbara and McKnight Doctoral Alumni of The Florida State University.

Besides being an actress, Stewart is a Ph. D., wife, mother,

directress, educator, humanitarian and orator.

Sewell said that in 1969, Stewart was the first African American to star at the New Stage Theater, Mississippi’s most prestigious equity theater and the first African American to direct at that same theater.

In 1987, she appeared in a Carol Brice benefit at Carnegie Hall with the Opera Concert Company. Stewart taught drama and speech at her alma matter.

Selma High School Principal Eli Welch said that he was looking forward to Stewart’s appearance at the high school.