The Story of How a Group of High Schoolers Wrote an Episode of ‘Bewitched’

One of the most memorable and beloved episodes of Bewitched was actually not written by Hollywood writers but by a group of teenagers. The episode was titled “Sisters at Heart” and aired on December 24, 1970. The holiday-themed episode was sweet, but it also tackled racism and prejudice in a way few sitcoms dared at the time, and it all came from the imagination of 26 African American tenth-graders at Jefferson High School.

The unlikely journey began in 1969 with a young English teacher named Marcella Saunders. She was only 23 years old and facing a major challenge. Many of her students were reading far below grade level. Saunders realized that her class was far more engaged with television than with classic literature, so she decided to try something unconventional.