James Loewen
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James (Jim) W. Loewen (b. 6 February 1942) is an author, historian, and professor. He attended Carleton College and has a Ph.D. in sociology from Harvard University. For 20 years, Loewen taught race relations at the University of Vermont. Prior to that, he taught at Mississippi's Tougaloo College, a historically black college. Since 1997, he has been a Visiting Professor of Sociology at The Catholic University of America.
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[edit] Early years
Loewen was born to Dr. David F. and Winifred Loewen in 1942. His father was a medical director and his mother was a librarian and teacher. Loewen grew up in Decatur, Illinois and was a National Merit Scholar in his graduating class of 1960 from MacArthur High School. In 1963, as a junior at Carleton, he spent a semester in Mississippi, which led to his questioning everything he had been taught about United States history.
[edit] First Amendment battle
Loewen co-authored an American history textbook, Mississippi: Conflict and Change, which won the Lillian Smith Award for Best Southern Nonfiction, but was not approved for use in the Mississippi school system. This led to the lawsuit Loewen v. Turnipseed.
The American Library Association considers Loewen v. Turnipseed, 488 F. Supp. 1138 (N.D. Miss. 1980), a historic First Amendment Case, and one of the foundations of our "right to read freely." Mississippi: Conflict and Change was rejected for use in Mississippi's public schools by the Mississippi Textbook Purchasing Board on the grounds that it was too controversial and placed too much focus on racial matters. Judge Orma R. Smith of the U.S. District Court ruled that the rejection of the textbook was not based on "justifiable grounds" and that the authors were denied their right to free speech and press.
[edit] Lies My Teacher Told Me
Loewen spent two years at the Smithsonian Institution studying and comparing twelve American history textbooks widely used throughout the United States. His findings were published in Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your High School History Textbook Got Wrong. This book focuses not only on alleged errors or deliberate omissions in history textbooks but also on the lack of controversy that, he claims, would make learning history exciting.
He believes that history should not be taught as straightforward facts and dates to memorize, but rather in-depth analysis of the context and root causes of events. Loewen recommends that teachers use two textbooks so students realize the contradictions and ask questions like "Why do the authors present the material like this?"
[edit] Recent writings
Continuing his interest in racial conflict in American towns, Loewen released Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism in October 2005. The book documents the histories of sundown towns, which are towns where black people, Jews, and other minority groups are forced (or strongly encouraged) to leave prior to sundown in order to prevent racial violence perpetrated by the white populations. Loewen has written about sundown towns repeatedly throughout his career, including in Lies Across America, where he notably cited the affluent suburb of Darien, Connecticut as meeting his definition of a modern-day de facto sundown town.
At present, Loewen is researching a new book, Surprises on the Landscape: Unexpected Places That Get History Right. The book is planned as follow-up to Lies Across America, which noted historically inaccurate or misleading historical markers and sites across the United States. Surprises will call attention to historical sites that are accurate and provide honest representations of actual events. He is currently seeking input from the public on what towns and historical sites should be included via his official website.
[edit] Publications
- The Mississippi Chinese: Between Black and White, Social Science in the Courtroom, and The Truth About Columbus. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1971, ISBN 0-674-57660-8; second edition, Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland Press 1988, ISBN 0-88133-312-3.
- Mississippi: Conflict and Change (co-authored with Charles Sallis), New York: Pantheon Books, 1974, ISBN 0-394-48964-0.
- Social Science in the Courtroom, Lexington: D.C. Heath and Company, 1982, ISBN 0-669-04310-9.
- Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your High School History Textbook Got Wrong, New York: The New Press, 1995, ISBN 1-56584-100-X; Simon and Schuster, 1996, ISBN 0-684-81886-8.
- Lies Across America: What Our Historic Markers and Monuments Get Wrong, New York: The New Press, 1999, ISBN 1-56584-344-4.
- Sundown Towns, New York: The New Press, 2005, ISBN 1-56584-887-X.
