James Loewen - Guests-in-Residence 9/9-9/12

James Loewen will be a Guest-in-Residence at Unit One/Allen Hall 9/9/07 - 9/12/07. All events are open to the public and take place in the Allen Hall Main Lounge, 1005 W. Gregory, Urbana. Free parking is available in the garage across the street.

James Loewen wrote the best-selling Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your High School History Textbook Got Wrong, in part a critique of existing textbooks, but also an account of American history as it should be taught. He taught race relations for 20 years at the University of Vermont and previously taught at Tougaloo College in Mississippi. He now lives in Washington, D.C., continuing his research on how Americans remember their past. His most recent book is Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism. His other books include Lies Across America: What Our Historic Markers and Monuments Get Wrong; The Truth About Columbus; and Mississippi: Conflict and Change, which won the Lillian Smith Award for Best Southern Nonfiction. This book was rejected for public-school text use by the State of Mississippi, leading to the path-breaking First Amendment lawsuit, Loewen et al. V. Turnipseed, et al. He has been an expert witness in more than 50 civil rights, voting rights, and employment cases.

Sun 9/9
7pm – Sundown Towns: Racial Cleansing in America - Illinois is full of towns that for decades were all-white on purpose. Some still are. Jim Loewen wrote "the book" on these "Sundown Towns," after doing some of the research for it while a visiting scholar at Unit One/Allen Hall. Learn the truth about Chicago suburbs, downstate towns, and cities in other states, and the difference it makes today.

Mon 9/10
7pm - Lies My Teacher Told Me - Perhaps the best-selling book by a living sociologist, "Lies" puts back what high school American history textbooks leave out.

Tues 9/11
7pm - Writing History in Stone - Historical markers, monuments, and museums that are afraid to tell the truth about the past.

Weds 9/12
7pm – How Standardized Tests Like the SAT, ACT, and GRE Lie About Your Abilities