The author of “Lies My Teacher Told Me,” the national bestseller that critiques how history is taught in U.S. schools, spoke on campus last week, saying that future history textbooks will portray that America “did the right thing in the Iraq War.”

“I believe the United States leads the world in ethnocentrism,” said author James Loewen.

Loewen, a sociologist, has written a second book, “Lies Across America: What Our History Sites Get Wrong.” His books emphasize the Eurocentric methods of teaching American history in high school and elementary education.

In his book, Loewen chronicles many examples of historic fables and misinterpretations of alleged historical facts. His books also mention how important ethnic minority figures are often misrepresented or not given sufficient exposure in textbooks.

“It’s critical to be aware of the information we are provided,” said the host of the Loewen seminar and Director of the Multi-cultural Center Leonard Valdez.

Loewen first developed an interest in history “misteaching” when he began teaching social science to freshmen at Tougaloo College in Mississippi.

Segregation still existed when Loewen taught at the all-black school. He realized his students were mistaught in high school history classes and were largely unaware of African-American influences on American history.

“Even history book titles are glamorized,” Loewen said.

Loewen also taught at the University of Vermont, which is one of the most prestigious universities in the country. He would eventually realize that “misteaching” was not only a Mississippi problem — it was an American problem.

In 1980, Loewen and his co-authors presented their own textbook, “Mississippi: Conflict and Chance,” to be taught in Mississippi public schools. The Mississippi state government refused, partly due to Loewen’s writing on Mississippi’s dark past: the lynching of blacks. Loewen challenged the state government in the case of Loewen v. Turnipseed. Loewen was victorious.

“This lesson taught me that history can be a weapon,” Loewen said.

Loewen devoted a good portion of his speech to Lincoln’s racial attitudes as they pertained to the Civil War. He said Lincoln did not care about African-American rights, but was primarily concerned with “holding a nation together.” Also, almost every president before Lincoln owned slaves but high school texts do not teach it.

Loewen spent two years at the Smithsonian studying the 12 leading high school textbooks on American history. According to Loewen, several of the texts were written by white supremacist groups. He also said that many history texts portray the U.S government in a heroic way.

Historians and scholars have termed the era between 1890 and 1940 as the “Nadir Era” of American race relations. This era began with what Loewen calls the three I’s: immigration, imperialism (Spanish-American War) and the Indian War.

“You should always be suspicious of (American history) textbooks written during this era,” Loewen said.

Not only does Loewen encourage future teachers to question the validity and reliability of history textbooks, he wants students to be aware of historiography.

Historiography is the study of who, when and why history books are written in a certain way.

Loewen is writing a book on “sundown towns.”

Sundown towns are towns in the United States that intentionally have all-white populations. They are called sundown towns because certain minority groups are warned to “stay out of this town when the sun goes down.” Loewen said there are many suburbs, especially in California, that try to keep out Jews, African-Americans and other minorities.

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