On Wednesday, April 8, Skyline College welcomed award-winning sociologist, historian, and best-selling author, Dr. James Loewen as part of the Skyline College Lecture Series: A Call to Consciousness.  Dr. Loewen is best known as the Author of Lies my Teacher Told Me: Everything Your High School History Textbook Got Wrong.

Dr. Loewen spoke to the audience about his most recent research and publication The Confederate and Neo-Confederate Reader: The “Great Truth” about the “Lost Cause”.  The book confronts national misconceptions of the causes behind secession of the Southern states and subsequent myth-making that occurred after the American Civil War that was designed to defend slavery and promote white supremacy throughout the United States.

Dr. Loewen also encouraged students and faculty to engage in dialogue and research about Sundown Towns, city or neighborhood in the United States that was purposely all-white. The term came from signs that were posted stating that people of color had to leave the town by sundown. “Until we solve the problem of sundown neighborhoods and towns we do not have a chance of solving America’s race problem,” Loewen said.

More information about Dr. Loewen and his research is available at http://sundown.afro.illinois.edu/.