Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism

James W. Loewen

Eph 2008 · Recorded Books · Kuchazwe ngu-Norman Dietz

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Professor emeritus at the University of Vermont, James W. Loewen has taught race relations for over 20 years. He won the National Book Award and the Oliver Cromwell Cox Award for Distinguished Anti-Racist Scholarship for his New York Times bestseller, Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong. Sundown Towns is a thought-provoking survey of American towns with histories of racial exclusion.

From 1999 to 2004, Professor Loewen investigated the records of thousands of towns to identify those that were all white on purpose—some of which remain so to this day. Loewen reveals that, though normally regarded as a Southern phenomenon, these so-called sundown towns were in fact abundant in the North.

In unflinching detail, Loewen traces the rise of these towns across America, chronicling their violent histories.

“James Loewen’s new book will bring shock, then indignation, then wonderment as to what we can do to justify calling ourselves a decent society.”—Howard Zinn, author

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Social scientist and professor James Loewen is an outspoken critic of "feel-good" history. In his book "Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American Textbook Got Wrong" (1996) he debunks the myths and exposes the omissions he feels are taught in the nation's high schools. Disturbed by his college students' lack of knowledge of history and concerned about minority misconceptions, Loewen spent two years at the Smithsonian analyzing 12 leading history texts and 11 years writing this best-selling indictment of history teaching. Loewen believes that controversy has been removed from classrooms in favor of blind patriotism. "Any history book that celebrates, rather than examines, our heritage has the by-product, intended or not, of alienating all those in the 'out group', those who have not become affluent, and denies them a tool for understanding their own group's lack of success." Loewen's other books include ""Mississippi: Conflict and Change" (1974, rev. 1980), a revisionist history of the state written with a coalition of students and faculty at Tougaloo College, Mississippi; "Mississippi Chinese: Between Black and White" (1971), a study of this minority's role in society; "Social Science in the Courtroom" (1983), based on the author's experiences as an expert witness in civil rights cases and "The Truth About Columbus: A Subversively True Poster Book For A Dubiously Celebratory Occasion" (1992). In addition, the author is a frequent contributor to professional publications, sometimes under the pseudonym James Lyons. James W. Loewen was born February 6, 1942 in Decatur, Illinois and was educated at Carleton College (B.A., 1964) and Harvard University (M.A, 1967; Ph.D., 1968). He was a sociologist and teacher specializing in race relations at Tougaloo College, Mississippi from 1968 to 1974.