James Loewen

James Loewen, noted sociologist and advocate for improving the teaching of history, is the keynote speaker for the 13th Annual Urban Forum, set for Thursday, Nov. 5, at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s Helene Zelazo Center, 2419 E. Kenwood Blvd. The School of Education sponsors the Urban Forum, which is free and open to the public, to encourage discussion on issues related to urban education.

Loewen, who will speak at 6 p.m., is the author of a number of books on teaching history and social studies. His most recent book, “Teaching What Really Happened,” offers teachers ideas for getting students excited about history and encouraging them to read critically. The book also looks at ways teachers can tackle difficult, but important topics like slavery, the American Indian experience and race relations.

An earlier book,  “Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your High School History Textbook Got Wrong,  published in 1995, has sold more than a million copies and won the American Book Award. The book was based on a two-year analysis of 12 leading high school textbooks on American history, which Loewen concluded offered “an embarrassing blend of bland optimism, blind nationalism and plain misinformation, weighing in at an average of 888 pages and almost five pounds.”

Loewen, who earned his doctorate in sociology from Harvard, taught race relations at the University of Vermont for 20 years, and served as an expert witness in more than 50 civil rights, voting rights and employment cases. He continues to conduct research and write from his Washington, D.C., base.

He was the co-author of a pioneering textbook on Mississippi history that presented the state’s history in the light of research and then-current events in 1968 Mississippi. The book became the center of a 1980 federal court case when the Mississippi State Textbook Board rejected it as “unsuitable” for classroom use.   The court overruled the state board in a decision the American Library Association (ALA) ranks as one of its “notable First Amendment court cases.”  Loewen is the author of a number of other books on history, sociology and education, including “Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism.”

For more information on the Urban Forum, go to www.soe.uwm.edu.

This year’s Urban Forum has been organized into a two-part series, with a second Urban Forum scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 11, 2010.