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LMTTM Response

The document summarizes key points from the book "Lies My Teacher Told Me" by James W. Loewen. It discusses how US history textbooks sugarcoat historical events, dismiss negative aspects of historical figures, and fail to provide a balanced account of history. It provides an example of how textbooks portray President Woodrow Wilson more positively by crediting Congress, not Wilson, for passing repressive acts. The document also notes how textbooks prioritize memorization of facts over analysis and fail to include first-person accounts and the ongoing impacts of historical events.

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194 views

LMTTM Response

The document summarizes key points from the book "Lies My Teacher Told Me" by James W. Loewen. It discusses how US history textbooks sugarcoat historical events, dismiss negative aspects of historical figures, and fail to provide a balanced account of history. It provides an example of how textbooks portray President Woodrow Wilson more positively by crediting Congress, not Wilson, for passing repressive acts. The document also notes how textbooks prioritize memorization of facts over analysis and fail to include first-person accounts and the ongoing impacts of historical events.

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api-709746989
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Morgan Martin Del Campo

LIBS 101: The Human Enigma

Razan Zahra

Sep 1, 2023

Lies My Teacher Told Me

In Lies My Teacher Told Me, James W. Loewen proves history textbooks are inaccurate

and outdated. From the story of Christopher Columbus “discovering America”, to the erasure of

Helen Keller’s activism, we are given countless examples of how textbooks pick and choose

what to teach children and teens about United States history. In reality, there should be a balance

of stories, and we should be taught the truth, not a sugarcoated version of the truth. These

textbooks tend to make historical figures out to be heroes, while dismissing the negative things

they have done. An example of this is President Woodrow Wilson and his racial biases. Chapter

1 focuses on the heroification of historical figures in textbooks, and highlights how President

Wilson is addressed, “Wilson displayed little regard for the rights of anyone whose opinions

differed from his own. But textbooks take pains to insulate him from wrongdoing. “Congress,”

not Wilson, is credited with having passed the Espionage Act of June 1917 and the Sedition Act

of the following year, probably the most serious attacks on civil liberties of Americans since the

short-lived Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798” (Loewen 22). By saying “Congress” was in charge

of passing these acts, these textbooks are allowing Wilson to be free of blame.

Common themes Loewen addresses are picking and choosing how to depict historical

figures, making these figures out to be heroes rather than giving a balance of good and bad

stories, racism in American history textbooks, and the overall issues with how history textbooks

are made. These textbooks are often over thousands of pages long, and are formatted to highlight
facts and memorize them, rather than to analyze the stories and learn from the past in order to not

repeat the same mistakes in the future. History is often depicted as a timeline, when in reality it is

a cycle. Time after time, injustices occur and are later depicted in a way that promotes American

exceptionalism. Students are given a one dimensional representation of historical events, which

leads to “single story” mindsets. I found it interesting when Loewen explained that many history

professors dislike when students know a lot about history, because often these facts are wrong.

Textbooks don’t give an accurate full picture, which leads to students having to relearn United

States history in order to understand what actually happened.

Personally, I never learned the true story of Thanksgiving or Christoper Columbus’

arrival until reading Lies My Teacher Told Me. I viewed history as a subject with a deep dislike,

mainly because the stories always depicted people of color and minority groups suffering. I also

quickly realized the textbooks I was reading were the same facts, same stories, over and over,

which created a single story in my mind of what Thanksgiving was, as well as Columbus and

colonization in America our symposium explaining in-depth her experiences as a Native

American woman, as well as her families and the generational trauma they experienced, I felt I

finally had a balance of stories. This is why history textbooks often fail to provide students with

accurate information. They rarely include first-person accounts of what happened or how these

events still affect people today.

Something I took away from the reading is the importance of balancing stories, as well as

including personal anecdotes. Personal accounts of how history has affected people are much

more impactful, and avoids sugarcoating the past. The connection between the butterfly effect

and historical events made me think of how my actions in the present can shape the future, in

ways I wouldn't have imagined. Most textbooks focus on the visual aids and formatting more
than the actual lessons that can be learned when we study history. They also tend to only touch

the surface when discussing America’s long history with racism. Rarely will textbooks include

real visual aids that show the true horrors of racism, like lynching. On page 169, Loewen

mentions how his textbook Mississippi: Conflict and Change was rejected by the Mississippi

State Textbook Board because he included a photograph of a lynch mob posing for the camera.

The photo shocks me, because many of the attackers are smiling. I believe photos like these are

necessary for students to understand the severity of racism in the United States.

One of my questions in class was about Gone With the Wind, and whether censoring it is

beneficial or detrimental to viewers. I am still wondering now whether including this movie in

classrooms would be a good idea or not. Does it do more harm than good? I was also thinking

about heroification. Who gets to be depicted as a hero and experience heroification? What are the

parameters and the connections between John Brown, Helen Keller, Woodrow Wilson and other

historical figures that have been labeled as heroes?

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