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James w loewen
James w loewen







Loewen’s analysis of American history as presented for high school students in Lies My Teacher Told Me (New York: The New Press, 1995). Loewen’s (1942–2021) from his comrades at Monthly Review. So long as they simply celebrate Columbus, rather than teach both sides of his exploit, they encourage us to identify with white Western exploitation rather than study it.In Memory of James W. So long as they say "discover," they imply that whites are the only people who really matter. So long as our textbooks hide from us the roles that people of color have played in exploration, from at least 6000 BC to to the twentieth century, they encourage us to look to Europe and its extensions as the seat of all knowledge and intelligence. They portray proud Western conquerors bestriding the world like the Colossus at Rhodes. Our histories fail to mention such assistance. When Admiral Peary discovered the North Pole, the first person there was probably neither the European American Peary nor the African American Matthew Henson, his assistant, but their four Inuit guides, men and women on whom the entire expedition relied.

james w loewen

Lewis and Clark's expedition to the Pacific Northwest was made possible by tribe after tribe of American Indians, with help from two Shoshone guides, Sacagawea and Toby, who served as interpreters. They repaired Francis Drake's Golden Hind in California so he could complete his round-the-world voyage in 1579. “Native Americans cured Cartier's men of scurvy near Montreal in 1535. Believers would immediately argue that such a depiction fails to convey the symbolic meaning or the spiritual satisfaction of communion.” Textbooks never describe Christianity this way. If they believed strongly enough, they would live on forever after they died." They ate crackers and wine or grape juice, believing that they were eating the son's body and drinking his blood. Sometimes they divided him into three parts, which they called father, son, and holy ghost.

james w loewen

Let us try a similarly succinct summary of the beliefs of many Christians today: "These Americans believed that one great male god ruled the world. Stated flatly like this, the beliefs seem like make-believe, not the sophisticated theology of a higher civilization.

james w loewen

They shared their lives with the spirits of nature.". Each form of life, such as plants and animals, had a spirit. believed that nature was filled with spirits. “Consider how textbooks treat Native religions as a unitary whole.









James w loewen