Millikin University welcomes award-winning author Dr. James Loewen Oct. 9 for discussion on "Symbols of the Confederacy"

 

[October 04, 2019] 

Millikin University welcomes award-winning author Dr. James Loewen as part of its Inclusive Lecture Series on Wednesday, Oct. 9 at 7 p.m. in the Bob and Debi Johnston Banquet Room on the 3rd floor of the University Commons on Millikin's campus. The event is free and open to the public.

Titled "Symbols of the Confederacy," Dr. Loewen will lead a thought-provoking discussion regarding the controversial practice of removing symbols of the Confederacy, statues and monuments from towns, parks, campuses and government buildings – sometimes under the cover of darkness.

Decatur, Ill., native Dr. James Loewen is a sociologist emeritus at the University of Vermont where he taught race relations for 20 years and previously taught at Tougaloo College in Tougaloo, Miss. Loewen now lives in Washington, D.C., continuing his research on how Americans remember their past.

Author of "Lies Across America: What Our Historic Sites Get Wrong," the Gustavus Myers Foundation named Loewen's book, "Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism," a Distinguished Book of 2005. His other books include "Mississippi: Conflict and Change," which won the Lillian Smith Award for Best Southern Nonfiction, "The Confederate and Neo-Confederate Reader" (University Press of Mississippi, 2010), "Social Science in the Courtroom" and "Lies My Teacher Told Me About Christopher Columbus."

Loewen has been an expert witness in more than 50 civil rights, voting rights and employment cases. His awards include the First Annual Spivack Award of the American Sociological Association for "sociological research applied to the field of intergroup relations," the American Book Award (for "Lies My Teacher Told Me") and the Oliver Cromwell Cox Award for Distinguished Anti-Racist Scholarship.

Loewen is also a Distinguished Lecturer for the Organization of American Historians and a Visiting Professor of Sociology at Catholic University in Washington, D.C. In 2012, the American Sociological Association gave Loewen its Cox-Johnson-Frazier Award for "scholarship in service to social justice." Also in 2012, the National Council for Social Studies gave Loewen its Spirit of America Award previously won by U.S. President Jimmy Carter and Rosa Parks.

For more information about Dr. James Loewen, visit sundown.tougaloo.edu/. Dr. Loewen will also be signing books following his speaking engagement at Millikin.

For more information about the event and Millikin University's Inclusive Lecture Series, contact Millikin's Office of Student Development at 217.424.6395 or by e-mail at [e-mail].

[Millikin University Director of Media Relations and Publications Dane Lisser]