JWLF Mission Statement
The James W. Loewen Foundation supports the investigation and teaching of racism’s hidden history and its implications for democracy and society, as well as productive public engagement with these challenging histories and legacies.
James W. Loewen was a legendary truth-seeker, storyteller, and teacher. Over his remarkable half-century career, he critiqued and improved textbooks, unearthed and explained lost histories, thought deeply about literacy and teaching, and shared it all with an open hand and a skillful nudge. JWLF is guided by Jim’s core maxim:
“Telling the truth about the past helps cause justice in the present. Achieving justice in the present helps us tell the truth about the past.”
JWLF Goals:
- To disseminate Jim’s research to the public. The anchor of this effort is our website (History and Social Justice tougaloo.edu) and its sundown towns database. JWLF works with our partners to support this website, which has attracted more than one million visitors since 2020, and to continue to add research and resources for students, teachers, researchers, activists, and citizens.
- To engage the public in generative conversations related to sundown towns, race relations, and U.S. history. For community and professional groups, we conduct workshops and meetings, provide online resources, and support other projects that help groups discuss and grapple with these difficult pasts.
- To assist K-12 and college educators and community groups in teaching with Jim’s research. We provide online resources, including lesson plans, teaching guides, sample syllabi, and a teaching forum, to help educators and community groups a) uncover hidden local histories and b) critique high school history textbooks.
- To provide higher education instructors with online resources that draw on Loewenian college teaching methods. Distinctive features of this work include a) critical thinking that challenges the prevailing “compact of complacency,” b) improved design of tests and quizzes, and c) creative and critical uses of new information technologies.
- To collaborate with researchers engaged in projects related to sundown towns, race relations, and U.S. history, and their social, economic, health, and political legacies, both within and beyond the U.S. We work closely with groups and individuals to support and publicize such research. As we grow, we seek to sponsor these efforts through grants and awards.
- To internationalize Loewenian research and teaching by acting as an online meeting place and research hub for collaborations with international scholars and activists and Re: Invitation to Become an Affiliate: Center for Social Solutionswith scholars conducting research on related topics outside the U.S.
- To maintain and grow a digital archive for ongoing research, teaching, and other projects related to sundown towns, race relations, textbooks, and other topics that draw on Jim’s work.