Lies My Teacher Told Me Characters

Democratically elected president of Chile who, partly because of his socialist views, was assassinated—probably with the help of the CIA—and replaced with an anti-Communist, pro-U.S. dictator.

Founder and leader of al-Qaeda, the organization that orchestrated the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

19th century abolitionist and activist who led a raid on a military base at Harpers Ferry, and was later executed for his crimes. Although history textbooks often paint Brown as a religious fanatic, Loewen argues that Brown was a deeply thoughtful, rational man.

Leader of Cuba for most of the second half of the 20th century—in spite of the United States’ dozens of attempts to assassinate him.

President of the Confederacy during the Civil War.

Illinois politician who, in the years leading up to the Civil War, participated in a series of famous debates on slavery with Abraham Lincoln.

History professor at the State University of New York at Buffalo.

Black Panther leader who was murdered by the Chicago police department in the early hours of the morning, while he was asleep in his bed.

15th century monarch who organized many of the key European expeditions to the Americas.

Black woman who married Senator A.T. Morgan.

Secular dictator of the country of Iraq, who had collaborated with the U.S. during the 1980s, but later refused to grant American companies access to Iraqi oil.

Third president of the United States, and an eloquent advocate for the expansion and prolongation of the slave trade in America.

Important civil rights leader whose assassination in 1968 may, Loewen argues, have been orchestrated by the FBI.

Secretary of State under President Richard Nixon.

16th century Spanish historian and priest, notable for being a member of the European elite who opposed Christopher Columbus’s policies in the Americans on the grounds that they were barbaric.

Congolese politician, and the first democratically elected Prime Minister of the Congo. He was assassinated, probably with the help of the CIA.

White Mississippi senator during the Reconstruction era who married a black woman named Carrie Highgate and was reelected.

Communist leader who served as the prime minister of North Vietnam during the Vietnam War.

Author of Gone With the Wind, one of the bestselling books of all-time, despite (or perhaps, because of) the fact that it wrongly characterizes the Reconstruction era as a time of rampant black corruption and incompetence.

French-Cuban writer who wrote, “We see things as we are.”

37th president of the United States, and leader of the country during the end of the Vietnam era, Nixon was the only U.S. president to resign from office, owing to his role in the Watergate scandal.

The man who assassinated Martin Luther King, Jr.

Revolutionary-era American woman who many students still believe to have sewed the first American flag, despite clear evidence that she didn’t.

Author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, one of the bestselling books of all time and a furious attack on the Southern slave trade.

Native American who learned how to speak English after being kidnapped by European settlers and sold into slavery.

33rd president of the United States, who made the decision to drop an atomic bomb on Japan near the end of World War Two.

First president of the United States of America, and—contrary to what many American history textbooks imply—a slave owner.