Every story has contradictions. For every moment in history there is a corresponding moment that can take accuracy and understanding and change it forever. Over time, people add small pieces of information to the big events of our past. This is where we find a misinterpretation of history. In chapter five of the book Lies My Teacher Told Me, these contradictions are brought to light and force us to reexamine them. As I learned in my history classes, we can always question the accuracy of a story, but we may never fully understand the truth. I experienced three important moments that shaped my understanding of history today, particularly the part of history dealing with slavery and racism. The first, and most important, would be the history classes I had to take in high school. It was a very delicate subject. Textbooks don't want to say too much about racism, and teachers would like nothing more than to avoid it as much as possible (at least mine did). I was told, “Slavery and racism are bad.” It was a bad time in American history, but it helped us get to where we are today. » Never in my life would anyone tell me that President Jefferson, who ensured that everyone had an equal right to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” enslaved nearly 200 people when he uttered these words (Loewen 147). However, as I was told very little about slavery, this fact shocked me a lot. The last thing that comes to mind when I think of presidents is slave ownership. I remember in elementary school doing projects on our past presidents. However, the requirements for the projects were just to find out all the great deeds they have done for the country, not on the middle of a paper... We are such friendly people. But if we are told that back then people as high up as presidents were allowed to be racist and own slaves, what's to stop the average person in today's world from make slightly racist comments/gestures? Overall, the experiences you have in life will affect your life. how you assimilate what Loewen tells you. If I had only taken my history classes that taught me about slavery and racism, I would have been blown away by all the information he shared. Since I was able to actually see some of the events that happened as a repercussion of what he was talking about, I was able to streamline the chapter as I read it. I also think my high school experience also helped me see both sides of the story. Works Cited Loewen, James W. Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2007. Print.