Wilfred Reilly, a professor and author, has raised concerns about how American history is being taught in classrooms across the country, suggesting that current curriculums are intentionally casting Western culture in a negative light. In an interview with Fox News Digital, Reilly discussed his book, “Lies My Liberal Teacher Told Me,” which serves as a counterargument to prevailing educational materials.
Reilly, who teaches political science at Kentucky State University, wrote his book as a response to works such as “Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong” and Howard Zinn’s “A People’s History” series, as well as the 1619 Project. He believes these and similar resources present a skewed version of history.
“There are numerous books attempting to portray Western culture as the most negative force in history,” Reilly explained. “They often use a sly tactic, suggesting there are hidden truths not taught in schools, which supposedly reveal a darker side of history.”
In December 2025, during his conversation with Fox News Digital, Reilly elaborated on his viewpoint, challenging what he perceives as an oversimplified and decontextualized approach to topics like colonialism and slavery in today’s curriculum.
Reilly expressed his concerns by examining these educational materials, such as the 1619 curriculum, to highlight inaccuracies he believes are present from a leftist perspective. “I responded by evaluating what we’re truly learning and addressing the misconceptions propagated by these sources,” he stated.
“So, I actually responded to what we’re actually learning by looking through these guys, like the 1619 curriculum, and kind of focusing on what they got wrong from the left,” said Reilly.
In the case of slavery, Reilly noted that modern educators are teaching only a sliver of the whole story.
“What we’re teaching is a focus on kind of the latter part of the Atlantic slave trade, which was one of about 20 global slave trades,” he said. “And the reason that we’re teaching this is because it allows the pedagogue, the professor or the teacher, a chance to segue into the modern oppression of Black people. That’s it. That’s why that’s a focus.”
Conservatives, and critical historians, have generally argued that the 1619 Project distorted the true history of the U.S. with many of Nikole Hannah-Jones’ claims, but the mainstream media has largely turned a blind eye to negative feedback. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)
Native American history also lacks critical context, according to Reilly.
“I think the current presentation of Native Americans would be that they were peaceful, Gaia-worshiping people who were intentionally exterminated by the Europeans, and that’s fantastically false,” said Reilly.
“The Natives were people who had their own motivations, incentives, and drives, and who often competed very successfully with the Europeans,” he continued. “They were also some of the greatest warriors in history, especially the Plains Indians, on par with the Mongols. The Indian Wars took 400 years. The United States is 2% Native today. I mean, so the depiction is just completely factually false.“
Colonialism, he said, isn’t unique to the United States, either.
Blackfoot People Native Americans dressed in full ceremonial traditional clothing at an annual stamppage, Browning, Montana, around 1930. (Herbert C. Lanks/FPG/Archive Photos/Getty Images)
“Most countries, from time to time, engaged in international wars and took land,” he said. “This was not simply something that White countries did.”
Like the Mongol and Persian Empires, according to Reilly, White Europeans conquered land, which was completely normal throughout most of history.
“Anyway, in that world, White colonialism, European colonialism, was just one variant on if you invite us in as a partner or if we win a war with you, we’re going to take some land, and we’re going to impose external governance on that land. No one thought of the imposition of external governance as evil.”
