An "anti-racist" activist’s book on "black history for kids," distributed by Simon & Schuster in March, was "heavily plagiarized," according to a report Friday by National Review.
Excerpts from the book, Resistance Stories from Black History for Kids by Rann Miller, starkly resemble passages from news articles and books by other historians. According to his website, Miller taught in K-12 schools and now serves as "program director for a local school district, a professional development facilitator and also a public speaker."
When describing ancient African civilizations, for example, Miller states that "evidence of the oldest recognizable monarchy (government ruled by a single person) in human history, preceding the rise of the earliest Kemetic kings by several generations, has been discovered in objects from ancient Nubia." The quote mirrors the text of a 1979 New York Times article, which reads, "Evidence of the oldest recognizable monarchy in human history, preceding the rise of the earliest Egyptian kings by several generations, has been discovered in artifacts from ancient Nubia in Africa."
The book espouses hallmark critical race theory beliefs, including that American society was "instituted by racist ideas and maintained by racist policies," according to National Review. Miller said in an article last month that he was recently hired to help create "a Black history and social justice course curriculum for high school students." He told the organization he would want students to "leave this class understanding the United States is a white settler colonized state, built by way of racial capitalism to enrich ‘white people’ of European descent above everyone else."
Simon & Schuster did not respond to National Review's emails about the book, which is still featured on the publishing company's website.
Princeton University took no action last year after becoming aware of plagiarism allegations against one of the school’s star progressive professors, the Washington Free Beacon reported. After receiving an email from a faculty member with evidence that Princeton historian Kevin Kruse plagiarized passages in his book, the school’s dean of faculty never responded.