Editing Howard Zinn (section)

==Career==
===Academic career===
{{Quote box
| quote = We were not born critical of existing society. There was a moment in our lives (or a month, or a year) when certain facts appeared before us, startled us, and then caused us to question beliefs that were strongly fixed in our consciousness – embedded there by years of family prejudices, orthodox schooling, imbibing of newspapers, radio, and television. This would seem to lead to a simple conclusion: that we all have an enormous responsibility to bring to the attention of others information they do not have, which has the potential of causing them to rethink long-held ideas.<ref name="Zinn-05">{{cite web | last=Zinn | first=Howard | title=Changing minds, one at a time | publisher=The Progressive | url=https://progressive.org/%3Fq%3Dnode/5555/|date=March 1, 2005 | access-date=April 15, 2020}}</ref>
| source = — Howard Zinn, 2005
| align = right
| width = 35%
}}

Zinn was professor of history at [[Spelman College]] in Atlanta from 1956 to 1963, and visiting professor at both the [[University of Paris]] and [[University of Bologna]]. At the end of the academic year in 1963, Zinn was fired from Spelman for insubordination.<ref>{{cite book|first=Martin|last=Duberman|title=Howard Zinn: A Life on the Left|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VCqmA95DdNkC&pg=PA199|year=2012|publisher=New Press|isbn=9781595588401}}</ref> His dismissal came from Albert Manley, the first African-American president of that college, who felt Zinn was radicalizing Spelman students.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Zinn for Beginners|last=Cogswell|first=David|publisher=For Beginners LLC|year=2009|isbn=978-1-934389-40-9|page=43}}</ref>

In 1964, he accepted a position at [[Boston University]] (BU), after writing two books and participating in the Civil Rights Movement in the South. His classes in [[civil liberties]] were among the most popular at the university with as many as 400 students subscribing each semester to the non-required class. A professor of [[political science]], he taught at BU for 24 years and retired in 1988 at age 66.

"He had a deep sense of fairness and justice for the underdog. But he always kept his sense of humor. He was a happy warrior," said Caryl Rivers, [[journalism]] professor at BU. Rivers and Zinn were among a group of faculty members who in 1979 defended the right of the school's clerical workers to strike and were threatened with dismissal after refusing to cross a picket line.<ref>[https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE60R5D020100128 Activist, historian Howard Zinn dies at 87] by Ros Krasny at [[Reuters]] January 28, 2010. Retrieved 2010-03-09.</ref>

Zinn came to believe that the point of view expressed in traditional history books was often limited. Biographer [[Martin Duberman]] noted that when he was asked directly if he was a [[Marxist]], Zinn replied, "Yes, I'm something of a Marxist." He especially was influenced by the liberating vision of the young Marx in overcoming alienation, and disliked what he perceived to be Marx's later dogmatism. In later life he moved more toward [[anarchism]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Duberman|title=Howard Zinn: A Life on the Left|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VCqmA95DdNkC&pg=PA199|year=2012|publisher=The New Press|page=199|isbn=978-1-59558-840-1}}</ref>

He wrote a history text, ''[[A People's History of the United States]]'', to provide other perspectives on American history. The book depicts the struggles of [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]] against European and U.S. conquest and expansion, slaves against [[slavery]], unionists and other workers against capitalists, women against [[patriarchy]], and African-Americans for [[civil rights]]. The book was a finalist for the [[National Book Award]] in 1981.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nationalbook.org/awards-prizes/national-book-awards-1981#.WYDLyceGOUk|title=National Book Awards 1981 - National Book Foundation|website=Nationalbook.org}}</ref>
{{external media| float = right| width=300px| video1 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?66310-1/a-peoples-history-united-states Presentation by Zinn on ''A People's History of the United States'', July 24, 1995], [[C-SPAN]]| video2 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?115082-1/a-peoples-history-united-states Presentation by Zinn on ''A People's History of the United States'', November 10, 1998], [[C-SPAN]]| video3 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?153111-1/a-peoples-history-united-states Presentation by Zinn on ''A People's History of the United States'', October 16, 1999], [[C-SPAN]]| video4 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?155006-1/a-peoples-history-united-states ''Booknotes'' interview with Zinn on ''A People's History of the United States'', March 12, 2000], [[C-SPAN]]}} 
In the years since the first publication of ''A People's History'' in 1980, it has been used as an alternative to standard textbooks in many college history courses, and it is one of the most widely known examples of [[critical pedagogy]]. The ''[[New York Times Book Review]]'' stated in 2006 that the book "routinely sells more than 100,000 copies a year."<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/30/books/review/30donadio.html "Backlist to the Future"] by Rachel Donadio, July 30, 2006.</ref>

In 2004, Zinn published ''[[Voices of a People's History of the United States]]'' with Anthony Arnove. ''Voices'' is a sourcebook of speeches, articles, essays, poetry and song lyrics by the people themselves whose stories are told in ''A People's History.''

In 2008, the [[Teaching for Change#Zinn Education Project|Zinn Education Project]] was launched to support educators using ''A People's History of the United States'' as a source for middle and high school history. The project was started when William Holtzman, a former student of Zinn who wanted to bring Zinn's lessons to students around the country, provided the financial backing to allow two other organizations, Rethinking Schools and [[Teaching for Change]] to coordinate the project. The project hosts a website with hundreds of free downloadable lesson plans to complement ''A People's History of the United States''.<ref name="auto1">{{cite web|url=https://www.zinnedproject.org/about/|title=About the Zinn Education Project|website=[[Teaching for Change#Zinn Education Project|Zinn Education Project]]|access-date=30 April 2020}}</ref>

''[[The People Speak (film)|The People Speak]]'', released in 2010, is a documentary movie based on ''A People's History of the United States'' and inspired by the lives of ordinary people who fought back against oppressive conditions over the course of the history of the United States. The film, narrated by Zinn, includes performances by [[Matt Damon]], [[Morgan Freeman]], [[Bob Dylan]], [[Bruce Springsteen]], [[Eddie Vedder]], [[Viggo Mortensen]], [[Josh Brolin]], [[Danny Glover]], [[Marisa Tomei]], [[Don Cheadle]], and [[Sandra Oh]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bu.edu/today/2009/11/03/people-s-history-moves-small-screen |title=People's history moves small screen |website=Bu.edu |date=2009-11-04 |access-date=2010-01-28 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100117170720/http://www.bu.edu/today/2009/11/03/people-s-history-moves-small-screen |archive-date=2010-01-17 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.howardzinn.org/related-projects/the-people-speak/|title=The People Speak|website=Howardzinn.org|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170216180615/http://www.howardzinn.org/related-projects/the-people-speak/|archive-date=2017-02-16|url-status=dead|access-date=2017-07-21}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://zinnedproject.org/materials/people-speak-extended-edition-contents/|title=The People Speak – Extended Edition: Contents|newspaper=Zinn Education Project}}</ref>

===Civil rights movement===
From 1956 through 1963, Zinn chaired the Department of History and Social Sciences at [[Spelman College]]. He participated in the [[Civil Rights Movement]] and lobbied with historian [[August Meier]]<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/100greatestameri0000drei|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/100greatestameri0000drei/page/326 326]|quote=Howard Zinn participated in the Civil Rights Movement and lobbied with historian August Meier.|title=The 100 Greatest Americans of the 20th Century: A Social Justice Hall of Fame|publisher=PublicAffairs|date=2012-06-26|isbn=9781568586816|last1=Dreier|first1=Peter}}</ref> "to end the practice of the [[Southern Historical Association]] of holding meetings at [[racial segregation|segregated]] hotels."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.historians.org/publications-and-directories/perspectives-on-history/september-2003/in-memoriam-august-a-meier|title=In Memoriam: August A. Meier|date=September 2003|first=David Levering |last=Lewis|author-link=David Levering Lewis| publisher=[[American Historical Association]]}}</ref>

While at Spelman, Zinn served as an adviser to the [[Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee]] (SNCC) and wrote about sit-ins and other actions by SNCC for ''[[The Nation]]'' and ''Harper's''.<ref>{{cite book|first=Carol |last=Polsgrove|title=Divided Minds: Intellectuals and the Civil Rights Movement|year=2001|pages=115, 196}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=In Memory: Howard Zinn and the Civil Rights Movement|work=Carol Polsgrove on Writers' Lives|url=http://carolpolsgrove.com/issue-2-winter-2010/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100701012607/http://carolpolsgrove.com/issue-2-winter-2010/|archive-date=2010-07-01|url-status=usurped}}</ref> In 1964, [[Beacon Press]] published his book ''[[SNCC: The New Abolitionists]]''.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://carolpolsgrove.com/issue-2-winter-2010/|author=Polsgrove|title=Divided Minds|page=238|access-date=2017-08-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170710011155/https://carolpolsgrove.com/issue-2-winter-2010/|archive-date=2017-07-10|url-status=usurped}}</ref>

In 1964 Zinn, with the SNCC, began developing an educational program so that the 200 volunteer SNCC civil rights workers in the South, many of whom were college dropouts, could continue with their civil rights work and at the same time be involved in an educational system. Up until then many of the volunteers had been dropping out of school so they could continue their work with SNCC. Other volunteers had not spent much time in college. The program had been endorsed by the SNCC in December 1963 and was envisioned by Zinn as having a curriculum that ranged from novels to books about "major currents" in 20th-century world history, such as fascism, communism, and anti-colonial movements. This occurred while Zinn was in Boston.<ref name="Martin Duberman 2012 98">{{cite book|author= Duberman|title=Howard Zinn: A Life on the Left|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VCqmA95DdNkC&pg=PA199|year=2012|publisher=The New Press|page=98|isbn=978-1-59558-840-1|via=}}</ref>

Zinn also attended an assortment of SNCC meetings in 1964, traveling back and forth from Boston. One of those trips was to [[Hattiesburg, Mississippi]], in January 1964 to participate in a SNCC voter registration drive. The local newspaper, the ''Hattiesburg American'', described the SNCC volunteers in town for the voter registration drive as "outside agitators" and told local blacks "to ignore whatever goes on, and interfere in no way..." At a mass meeting held during the visit to Hattiesburg, Zinn and another SNCC representative, [[Ella Baker]], emphasized the risks that went along with their efforts, a subject probably in their minds since a well-known civil rights activist, [[Medgar Evers]], had been murdered getting out of his car in the driveway of his home in Jackson, Mississippi, only six months earlier. Evers had been the state field secretary for the NAACP.<ref name="Martin Duberman 2012 98"/>

Zinn was also involved in what became known as [[Freedom Summer]] in Mississippi in the summer of 1964. Freedom Summer involved bringing 1,000 college students to Mississippi to work for the summer in various roles as civil rights activists. Part of the program involved organizing "Freedom Schools". Zinn's involvement included helping to develop the curriculum for the Freedom Schools. He was also concerned that bringing 1,000 college students to Mississippi to work as civil rights activists could lead to violence and killings. As a consequence, Zinn recommended approaching Mississippi Governor [[Ross Barnett]] and President [[Lyndon Johnson]] to request protection for the young civil rights volunteers. Protection was not forthcoming. Planning for the summer went forward under the umbrella of the SNCC, the Congress of Racial Equality ("CORE") and the Council of Federated Organizations ("COFO").<ref name="Martin Duberman 2012 99–100">{{cite book|author=Duberman|title=Howard Zinn: A Life on the Left|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VCqmA95DdNkC&pg=PA199|year=2012|publisher=The New Press|pages=99–100|isbn=978-1-59558-840-1}}</ref>

On June 20, 1964, just as civil rights activists were beginning to arrive in Mississippi, CORE activists [[James Chaney]], [[Andrew Goodman (activist)|Andrew Goodman]], and [[Michael Schwerner]] were en route to investigate the burning of Mount Zion Methodist Church in [[Neshoba County, Mississippi|Neshoba County]] when two carloads of [[White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan|KKK]] members led by deputy sheriff [[Cecil Price]] abducted and [[Murders of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner|murdered]] them.<ref name="Martin Duberman 2012 99–100"/> Two months later, after their bodies were located, Zinn and other representatives of the SNCC attended a memorial service for the three at the ruins of Mount Zion Methodist Church.<ref>{{cite book|author=Duberman|title=Howard Zinn: A Life on the Left|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VCqmA95DdNkC&pg=PA199|year=2012|publisher=The New Press|pages=101–102|isbn=978-1-59558-840-1}}</ref>

Zinn collaborated with historian [[Staughton Lynd]] mentoring student activists, among them [[Alice Walker]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://archive.boston.com/ae/books/articles/2010/01/31/alice_walker_says_goodbye_to_her_friend_howard_zinn/|first=Alice |last=Walker|title=Saying goodbye to my friend Howard Zinn|website=The Boston Globe|date=January 31, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100324201721/http://www.boston.com/ae/books/articles/2010/01/31/alice_walker_says_goodbye_to_her_friend_howard_zinn/?page=full|archive-date=March 24, 2010|url-status=live|access-date=November 20, 2021}}</ref> who would later write ''[[The Color Purple]],'' and [[Marian Wright Edelman]], founder and president of the [[Children's Defense Fund]]. Edelman identified Zinn as a major influence in her life and, in the same journal article, tells of his accompanying students to a sit-in at the segregated white section of the [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]] state legislature.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Edelman|first=Marian Wright|year=2000|title=Spelman College: A Safe Haven for a Young Black Woman|journal=The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education|issue=27 (Spring, 2000)|pages=118–123|jstor=2679028|doi=10.2307/2679028}}</ref> Zinn also co-wrote a column in ''[[The Boston Globe]]'' with fellow activist [[Eric Mann (civil rights organizer)|Eric Mann]], "Left Field Stands".<ref>{{cite book|last=Zinn|first=Howard|title=Declarations of Independence: Cross-Examining American Ideology|publisher=Perennial|date=1991|pages=175–176|isbn=978-0060921088}}</ref>

Although Zinn was a tenured professor, he was dismissed in June 1963 after siding with students in the struggle against segregation. As Zinn described<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/finishing-school-pickets/|title=Finishing School for Pickets|first=Howard|last=Zinn|date=December 22, 2009|work=thenation.com|access-date=2020-04-07}}</ref> in ''[[The Nation (U.S. periodical)|The Nation]],'' though Spelman administrators prided themselves for turning out refined "young ladies", its students were likely to be found on the picket line, or in jail for participating in the greater effort to break down segregation in public places in Atlanta. Zinn's years at Spelman are recounted in his autobiography ''You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train: A Personal History of Our Times''. His seven years at Spelman College, Zinn said, "are probably the most interesting, exciting, most educational years for me. I learned more from my students than my students learned from me."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://globetrotter.berkeley.edu/people/Zinn/zinn-con2.html|title=Interview with Zinn|work=globetrotter.berkeley.edu|access-date=2010-01-28|archive-date=June 29, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629163324/http://globetrotter.berkeley.edu/people/Zinn/zinn-con2.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

While living in Georgia, Zinn wrote that he observed 30 violations of the [[First Amendment to the United States Constitution|First]] and [[Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Fourteenth]] amendments to the [[United States Constitution]] in [[Albany, Georgia]], including the rights to [[freedom of speech]], [[freedom of assembly]] and [[equal protection]] under the law. In an article on the civil rights movement in Albany, Zinn described the people who participated in the [[Freedom Rides]] to end segregation, and the reluctance of President [[John F. Kennedy]] to enforce the law.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.zmag.org/zmag/articles/oldzinn.htm|title=My Name Is Freedom Albany, Georgia|work=zmag.org|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19990219104007/http://www.zmag.org/zmag/articles/oldzinn.htm|archive-date=February 19, 1999|url-status=dead}}</ref> Zinn said that the [[United States Department of Justice|Justice Department]] under [[Robert F. Kennedy]] and the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]], headed by [[J. Edgar Hoover]], did little or nothing to stop the segregationists from brutalizing civil rights workers.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://mediafilter.org/mff/fbi.html|title=Media Filter article on Zinn|website=mediafilter.org|access-date=2010-01-28|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120302072448/http://mediafilter.org/mff/fbi.html|archive-date=2012-03-02}}</ref>

Zinn wrote about the struggle for civil rights, as both participant and historian.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.reportingcivilrights.org/authors/biblio.jsp?authorId=85|title=Reporting Civil Rights, Part one: American Journalism 1941–1963|publisher=The Library of America |access-date=2010-01-28}}</ref> His second book, ''[[The Southern Mystique]]'',<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.identitytheory.com/howard-zinn/|title=Howard Zinn Interview|work=Identity Theory|access-date=November 20, 2021|first=Robert |last=Birnbaum|date=January 10, 2001}}</ref> was published in 1964, the same year as his ''SNCC: The New Abolitionists'' in which he describes how the sit-ins against segregation were initiated by students and, in that sense, were independent of the efforts of the older, more established civil rights organizations.

In 2005, forty-one years after he was sacked from Spelman, Zinn returned to the college, where he was given an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters. He delivered the commencement address,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.crmvet.org/comm/zinn05.htm|title=Against Discouragement: Spelman College Commencement Address, May 2005 By Howard Zinn|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051208044458/http://www.crmvet.org/comm/zinn05.htm|archive-date=2005-12-08|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|first=Victoria|last=Brittain|author-link=Victoria Brittain|title=Howard Zinn's Lesson To Us All|work=[[The Guardian]]|date=28 January 2010|url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/jan/28/howard-zinn-america|location=London}}</ref> titled "Against Discouragement", and said that "the lesson of that history is that you must not despair, that if you are right, and you persist, things will change. The government may try to deceive the people, and the newspapers and television may do the same, but the truth has a way of coming out. The truth has a power greater than a hundred lies."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://tomdispatch.com/graduation-day-with-howard-zinn/|title=Tomgram: Graduation Day with Howard Zinn|website=Tomdispatch.com|access-date=November 20, 2021|date=May 24, 2005}} full text of "Against Discouragement."</ref>