Editing Howard Zinn (section)

===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
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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>