Howard Zinn

Howard Zinn "was raised in a working-class family in Brooklyn, and flew bombing missions for the United States in World War II, an experience he now points to in shaping his opposition to war. In 1956, he became a professor at Spelman College in Atlanta, a school for black women, where he soon became involved in the Civil rights movement, which he participated in as an adviser to the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and chronicled, in his book SNCC: The New Abolitionists. Zinn collaborated with historian Staughton Lynd and mentored a young student named Alice Walker. When he was fired in 1963 for insubordination related to his protest work, he moved to Boston University, where he became a leading critic of the Vietnam War.

"He is perhaps best known for A People's History of the United States, which presents American history through the eyes of those he feels are outside of the political and economic establishment."

Affiliations

 * The Real News: International Founding Committee
 * Director, War and Peace Foundation
 * Honorary Chair, International Endowment for Democracy
 * Endorser, September 15 Coalition
 * Advisory Council, Colombia Support Network
 * Advisory Board (former member), Truthout
 * Contributing Author, American Wars: Illusions and Realities
 * Sponsor, New Politics

Zinn Education Project: Teaching a People's History
Headed by Bill Bigelow "The Zinn Education Project: Teaching a People's History is a collaboration between Rethinking Schools and Teaching for Change, supported by an anonymous donor (a former student of historian Howard Zinn's) and the Caipirinha Foundation. The new site features over 75 free, downloadable teaching activities for middle- and high-school students to bring a people's history to the classroom.  These are the best U.S. history-teaching articles from the Rethinking Schools archives."

Articles

 * Ambre Ivol, "The Life and Work of Howard Zinn: A Study in Radical American History", Transatlantica [En ligne], 1 | 2008, mis en ligne le 14 mai 2008, Consulté le 30 septembre 2009.
 * Michael Kazin, “Good History and Good Citizens: Howard Zinn, Woodrow Wilson, and the Historian’s Purpose,” Teaching America: The Case for Civic Education, ed. David Feith, Rowman and Littlefield, 2011, 141-50.
 * Michael Kazin, "Howard Zinn's biggest failing", Guardian, 30 January 2010.

Related Sourcewatch articles

 * Neta C. Crawford
 * Playboy Foundation