Andrea Jeffries

Our Favorite Teacher Series
Howard Zinn taught at Spelman College and Boston University where he had an extraordinary influence on his students’ understanding of history and their role in the world. The “Howard Zinn: Our Favorite Teacher” series highlights Zinn’s lasting impact as a professor.

In my senior year my boyfriend John Phillips, who had founded The Prisoners Information and Support Service, said, “You can’t graduate without studying with Howard Zinn.”

“Everyone wants to be in his class. I’m an art student. Why would he accept me?”

“Tell him what I said. He will let you in.” Dr. Zinn gave me permission to enroll in “Political Theoretical Marxism.”

There were about twelve students in his faculty office. I attended every class, but followed little of the debates referencing my classmates’ sources I had never heard of.

When Dr. Zinn spoke, I understood. I loved his story about choosing the topic for his doctoral thesis. He was wandering around the New York Public Library hoping for inspiration when he noticed a crew unloading a truck full of boxes.

“What’s in the boxes?” he asked.

“Someone donated the personal papers of Fiorello LaGuardia.”

He discovered that LaGuardia made speeches with a pork chop in his pocket, took it out, slammed it down on the podium and shouted, “Do you know how much Mrs. Brown in Queens had to pay for this?”

There was no homework, just an end-term report connecting Marxism to a subject of our choosing. I was too intimidated to ask for clarification. One student asked, “How should the paper be structured?”

Zinn shot back, “You’re a graduate student in political science. You should know.”

“Graduate student…political science?” I was sitting in an elite graduate seminar.

I needed to make up for my lack of brilliance during discussions. After a few days I decided anything I could produce would be an insult. Better to fail than hand in a dreadful essay. I made an appointment with Dr. Zinn. The class was important to me. It would be important forever. Dr. Zinn gave me a foundation with which to grasp what was happening in my country. I had no choice but to tell him the whole story. “I can’t do your paper. I have too much respect for you.”

“Did you learn anything?”

“When you spoke, I did.” I wanted him to recognize that I loved the class and wished I had been prepared. This was a privilege granted to me and I was not ready.

Dr. Zinn took his grade book from the shelf. His voice had no hint of annoyance. “Will you learn anything by doing the paper? Do you want to do it?”

“No. I do photography. Can I give you photographs instead?” How did this absurd thought come into my head and out of my mouth?

“A paper isn’t a mothers’ day present. If it won’t help you, don’t do it.” Then, he asked, “Do you need this credit for graduation?”

“Yes.” I expected him to say that the paper was mandatory and I wouldn’t get a grade for auditing a class. He said nothing but indicated by standing that our meeting was over.

That night I rummaged through my negatives for images of Dr. Zinn and his wife at a demonstration on the Boston Commons, printed them and delivered them the next day. He thanked me. As I exited it hit me that I had presented Dr. Howard Zinn with mediocre snapshots of his wife and him picnicking on the grass in lieu of a final exam essay.

I got my transcript in the mail with a B+ for Political Theoretical Marxism.

Submit Your Story – Howard Zinn, Our Favorite Teacher | HowardZinn.org

Howard Zinn taught at Spelman College and Boston University where he had an extraordinary influence on his students’ understanding of history and their role in the world. This series highlights Zinn’s lasting impact as a professor. Read more stories and submit your own.

Read, Learn, & Make History
Check out the Howard Zinn Digital Collection to search Zinn’s bibliography by books, articles, audio, video, and more.
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