This year is the 60th anniversary of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). Howard Zinn wrote about SNCC’s participation at the 1963 March on Washington. “…the youngest speaker on the platform, John Lewis…lashed out in anger, not only at the Dixiecrats, but at the Kennedy Administration, which had been successful up to that moment in directing the indignation of 200,000 people at everyone but itself.”
Source: Howard Zinn Papers, Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, New York University
In an undated letter (probably in 1966), Zinn said that he would not allow the grades he gave to play a role in helping the United States wage immoral wars. He announced that for students with a moral opposition to the war…
By Howard Zinn • Newsday • January 22, 1989
“The use of scare words is profoundly undemocratic. It stifles debate; it creates an atmosphere in which people are afraid to speak their minds, honestly, afraid to examine all ideas.”
By Howard Zinn • Excerpted from The Zinn Reader The political culture of the United States is dominated by voting. Every election year is accompanied by an enormous amount of attention, with the media and the politicians joining forces to try to persuade Americans that voting for one candidate or another is the most important …
We revisit Howard Zinn’s essay, “If History Is to Be Creative,” published in A Power Governments Cannot Suppress, a collection of essays from The Progressive magazine. The following excerpt is a reflection on the role and responsibility of the engaged historian, and is an inspiration for us all to continue the fight for justice. Zinn …
By Howard Zinn
Writing a column to appear in the July 4, 1975, issue of the Boston Globe, I wanted to break away from the traditional celebrations of Independence Day, in which the spirit of that document, with its call for rebellion and revolution, was most often missing. The column appeared with the title “The Brooklyn Bridge and the Spirit of the Fourth.”
[Boston University President John Silber’s] employees had difficulty getting raises in their wages or their benefits. In self-defense, they organized into unions: the faculty, the secretaries and staff, the librarians. And in 1979, with various grievances not met, all these groups, at different times, went out on strike. For the faculty, the provocation was the university reneging on a contract at first agreed to by its negotiating committee.
The Nation • August 6, 1960 and republished March 23, 2015
One afternoon some weeks ago, with the dogwood on the Spelman College campus newly bloomed and the grass close-cropped and fragrant, an attractive, tawny-skinned girl crossed the lawn to her dormitory to put a notice on the bulletin board. It read: Young Ladies Who Can Picket Please Sign Below.
The notice revealed, in its own quaint language, that within the dramatic revolt of Negro college students in the South today another phenomenon has been developing. This is the upsurge of the young, educated Negro woman against the generations-old advice of her elders: be nice, be well-mannered and ladylike, don’t speak loudly, and don’t get into trouble. On the campus of the nation’s leading college for Negro young women—pious, sedate, encrusted with the traditions of gentility and moderation—these exhortations, for the first time, are being firmly rejected.
This year, as the Pentagon prepares to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War, we revisit this essay by Howard Zinn written in 1998, the 30th anniversary year of when he traveled with the Reverend Daniel Berrigan to Hanoi to receive prisoners released by the North Vietnamese. In talking about the terrible effects of …
In the 1960s, Howard Zinn, along with Ella Baker, served as advisers to SNCC, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. On this 50th anniversary year of the 1965 Selma-to-Montgomery marches and the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, we revisit Zinn’s first-hand account from Selma’s Freedom Day in 1963. “The idea was to bring hundreds of people to register to vote, hoping that their numbers would decrease fear. And there was much to fear,” Zinn writes.
Articles by Howard Zinn
SNCC: The Battle-Scarred Youngsters
Updated on September 3, 2020 by Howard Zinn Website
This year is the 60th anniversary of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). Howard Zinn wrote about SNCC’s participation at the 1963 March on Washington. “…the youngest speaker on the platform, John Lewis…lashed out in anger, not only at the Dixiecrats, but at the Kennedy Administration, which had been successful up to that moment in directing the indignation of 200,000 people at everyone but itself.”
Category: Articles & Interviews, Articles by Howard Zinn, Featured News Tags: Activism, Civil Rights Movement, In the South, SNCC, The Nation
My Grades Will Not Be Instruments of War
Updated on September 15, 2020 by Howard Zinn Website
Source: Howard Zinn Papers, Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, New York University
In an undated letter (probably in 1966), Zinn said that he would not allow the grades he gave to play a role in helping the United States wage immoral wars. He announced that for students with a moral opposition to the war…
Category: Articles & Interviews, Articles by Howard Zinn, From the Archives Tags: Boston University, Education, From the Archives: Tamiment Library, Vietnam War
Scare Words Leave Scars on Everyone
Updated on August 8, 2020 by Howard Zinn Website
By Howard Zinn • Newsday • January 22, 1989
“The use of scare words is profoundly undemocratic. It stifles debate; it creates an atmosphere in which people are afraid to speak their minds, honestly, afraid to examine all ideas.”
Category: Articles & Interviews, Articles by Howard Zinn, Featured News Tags: From the Archives: Tamiment Library, Newsday
Beyond Voting
Updated on October 19, 2016 by Howard Zinn Website
By Howard Zinn • Excerpted from The Zinn Reader The political culture of the United States is dominated by voting. Every election year is accompanied by an enormous amount of attention, with the media and the politicians joining forces to try to persuade Americans that voting for one candidate or another is the most important …
Category: Articles & Interviews, Articles by Howard Zinn, Uncategorized Tags: Democracy, Elections, Politics, Presidents
If History Is to Be Creative
Updated on August 27, 2020 by Howard Zinn Website
We revisit Howard Zinn’s essay, “If History Is to Be Creative,” published in A Power Governments Cannot Suppress, a collection of essays from The Progressive magazine. The following excerpt is a reflection on the role and responsibility of the engaged historian, and is an inspiration for us all to continue the fight for justice. Zinn …
Category: Articles & Interviews, Articles by Howard Zinn, Excerpts, News Tags: Possibility, The Progressive
The Spirit of Rebellion
Updated on August 30, 2020 by Howard Zinn Website
By Howard Zinn
Writing a column to appear in the July 4, 1975, issue of the Boston Globe, I wanted to break away from the traditional celebrations of Independence Day, in which the spirit of that document, with its call for rebellion and revolution, was most often missing. The column appeared with the title “The Brooklyn Bridge and the Spirit of the Fourth.”
Category: Articles & Interviews, Articles by Howard Zinn, News Tags: Activism, American Revolution, Civil Disobedience, Essays and Speeches, Heroes, Holidays, Mainstream Media
Strike at Boston University
Updated on June 2, 2019 by Howard Zinn Website
[Boston University President John Silber’s] employees had difficulty getting raises in their wages or their benefits. In self-defense, they organized into unions: the faculty, the secretaries and staff, the librarians. And in 1979, with various grievances not met, all these groups, at different times, went out on strike. For the faculty, the provocation was the university reneging on a contract at first agreed to by its negotiating committee.
Category: Articles & Interviews, Articles by Howard Zinn Tags: Activism, Boston University, Excerpts
When Respectability Was No Longer Respectable, and Virtue Required Acting Out, Not Leaning In
Updated on February 3, 2020 by Howard Zinn Website
The Nation • August 6, 1960 and republished March 23, 2015
One afternoon some weeks ago, with the dogwood on the Spelman College campus newly bloomed and the grass close-cropped and fragrant, an attractive, tawny-skinned girl crossed the lawn to her dormitory to put a notice on the bulletin board. It read: Young Ladies Who Can Picket Please Sign Below.
The notice revealed, in its own quaint language, that within the dramatic revolt of Negro college students in the South today another phenomenon has been developing. This is the upsurge of the young, educated Negro woman against the generations-old advice of her elders: be nice, be well-mannered and ladylike, don’t speak loudly, and don’t get into trouble. On the campus of the nation’s leading college for Negro young women—pious, sedate, encrusted with the traditions of gentility and moderation—these exhortations, for the first time, are being firmly rejected.
Category: Articles & Interviews, Articles by Howard Zinn, News Tags: Activism, In the South, Spelman College, Student Activism, The Nation
Remembering a War
Updated on April 26, 2020 by Howard Zinn Website
This year, as the Pentagon prepares to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War, we revisit this essay by Howard Zinn written in 1998, the 30th anniversary year of when he traveled with the Reverend Daniel Berrigan to Hanoi to receive prisoners released by the North Vietnamese. In talking about the terrible effects of …
Category: Articles & Interviews, Articles by Howard Zinn, News Tags: Excerpts, Vietnam War
On the Road to Voting Rights: Freedom Day in Selma, 1963
Updated on August 21, 2017 by Howard Zinn Website
In the 1960s, Howard Zinn, along with Ella Baker, served as advisers to SNCC, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. On this 50th anniversary year of the 1965 Selma-to-Montgomery marches and the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, we revisit Zinn’s first-hand account from Selma’s Freedom Day in 1963. “The idea was to bring hundreds of people to register to vote, hoping that their numbers would decrease fear. And there was much to fear,” Zinn writes.
The following excerpt is from Chapter 5 of Zinn’s autobiography, You Can’t Be Neutral on a Moving Train and is followed by related resources about Selma’s voting rights campaign, Freedom Day, and SNCC.
Category: Articles & Interviews, Articles by Howard Zinn, News Tags: Activist, Civil Rights Movement, Excerpts, In the South