Source: Howard Zinn Papers, Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, New York University • 1963
On February 11, 1963, at Emory University, Howard Zinn participated in a debate with Fulton Lewis III, a journalist and member of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) on whether HUAC should be abolished. Zinn noted this in his diary and the two-and-half hour event was recorded.
By Howard Zinn • Excerpt from The Zinn Reader
“Obey the law.” That is a powerful teaching, often powerful enough to overcome deep feelings of right and wrong, even to override the fundamental instinct for personal survival. . . . Peace, stability, and order are desirable. Chaos and violence are not. But stability and order are not the only desirable conditions of social life. There is also justice...
In November 1970, after my arrest along with others who had engaged in a Boston protest at an army base to block soldiers from being sent to Vietnam, I flew to Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore to take part in a debate with the philosopher Charles Frankel on civil disobedience.…
In light of the death of the President George H. W. Bush on November 30, 2018, we share some of Howard Zinn’s writing about the Bush administration.
Abraham A. Callahan has shared his paper "Two Rebel Historians: Thucydides, Howard Zinn and Telling Truth for Social Good " with HowardZinn.org. Written as an honors thesis in the Department of Classics at the University of Texas at Austin, Callahan compares the history writing of Thucydides and Howard Zinn.
The University of Georgia Press has published Howard Zinn's Southern Diary: Sit-Ins, Civil Rights, and Black Women's Student Activism by Robert Cohen with a foreword by Alice Walker. The book includes diary entries from Howard Zinn’s time teaching at Spelman College (1956-1963). Historian Robert Cohen offers a substantial overview of Zinn’s role at Spelman and other archival documents.
By Howard Zinn • Excerpt from The Zinn Reader
was one of the speakers at historic Faneuil Hall in Boston (though named after an early slave trader, it was the scene of many meetings of anti-slavery groups before the Civil War) in 1991, when the Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts organized a celebration of the Bicentennial of the Bill of Rights. I wanted to use the opportunity to make clear that whatever freedoms we have in the United States—of speech, of the press, of assembly, and more—do not come simply from the existence on paper of the first Ten Amendments to the Constitution, but from the struggles of citizens to bring those Amendments alive in reality.
Today (December 7) is the birthday of Howard Zinn’s longtime friend Noam Chomsky. In celebration, we share this interview with David Barsamian (DB) of Alternative Radio about how they met. Excerpted from The Future of History, Zinn discusses Chomsky’s popularity, “His message has been so powerful and so outrageously true and so backed up by information and so very often ahead of everybody else.”…
On Nov. 25, 1986, 60 people—including Amy Carter and Abbie Hoffman—were arraigned on charges of disorderly conduct stemming from a sit-in to block CIA campus recruiting at University of Massachusetts-Amherst, an act of protest of the CIA’s role in Central America.…
Nov. 22 marks the birthday of Staughton Lynd, longtime friend of Howard Zinn. They both taught at Spelman College and can be described as long-distance runners for justice.
"I have admired [Lynd] enormously ever since I first met him,” Zinn wrote shortly before his death, because he is an “exemplar of strength and gentleness in the quest for a better world." Read more about Lynd in this tribute by Andy Piascik.
Excerpts
Shall the House Committee on Un-American Activities Be Abolished?
Posted: January 15, 2021 by Howard Zinn Website
Source: Howard Zinn Papers, Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, New York University • 1963
On February 11, 1963, at Emory University, Howard Zinn participated in a debate with Fulton Lewis III, a journalist and member of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) on whether HUAC should be abolished. Zinn noted this in his diary and the two-and-half hour event was recorded.Category: Audio & Video, Audio With Howard Zinn, Excerpts, From the Archives Tags: Activism, Committee on Un-American Activities
Obedience and Disobedience
Posted: December 14, 2020 by Howard Zinn Website
Category: Excerpts Tags: Civil Disobedience
“The Problem Is Civil Obedience”: Chapter 20 from Voices of a People’s History
Posted: February 19, 2020 by Howard Zinn Website
In November 1970, after my arrest along with others who had engaged in a Boston protest at an army base to block soldiers from being sent to Vietnam, I flew to Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore to take part in a debate with the philosopher Charles Frankel on civil disobedience.…
Category: Excerpts Tags: Civil Disobedience
“Bush seemed determined to go to war”: The Legacy of President George H. W. Bush
Posted: December 3, 2018 by Howard Zinn Website
Category: Excerpts, In the News, News
Two Rebel Historians: Thucydides, Howard Zinn and Telling Truth for Social Good
Posted: August 21, 2018 by Howard Zinn Website
Category: About Howard Zinn, Excerpts, News
Howard Zinn’s Southern Diary: Excerpts
Posted: August 21, 2018 by Howard Zinn Website
Category: About Howard Zinn, Excerpts, News
Insisting on the Rights of Everyone Everywhere
Posted: January 24, 2017 by Howard Zinn Website
was one of the speakers at historic Faneuil Hall in Boston (though named after an early slave trader, it was the scene of many meetings of anti-slavery groups before the Civil War) in 1991, when the Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts organized a celebration of the Bicentennial of the Bill of Rights. I wanted to use the opportunity to make clear that whatever freedoms we have in the United States—of speech, of the press, of assembly, and more—do not come simply from the existence on paper of the first Ten Amendments to the Constitution, but from the struggles of citizens to bring those Amendments alive in reality.
Category: Excerpts Tags: Activist, Excerpts
When Zinn and Chomsky Met
Posted: December 7, 2016 by Howard Zinn Website
Today (December 7) is the birthday of Howard Zinn’s longtime friend Noam Chomsky. In celebration, we share this interview with David Barsamian (DB) of Alternative Radio about how they met. Excerpted from The Future of History, Zinn discusses Chomsky’s popularity, “His message has been so powerful and so outrageously true and so backed up by information and so very often ahead of everybody else.”…
Category: Articles & Interviews, Excerpts, Interviews With Howard Zinn Tags: Noam Chomsky
Zinn Testifies at the Trial of CIA Protesters
Posted: November 25, 2016 by Howard Zinn Website
On Nov. 25, 1986, 60 people—including Amy Carter and Abbie Hoffman—were arraigned on charges of disorderly conduct stemming from a sit-in to block CIA campus recruiting at University of Massachusetts-Amherst, an act of protest of the CIA’s role in Central America.…
Category: Articles about Howard Zinn, Excerpts Tags: Civil Disobedience, Testimony
Staughton Lynd — “Long Distance Runner for Justice”
Posted: November 22, 2016 by Howard Zinn Website
Category: Excerpts, News Tags: Spelman College, Staughton Lynd