The third annual Howard Zinn Book Fair was held in San Francisco on December 4, 2016. Historian Carl Mirra shared with us a description of one of the sessions at the book fair. Mirra describes the panel “Making of a Radical Historian: Howard Zinn & War” where he was one of the presenters along with Ambre Ivol and Luke Stewart.
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.
“Howard’s calm, quiet insistence on doing what was right and taking a stand are lessons that have stayed with me for a lifetime.”
By Howard Zinn
This essay, written for Z Magazine in 1990, and reprinted in my book Failure to Quit, was inspired (if you are willing to call this an inspired piece) by my students of the Eighties. I was teaching a spring and fall lecture course with four hundred students in each course (and yet with lots of discussion). I looked hard, listened closely, but did not find the apathy, the conservatism, the disregard for the plight of others, that everybody (right and left) was reporting about "the me generation."
By David Detmer
"...his extraordinary gift for clear expression, perhaps the biggest factor leading to Zinn’s success as a teacher was his relaxed, friendly, good-humored, unthreatening manner. While he certainly offered a challenge to the beliefs of many of his students, which he accomplished by presenting ideas of deadly seriousness, he also did so with a light hand, and with plenty of wit and humor. He encouraged everyone, not only to participate in class discussions, but also to 'challenge authority' by disagreeing with him."
We revisit Howard Zinn's essay, "If History Is to Be Creative," 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 writes, "If history is to be creative, to anticipate a possible future without denying the past, it should, I believe, emphasize new possibilities by disclosing those hidden episodes of the past when, even if in brief flashes, people showed their ability to resist, to join together, and occasionally to win. I am supposing, or perhaps only hoping, that our future may be found in the past's fugitive moments of compassion rather than in its solid centuries of warfare."
Actor and activist Jesse Williams, best known for his role on Grey’s Anatomy, won the BET Humanitarian Award on June 26, 2016. Williams, who read in the 2014 Voices Performance in Los Angeles, and serves on the board of the Advancement Project, is the son of public school teachers and a former U.S. history teacher (in Philadelphia) himself. He acknowledged the role of teachers and students learning history (outside the textbook) in his acceptance speech.
Emma dramatizes the life of Emma Goldman, the famed anarchist, feminist, and free-spirited thinker who was exiled from the United States because of her outspoken views, including her opposition to World War I.
June 27 marks the birth of Emma Goldman (June 27, 1869–May 14, 1940), an anarchist who was an early advocate of free speech, birth control, women's equality and independence, and unions. After reading Richard Drinnon's biography of Emma Goldman, Rebel in Paradise, Howard Zinn read Goldman's autobiography, Living My Life. As a historian with a PhD, he was astonished he had never learned about Goldman in his studies. "Here was this magnificent woman, this anarchist, this feminist, fierce, life-loving person."
The 35th anniversary edition of A People’s History of the United States is now available featuring a new introduction by Anthony Arnove, Howard Zinn's long-time collaborator. Arnove begins, "Howard Zinn fundamentally changed the way millions of people think about history with A People’s History of the United States. He would be the first to say, however, that he didn’t do so alone. The book grew out of his awareness of the importance of social movements throughout U.S. history, some of which he played an active role in during the 1960s and 1970s and beyond..."
News
2016 Howard Zinn Book Fair
Posted: January 19, 2017 by Howard Zinn Website
Category: Articles & Interviews, Articles about Howard Zinn, News Tags: Events
Staughton Lynd — “Long Distance Runner for Justice”
Posted: November 22, 2016 by Howard Zinn Website
Category: Excerpts, News Tags: Spelman College, Staughton Lynd
“Howard Zinn, Our Favorite Teacher” Series — Suzanne Baker
Posted: September 13, 2016 by Howard Zinn Website
Category: News, Tributes Tags: Activism, Boston University, Student Activism, Zinn Education Project
Failure to Quit
Posted: September 13, 2016 by Howard Zinn Website
This essay, written for Z Magazine in 1990, and reprinted in my book Failure to Quit, was inspired (if you are willing to call this an inspired piece) by my students of the Eighties. I was teaching a spring and fall lecture course with four hundred students in each course (and yet with lots of discussion). I looked hard, listened closely, but did not find the apathy, the conservatism, the disregard for the plight of others, that everybody (right and left) was reporting about "the me generation."
Category: Excerpts, News Tags: Civil Disobedience, Possibility, Student Activism
“Howard Zinn, Our Favorite Teacher” Series — David Detmer
Posted: August 17, 2016 by Howard Zinn Website
"...his extraordinary gift for clear expression, perhaps the biggest factor leading to Zinn’s success as a teacher was his relaxed, friendly, good-humored, unthreatening manner. While he certainly offered a challenge to the beliefs of many of his students, which he accomplished by presenting ideas of deadly seriousness, he also did so with a light hand, and with plenty of wit and humor. He encouraged everyone, not only to participate in class discussions, but also to 'challenge authority' by disagreeing with him."
Category: News, Tributes Tags: Boston University, Zinn Education Project
If History Is to Be Creative
Posted: August 11, 2016 by Howard Zinn Website
Category: Articles & Interviews, Articles by Howard Zinn, Excerpts, News Tags: Possibility, The Progressive
Jesse Williams Advocates Learning True History in BET Award Acceptance Speech
Posted: June 27, 2016 by Howard Zinn Website
Category: News
Howard Zinn’s Emma
Posted: June 14, 2016 by Howard Zinn Website
Category: Audio & Video, News, Video With Howard Zinn Tags: Activist, American Empire, Performances
Commemorating Emma Goldman: ‘Living My Life’
Posted: June 14, 2016 by Howard Zinn Website
Category: Articles & Interviews, Articles about Howard Zinn, News Tags: Emma Goldman, Excerpts, Haymarket Affair, Labor
35th Anniversary Edition of A People’s History of the United States
Posted: January 25, 2016 by Howard Zinn Website
Category: News