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.”
Recorded in the 1960s (estimate 1964-1965 based on transcript), Patricia Marx sits down with historian Howard Zinn to discuss his books, SNCC: The New Abolitionists and The Southern Mystique. Zinn describes his experiences teaching at Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia, from 1956 to 1963, and his subsequent observations on racial prejudice in the southern United States.
Source: Freedom Summer Digital Collection at Wisconsin Historical Society
This 1964 memo from Howard Zinn to Bob Moses (a leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) outlined a plan to minimize violence in Mississippi for the upcoming Freedom Summer, when hundreds of volunteers would be arriving to help African-American residents register to vote, establish a new political party, and learn about history and politics in the newly-formed Freedom Schools. The memo also addressed ways to pressure President Johnson to enforce constitutional rights of citizens exercising their right to vote.
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.
Author on Air • January 19, 2010
In early January of 2010, the Zinn Education Project joined with HarperCollins, publisher of Howard Zinn’s classic A People’s History of the United States, to sponsor an “Ask Howard” online radio interview, and invited teachers from around the country to participate. Sixty teachers and students submitted written questions to Professor Zinn. The Jan. 19 interview was conducted by Rethinking Schools Curriculum Editor Bill Bigelow. Below is the full audio recording, followed by excerpts from that interview, edited for length and clarity.
On May 2, 2009, sportswriter Dave Zirin, author of A People’s History of Sports (New Press) and What’s My Name Fool? (Haymarket Books), interviewed Howard Zinn. Some 250 people attended the event at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. It was sponsored by Haymarket Books.…
By Wajajat Ali • Published at Counterpunch • April 19, 2008
Zinn reflects on his historic and memorable time at Spelman College in the ‘60s, his thoughts on the Democratic Party, his philosophy of dissent as democracy, and his hope for America’s future.
In 1963, Howard Zinn was fired from Spelman College, where he was chair of the History Department, because of his support for students’ civil rights activism. In 2005, he was invited back by President Beverly Daniel Tatum to give the commencement address.…
Barsamian: You have called attention to the role of artists in a time of war. What attracts you to artists?
Zinn: Artists play a special role in social change. I first noticed this when I was a teenager and becoming politically aware for the first time. It was people in the arts who had the greatest emotional effect on me.
Interview by Lawrence R. Velvel • Books of Our Time • November 11, 2003
This discussion ranges from Mr. Zinn's optimism for the future and what true Patriotism is, to what Americans don't want to hear.
Civil Rights Movement
SNCC: The Battle-Scarred Youngsters
Updated on October 11, 2020 by Howard Zinn Website
Category: Articles & Interviews, Articles by Howard Zinn Tags: Activism, Civil Rights Movement, In the South, SNCC, The Nation
Howard Zinn: How Racial Prejudice Can Change
Updated on September 14, 2020 by Howard Zinn Website
Source: WNYC Radio
Recorded in the 1960s (estimate 1964-1965 based on transcript), Patricia Marx sits down with historian Howard Zinn to discuss his books, SNCC: The New Abolitionists and The Southern Mystique. Zinn describes his experiences teaching at Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia, from 1956 to 1963, and his subsequent observations on racial prejudice in the southern United States.Category: Articles & Interviews, Audio & Video, Audio and Video with Howard Zinn, Audio With Howard Zinn, From the Archives, Interviews With Howard Zinn Tags: Civil Rights Movement, In the South, Spelman College
Memo to Bob Moses | 1964
Updated on September 14, 2020 by Howard Zinn Website
Source: Freedom Summer Digital Collection at Wisconsin Historical Society
This 1964 memo from Howard Zinn to Bob Moses (a leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) outlined a plan to minimize violence in Mississippi for the upcoming Freedom Summer, when hundreds of volunteers would be arriving to help African-American residents register to vote, establish a new political party, and learn about history and politics in the newly-formed Freedom Schools. The memo also addressed ways to pressure President Johnson to enforce constitutional rights of citizens exercising their right to vote.Category: From the Archives Tags: Civil Rights Movement, In the South, SNCC
On the Road to Voting Rights: Freedom Day in Selma, 1963
Updated on October 13, 2020 by Howard Zinn Website
Category: Articles & Interviews, Articles by Howard Zinn, News Tags: Activist, Civil Rights Movement, Excerpts, In the South
‘One Long Struggle for Justice’
Updated on August 27, 2020 by Howard Zinn Website
Category: Articles & Interviews, Audio & Video, Audio and Video with Howard Zinn, Audio With Howard Zinn, Interviews With Howard Zinn Tags: Activist, American Empire, Civil Rights Movement, Class, Education, Possibility, Zinn Education Project
‘You have to go beyond capitalism’: Dave Zirin Interviews Howard Zinn
Updated on July 28, 2019 by Howard Zinn Website
On May 2, 2009, sportswriter Dave Zirin, author of A People’s History of Sports (New Press) and What’s My Name Fool? (Haymarket Books), interviewed Howard Zinn. Some 250 people attended the event at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. It was sponsored by Haymarket Books.…
Category: Articles & Interviews, Audio & Video, Interviews With Howard Zinn, Video About Howard Zinn Tags: Activism, Activist, American Empire, Barack Obama, Boston University, BU Five, Civil Rights Movement, Economics, FDR, Gay Marriage, George W. Bush, In the South, ISR, Labor, New Deal, Politics
Zinn Speaks: An Interview on the State of the Empire
Updated on September 4, 2014 by Howard Zinn Website
Category: Articles & Interviews, Interviews With Howard Zinn Tags: Civil Rights Movement, Democracy, In the South, Politics, Possibility
Against Discouragement
Updated on August 31, 2020 by Howard Zinn Website
Category: Articles & Interviews, Articles about Howard Zinn Tags: Activism, Civil Rights Movement, Democracy, Essays and Speeches, In the South, Nationalism, Optimism, Possibility, Spelman College
Rise Like Lions: The Role Of Artists In a Time Of War
Updated on October 4, 2020 by Howard Zinn Website
Category: Articles & Interviews, Interviews With Howard Zinn Tags: Activism, Articles about Howard Zinn, Artists, Civil Rights Movement, Elections, George W. Bush, Optimism, Organizing, Prison, Veterans
Howard Zinn – You Can’t Be Neutral on a Moving Train
Updated on August 8, 2014 by Howard Zinn Website
Category: Articles & Interviews, Audio & Video, Audio and Video with Howard Zinn, Interviews With Howard Zinn, Video With Howard Zinn Tags: Activism, Civil Disobedience, Civil Rights Movement, In the South, Politics, Possibility