As attacks on teaching the true history of the United States increase, it is important to remember the impact of Howard Zinn.
By Eleanor J. Bader • The Progressive • Aug 21, 2023
“In September 2020, several months after the police murders of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd sparked protests across the country, then-President Donald Trump issued Executive Order 13950. This order barred federal agencies from conducting staff trainings on systemic racism, sexism, or gender identity because, as the Administration saw it, such instruction perpetuated the “false belief that America is an irredeemably racist and sexist country.”
That same month, the first White House Conference on American History brought together conservative activists to decry the Movement for Black Lives. Attendees were thrilled to hear Trump denounce what he termed “decades of left-wing indoctrination in our schools” and to call for “our sons and daughters to know that they are citizens of the most exceptional nation in the history of the world.”
“We will reclaim our history and our country,” Trump declared, and pledged that the nation would steer clear of books, films, and videos, “like those of Howard Zinn, that try to make students ashamed of their own history.”
“Zinn consistently elevated the role of ordinary people to make change and organize to improve their lives”—Deborah Menkart
The fact that historian and activist Howard Zinn (1922-2010) was called out by name did not surprise Deborah Menkart. Menkart is a co-director of the fifteen-year-old Zinn Education Project (ZEP), a grassroots group coordinated by two progressive educational entities, Teaching for Change and Rethinking Schools that are committed to teaching accurate accounts of U.S. history alongside the presentation of truthful material about race, climate change, gender identity, the continuing impact of chattel slavery, and ongoing struggles to win human and civil rights both domestically and abroad.
“Zinn consistently elevated the role of ordinary people to make change and organize to improve their lives,” Menkart tells The Progressive. “This is threatening to the status quo.”
Excerpt from The Progressive.
