Howard Zinn

HOWARD ZINN CENTENARY 1922-2022

Howard Zinn, professor emeritus at Boston University, was perhaps this country’s premier radical historian. He was born in Brooklyn in 1922. His parents, poor immigrants, were constantly moving to stay, as he once told me, “one step ahead of the landlord.” After high school, he went to work in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. During World War II, he saw combat duty as an air force bombardier. After the war, he went to Columbia University on the GI Bill. He taught at Spelman, the all-Black women’s college in Atlanta. He was an active figure in the civil rights movement and served on the board of SNCC, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. He was fired by Spelman for his activism. He was among the first to oppose U.S. aggression in Indochina. His book Vietnam: The Logic of Withdrawal was an instant classic. A principled opponent of imperialism and militarism, he was an advocate of non-violent civil disobedience. He spoke and marched against the U.S. wars on Afghanistan and Iraq. His masterpiece, A People’s History of the United States, continues to sell in huge numbers. Among his many other books are You Can’t Be Neutral on a Moving Train, Failure to Quit: Reflections of an Optimistic Historian and Original Zinn with David Barsamian.  Shortly before his death he completed his last great project, the documentary The People Speak. Always ready to lend a hand, he believed in and practiced solidarity. Witty, erudite, generous and loved by many the world over, Howard Zinn, friend and teacher, passed away on January 27, 2010. He would say, Don’t mourn. Get active. The struggle for peace and justice continues.

Programs

Date Recorded Program Title Handle
2006: 03/17 Against War ZINH044
2009: 11/11 Three Holy Wars ZINH041
2005: 03/14 American Exceptionalism ZINH048
2002: 09/18 Q&A in Albuquerque ZINH047
1989: 10/25 Second Thoughts on the First Amendment ZINH006
1995: 11/20 A People’s History of the United States ZINH013
1991: 10/18 Economic Bill of Rights ZINH005
1991: 06/20 Bill of Rights Bicentennial ZINH004
1988: 12/01 History & Politics ZINH002
2000: 11/01 Marx in Soho ZINH046
2008: 02/08 Harvard Trade Union Program ZINH045
2002: 01/29 Emma Goldman, Anarchism & War Resistance ZINH026
2002: 09/18 The Back Seat Interviews ZINH028
1991: 03/21 Just & Unjust Wars ZINH007
1963: 04/12 The South and National Politics ZINH043
2009: 11/10 Speaking to 8th Grade Students ZINH042
2001: 04/04 I Was a Pushcart Peddler, Ph.D. ZINH040
2009: 02/06 I Am a Trade Unionist ZINH039
2003: 06/28 Confronting Government Lies ZINH030
2003: 03/25 War on Iraq: A Dissenting View ZINH029
2002: 08/08 Can the System be Fixed? ZINH027
1999: 11/11 War and Democracy ZINH024
1999: 04/17 Stories Hollywood Never Tells ZINH023
1998: 10/05 Economic Justice ZINH022
1998: 10/05 Bringing Democracy Alive ZINH021
1998: 07/27 The Future of History ZINH020
1998: 06/30 U.S. Imperialism & the War with Spain ZINH019
1997: 10/08 The Zinn Reader ZINH017
1997: 10/04 LaGuardia, Upton Sinclair, Death Penalty ZINH016
1997: 02/03 You Can’t Be Neutral on a Moving Train ZINH015
1996: 12/16 How Social Change Happens ZINH014
1989: 10/25 Reflections ZINH012
1993: 11/13 The Use & Abuse of History ZINH011
1993: 02/24 Emma Goldman: A Dangerous Woman ZINH010
1992: 11/11 One Step Ahead of the Landlord ZINH009
1988: 12/01 Democracy, Dissent and Disobedience ZINH003
2001: 10/10 Artists in a Time of War ZINH025
1991: 10/09 1492-1992: The Legacy of Columbus ZINH008
2009: 02/09 Against Discouragement ZINH038
2008: 10/09 War & Civil Disobedience ZINH037
1997: 10/09 The Case of Sacco & Vanzetti ZINH018
2006: 11/30 Overcoming Obstacles ZINH036
2005: 02/07 A World Without Borders ZINH035
2004: 12/03 Air-Brushing History ZINH034
2004: 07/21 Critical Thinking ZINH033
2004: 02/06 Resistance & the Role of Artists ZINH032
2004: 02/06 History Matters ZINH031

Zinn & Others

Multipacks

Books