Zinn, Howard (1922–)

Rather early in his career, in 1969, Howard Zinn wrote that historians should be appreciated as activist-scholars and citizens with commitment to deeply held values. All his life, Zinn has been the very model of that kind of citizen, that kind of activist-scholar.

Born in 1922 in New York City to poor Jewish immigrant parents, Zinn volunteered for World War II, serving as a bombardier in the Army Air Corps. Already by the end of the war, he had begun to develop some anti-war views, which would progress over the years and approach pacifism. Zinn earned his B.A. from New York University in 1951 and his M.A. and Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1952 and 1958 respectively. He taught at Spelman College in Atlanta from 1958 to 1963; significantly, Spelman was a college for African American women, and Zinn became involved in early aspects of the civil rights movement while there. He taught at Boston University from 1964 until his retirement in 1988. Of his many books, probably the three most significant are A People's History of the United States (1980), which has sold more than a million copies; The Politics of History (1970); and Vietnam: The Logic of Withdrawal (1967), suggesting Zinn's early anti–Vietnam War stance. He continues now, well into his 80s, to speak out for peace and justice.

Zinn's activism and writings have always been closely related; it might even be argued that his writings have been a part of his activism. While at Spelman, and serving as an adult adviser to the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), he wrote SNCC: The New Abolitionists. While at Boston University, and close to the time of one of his nine arrests for anti-war and other protests, he wrote Vietnam: The Logic of Withdrawal. Even his major work, A People's History of the United States, can be seen in part as a history that grows out of the various movements (civil rights, anti-Vietnam, women's, environmental) of the 1960s. It is, he writes, history respectful of people's movements and disrespectful of government. After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, retired and in his 80s, Zinn wrote Terrorism and War, in which he argued that to have true security, the United States needs to cease its military interventions and its dominance of other nations' economies.

As with many activists and radicals, Zinn remembers certain experiences that moved him to the left. As a teenage dockworker, he had some friends who were communists. He decided to participate with them in a peaceful demonstration. He was knocked unconscious by police breaking up the demonstration and says he woke up with a lump on his head and an important realization—that he was not a liberal but a radical. [Page 1516]In the area of race specifically, there was also a turning point. Zinn gave one of his students a ride in Atlanta. Before letting her out of his car upon reaching their destination, they sat in the car and talked a few moments but were interrupted by police, who placed them under arrest. Zinn asked the officer what the charge was. The officer's response: Officially, the charge was “disorderly conduct,” but in reality, the arrest was Zinn's choice to sit in the car with an African American girl.

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