Among Professor Zinn's numerous accomplishments none rank higher than his work to breathe life into history. Often when I mention to people that I'm a historian I hear mumbled comments about how the subject puts students to sleep or seems like a dry collection of dates, wars and speeches. Not so with Howard Zinn.
He fashioned a dynamic, useful vision of the past and delivered it to the public. His work as a teacher and author reminded us the history is also the repository of the dreams, struggles, losses and, most importantly, victories of bygone generations. No one who encountered his People's History of the United States could doubt the relevance of history to the present. His passing represents a monumental loss not just to historians but to American civic life in general. If there is any small flower of consolation to be found it is in the fact that his work and his example will continue to inspire and inform for many, many years to come.
-- William Jelani Cobb, Ph.D., chair and an associate professor of history at Spelman
I am deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Dr. Howard Zinn. I learned to know him vicariously in the process of conducting research for my book, "Undaunted by the Fight: Spelman College and the Civil Rights Movement" (Mercer University Press, 2005). We did not meet until after the book was published. He was a member of the Spelman faculty from 1956-1963. I did not join the faculty until 1966.
Dr. Zinn's actions for civil and human rights, especially his participation in the civil rights and anti-Vietnam War movements inspired me greatly. Furthermore, his success in inspiring his Spelman students to research and participate in movements for social change provided me with a model to emulate.
Dr. Zinn's influence on Spelman students was immense. For example, in 1963, when she was Spelman Student Government president, Betty Walker (Stevens) wrote: "Dr. Zinn is admired, respected and loved by all of the Spelman students.... This man is not just a teacher, he is a friend to the students.... There are few Dr. Zinns in the world. Spelman was fortunate to have one in her midst." Alice Walker observed that Spelman owes its more "moderate and progressive character" to Dr. Zinn.... "It was for us, the student body, Spelman College itself, that Dr. Zinn fought." And Marian Wright (Edelman) identified Dr. Zinn as one of her mentors. "He conveyed to me and to other students that he believed in us.... [Dr. Zinn] taught me to question and ponder what I read and heard and to examine and apply the lessons of history in the context of daily, political, social, and moral challenges like racial discrimination and income inquality." ("Undaunted by the Fight," 163f.)
--
Harry Lefever, Ph.D., professor emeritus, sociology department, Spelman College
Video
Excerpts
Bio
Howard Zinn was a historian, playwright, and social activist. He was a shipyard worker and Air Force bombardier before he went to college under the GI Bill and received his Ph.D. from Columbia University. He taught at Spelman College and Boston University, and was a visiting professor at the University of Paris and the University of Bologna. He received the Thomas Merton Award, the Eugene V. Debs Award, the Upton Sinclair Award, and the Lannan Literary Award.
From Wikipedia: Zinn was raised in a working-class family in Brooklyn, and flew bombing missions for the United States in World War II, an experience he says shaped his opposition to war. In 1956, he became a professor at Spelman College in Atlanta, a school for black women, where he soon became involved in the civil rights movement, which he participated in as an adviser to the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, and chronicled, in his book SNCC: The New Abolitionists.
Zinn collaborated with historian Staughton Lynd and mentored a young student named Alice Walker. When he was fired in 1963 for insubordination related to his protest work, he moved to Boston University, where he became a leading critic of the Vietnam War.
He is perhaps best known for "A People's History of the United States," which presents American history through the eyes of those he felt were outside of the political and economic establishment.
