Howard Zinn

Lincoln and Emancipation - Howard Zinn

Submitted by Steven. on Jan 30 2013 15:28

Historian Howard Zinn on Abraham Lincoln and the eventual abolition of slavery in the US. Which shows that Spielberg's new film, Lincoln, is far from historically accurate.

John Brown1 was executed by the state of Virginia with the approval of the national government. It was the national government which, while weakly enforcing the law ending the slave trade, sternly enforced the laws providing for the return of fugitives to slavery.

  • 1. Libcom note: John Brown was an American abolitionist who attempted to lead a violent uprising against slavery.

Reexamining the Sacco-Vanzetti Case - Howard Zinn

Submitted by wojtek on Feb 21 2012 18:27

The LA Times reported in December 2005 that Upton Sinclair had allegedly written in a letter that an attorney for Sacco and Vanzetti, Fred Moore, had confided to him of his clients' guilt. Many conservative commentators responded by issuing blanket condemnations of the left's support for various political prisoners. In light of this, Sonali Kolhatkar and Gabriel Roman spoke with the now late historian Howard Zinn, who wrote the introduction for the reissue of Sinclair's novel Boston, about the significance of the alleged Sinclair letter.

Kolhatkar: What was the significance of the Sacco-Vanzetti case when it happened? What was its significance to social movements in the United States?

Sacco and Vanzetti - Howard Zinn

Submitted by wojtek on Feb 21 2012 03:51

An article by the late Howard Zinn on the significance of the lives and executions of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti today.

Fifty years after the executions of Italian immigrants Sacco and Vanzetti, Governor Dukakis of Massachusetts set up a panel to judge the fairness of the trial, and the conclusion was that the two men had not received a fair trial. This aroused a minor storm in Boston.

1619-1851: The condition of women in America

Submitted by Steven. on Feb 21 2011 19:03

Howard Zinn on the position of women and the struggles of working-class women for equality from the 17th to the 19th centuries.

It is possible, reading standard histories, to forget half the population of the country. The explorers were men, the landholders and merchants men, the political leaders men, the military figures men. The very invisibility of women, the overlooking of women, is a sign of their submerged status.

A people's history of the American revolution - Howard Zinn

Submitted by Steven. on Feb 21 2011 15:43

Howard Zinn's critical history of the American Revolution against British rule and its impact on ordinary people.

Around 1776, certain important people in the English colonies made a discovery that would prove enormously useful for the next two hundred years. They found that by creating a nation, a symbol, a legal unity called the United States, they could take over land, profits, and political power from favorites of the British Empire.

1619-1741: Slavery and slave rebellion in the US - Howard Zinn

Submitted by Steven. on Feb 21 2011 15:09

Howard Zinn's history of slavery and slave revolts in the United States from 1619 up until 1741.

A black American writer, J. Saunders Redding, describes the arrival of a ship in North America in the year 1619:
Sails furled, flag drooping at her rounded stern, she rode the tide in from the sea. She was a strange ship, indeed, by all accounts, a frightening ship, a ship of mystery. Whether she was trader, privateer, or man-of-war no one knows.

Columbus, the Indians and the 'discovery' of America

Submitted by Steven. on Feb 21 2011 14:44

Howard Zinn on the "discovery" of America, the treatment of the native population and how it was justified as "progress".

Arawak men and women, naked, tawny, and full of wonder, emerged from their villages onto the island's beaches and swam out to get a closer look at the strange big boat. When Columbus and his sailors came ashore, carrying swords, speaking oddly, the Arawaks ran to greet them, brought them food, water, gifts. He later wrote of this in his log:
They ...

Howard Zinn, celebrated radical historian, dies at age 87

Submitted by Chilli Sauce on Jan 29 2010 19:12
Howard Zinn (1922-2010)

A short obituary for the legendary historian, peace activist, and radical thinker Howard Zinn.

Howard Zinn, one of the world's most celebrated historians, died of a heart attack Wednesday in Santa Monica, California. He was 87.

His classic work, A People’s History of the United States, changed the way we look at history in America. First published a quarter of a century ago, the book has sold over a million copies and continues to sell more copies each successive year.

A people's history of World War I - Howard Zinn

Submitted by Steven. on Jun 9 2009 10:05
African American soldiers arrive home

Historian Howard Zinn's account of US involvement in World War I, the reasons behind it, and working class resistance to it.

This article is an extract from Zinn's excellent People's history of the United States

World War II: a people's war? - Howard Zinn

Submitted by Steven. on Jun 9 2009 09:38
The Normandy landings

Historian Howard Zinn critically analyses the conception that World War II was really a "people's war" against fascism, as opposed to yet another inter-imperialist conflict with nothing to offer working people.

"We, the governments of Great Britain and the United States, in the name of India, Burma, Malaya, Australia, British East Africa, British Guiana, Hong Kong, Siam, Singapore, Egypt, Palestine, Canada, New Zealand, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales, as well as Puerto Rico, Guam, the Philippines, Hawaii, Alaska, and the Virgin Islands, hereby declare most emphatically, that this is not an imperia