HOWARD ZINN
Howard Zinn is 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
has taught at Spelman College and Boston University,
and has been a visiting professor at the University of
Paris and the University of Bologna. He has received
the Thomas Merton Award, the Eugene V. Debs Award, the
Upton Sinclair Award, and the Lannan Literary Award.
He lives in Auburndale, Massachusetts.
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 now points to in
shaping 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 (SNCC) 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 feels are outside of the
political and economic establishment.
Howard Zinn is 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
has taught at Spelman College and Boston University,
and has been a visiting professor at the University of
Paris and the University of Bologna. He has received
the Thomas Merton Award, the Eugene V. Debs Award, the
Upton Sinclair Award, and the Lannan Literary Award.
He lives in Auburndale, Massachusetts.
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 now points to in
shaping 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 (SNCC) 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 feels are outside of the
political and economic establishment.