ACTIVIST, HISTORIAN HOWARD ZINN DIES AT 87
By Robert J. Lopez
Asbarez
Los Angeles Times
Jan 28th, 2010
Howard Zinn, a professor, author and social activist who inspired a
generation on the American left and whose book "A People’s History of
the United States" sold more than 1 million copies and redefined the
historical role of working-class people as agents of political change,
died Wednesday. He was 87.
Zinn apparently had a heart attack in Santa Monica, where he was
visiting friends and scheduled to speak, said his daughter, Myla
Kabat-Zinn. He lived in Auburndale, Mass.
Zinn’s political views were shaped, in part, by his experiences as
a bombardier for the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II.
"My father cared about so many important issues," Kabat-Zinn said
in a telephone interview Wednesday. "I think the one he was really
most eloquent about is that he thought there was no such thing as a
just war."
Indeed, in a 2001 opinion piece published in The Times, Zinn wrote
about being horrified by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and equally
horrified by the response of U.S. political leaders, who called
for retaliation.
"They have learned nothing, absolutely nothing, from the history of
the 20th century, from a hundred years of retaliation, vengeance,
war, a hundred years of terrorism and counter-terrorism, of violence
met with violence in an unending cycle of stupidity," he wrote.
"A People’s History" was published in 1980 and had an initial printing
of 5,000 copies. But largely through word of mouth, the book attracted
a major following and reached 1 million sales in 2003.
The work, which hails ordinary Americans such as farmers and union
activists as heroes, accused Christopher Columbus of genocide and
criticized early U.S. leaders as proponents of the status quo. "A
People’s History" has been taught in high schools and colleges across
the nation.
The book was the basis for a History Channel documentary called
"The People Speak" that aired in the fall.
The executive producer was actor Matt Damon, who was raised in Boston
near Zinn.
"From the moment we had any influence in this town, we’ve been trying
to get this project off the ground," Damon told reporters in July. "It
demonstrates how everyday citizens have changed the course of history."
Zinn was born in 1922 to a working-class family in Brooklyn, N.Y. He
was one of four sons whose father worked as a waiter, window cleaner
and pushcart peddler.
In his 1994 memoir, "You Can’t Be Neutral on a Moving Train," Zinn
recalled that his parents used discount coupons to buy the complete
works of Charles Dickens. The novelist "aroused in me tumultuous
emotions" about wealth, class and poverty, Zinn wrote.
Zinn received his doctorate from Columbia University.
He was a professor emeritus at Boston University, where he was a
familiar speaker at Vietnam War protests. He also taught at a number
of institutions, including Brooklyn College, the University of Paris
and Spelman College in Atlanta in the late 1950s and early ’60s as
the civil rights movement was taking hold in the South.
Former California state Sen. Tom Hayden recalled meeting Zinn while
he was at Spelman, then an all-black women’s school.
"He was basically integrating himself into the world of black
students," Hayden said Wednesday.
Hayden said Zinn became actively involved in the movement as an
advisor and leader. The two later protested the war in Vietnam and
worked on other social justice issues, Hayden said.
"He had a profound influence on raising the significance of social
movements as the real forces of social change in our country,"
Hayden said. "He gave us our heritage and he gave us a pride in
that heritage."
Zinn was scheduled to speak Feb. 4 at the Santa Monica Museum of Art
for an event titled "A Collection of Ideas . . . the People Speak."
On its web page, the museum said that it was "deeply saddened" by
Zinn’s death and that the event would go on as a tribute to Zinn’s
life as a social activist.
Paramedics responded to a 911 call about 12:30 p.m. Wednesday and took
Zinn to Santa Monica UCLA Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead,
said Santa Monica Police Sgt. Jay Trisler.
Zinn was in a hotel when rescuers arrived, according to his daughter.
In addition to his daughter, Zinn is survived by his son, Jeff Zinn,
and five grandchildren, according to his family. His wife Roslyn died
in 2008.
Asbarez: Zinn also spoke and wrote about man’s inhumanity to man and
how the Holocaust provided an opportunity to apply the lessons of the
Holocaust to other such horrors, including the Armenian Genocide. He
has signed letters and spoke about the importance of the recognition
of the Armenian Genocide. The piece below illustrates his theory and
approach to addressing the horror of Genocide.