Howard Zinn

Howard Zinn (1922-2010) was born in New York City to Polish-Jewish immigrant parents. He grew up in Brooklyn and worked as a shipyard laborer. One of the pivotal events in his life was witnessing the violent suppression of a leftist workers' demonstration in Times Square, New York, at the age of 17. In 1943, he enlisted in the U.S. Air Force to fight against the Nazis and served as a bombardier during the war, an experience that shaped his anti-war consciousness. After the war, he attended college and earned his Ph.D. from Columbia University. In 1956, he became the chair of the History Department at Spelman College in Atlanta, a college for black women during the era of racial segregation, where he actively participated in the Civil Rights Movement. He later took a position as a history professor at Boston University, retiring in 1988. Throughout his life, he was a politically engaged activist, advocating for the concept of civil disobedience through peaceful means, against social inequality, imperfect democracy, and war. His most renowned work is the classic "A People's History of the United States," published in 1980, which sold over 1 million copies. It is described as "an insightful and moving history of the American people from the perspective of those... whose struggles have been largely omitted from most historical accounts" (Library Journal)—namely, workers, feminists, conscientious objectors, and others. Zinn received the Lannan Literary Award and the Eugene V. Debs Award for his writing and political activism. He authored many books, including "The Southern Mystique," "La Guardia in Congress," "The Zinn Reader," the autobiographical "You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train" (alongside the documentary of the same name, narrated by his friend, actor Matt Damon), and the play "Marx in Soho." His wife, Rozlyn, with whom he lived in Massachusetts and had two children, passed away in 2008. Howard Zinn died on Wednesday, January 27, 2010, in Santa Monica, California, from a heart attack at the age of 87, during a trip. One of his last published writings was a short article in "The Nation" magazine, a week earlier, expressing disappointment with the first year of President Obama's administration (disappointment over the continuation of the war in Afghanistan and shortcomings in domestic policy).