American History According to Zinn
Howard Zinn was a man of convictions
when it came to the concepts of human rights, war, and equality. He had been a
professor of political science at Boston
University for twenty-four years
(1964-1988) and had championed his views on these concepts during his teaching career
and after his retirement from Boston
University . Zinn firmly
believed that political power did not lie in the hands of those who possessed
great wealth or military might, but in the hands of the common man. Even in his
writings, such as his book A People's History of the United States, Zinn
approach the subject of American history from the prespective of a common
citizen. By doing so, he recalls the story of America ’s past from the prespective
that ordinary people, who were put into dire circumstances, shaped historic
events instead of the political or economic elite of the time. His passion as a
social activist clearly comes through with his writing and his involvement in
the 1960s Civil Rights movement of the South seems to be the underlying message
of his American history book. A message that history is made because of social
changes where people want a better world for the future.
During his tenure
at Boston University , he taught a very popular
class on civil liberties. The class was not a university requirement, but one
that many students took as an elective. In doing so, I would suspect that they
wanted to challenge themselves to think about civil rights. With certainty, I
suspect that Zinn encourage them to “stand up” to civil injustices. I think
that Zinn spoke out about the past in an effort to educate the present. Perhaps
he recalled the words of the twentieth century novelist George Santayana who stated
this concept most eloquently when he said, "Those who cannot remember the
past are condemned to repeat it." In Zinn’s views, those who forget about
the struggles for human rights, the causes of war, and the inequality in
society are condemned to repeat history.