Letters from Tomis

My Socialist Hall of Fame

During this chaotic era of vile rhetoric and manipulative tactics from our so-called bourgeois leaders, I am invigorated by the opportunity to reflect on Socialists, Revolutionaries, Philosophers, Guerrilla Leaders, Partisans, and Critical Theory titans, champions, and martyrs who paved the way for us—my own audacious “Socialism’s Hall of Fame.” These are my heroes and fore-bearers. Not all are perfect, or even fully admirable, but all contributed in some way to our future–either as icons to emulate, or as warnings to avoid in the future.

Early Life and Education

Howard Zinn was born on August 24, 1922, in Brooklyn, New York, to working-class Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe. Raised in poverty during the Great Depression, Zinn developed an early awareness of social injustice. His experiences as a shipyard worker and his involvement in leftist political circles during his youth deeply influenced his later scholarship and activism.

After serving as a bombardier in the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II—a period that profoundly shaped his antiwar convictions—Zinn pursued higher education under the G.I. Bill. He earned his B.A. at New York University in 1951 and subsequently received his M.A. (1952) and Ph.D. (1958) in history from Columbia University, where he studied under the prominent historian Richard Hofstadter.

Academic Career

Zinn began his teaching career at Spelman College, a historically Black women’s college in Atlanta, Georgia (1956–1963), where he became deeply involved in the civil rights movement. At Spelman, he encouraged and participated in student activism and protests against segregation, acting as an advisor to the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). His support for student activism and outspoken criticism of college policies eventually led to his dismissal.

In 1964, Zinn joined Boston University, where he taught in the Political Science Department until his retirement in 1988. Throughout his tenure, Zinn was known for his dynamic teaching style, focus on radical perspectives, and commitment to social justice.

Scholarship and Activism

Howard Zinn’s scholarship was inseparable from his activism. He was a leading figure in the antiwar movement during the Vietnam War, participating in protests, aiding draft resisters, and traveling to North Vietnam with Daniel Berrigan to receive the first American POWs released by the North Vietnamese government.

Zinn’s most influential work, A People’s History of the United States (1980), recast American history “from below,” centering the struggles of workers, women, African Americans, Native Americans, and other marginalized groups. Rejecting traditional narratives of history that celebrated political elites, Zinn’s work inspired a new generation of historians and activists to examine the structural forces of oppression and resistance in U.S. history.

His writing extended into plays (notably Emma, about Emma Goldman), essays, and popular articles. Zinn’s perspective was deeply influenced by Marxist theory, anarchist currents, and the broader New Left, though he maintained a critical independence from party orthodoxy. He believed history was a tool for emancipation and that intellectuals had an ethical responsibility to speak out against injustice.

Legacy and Influence

Zinn’s work has been both celebrated and critiqued. A People’s History became a bestseller, widely adopted in classrooms and cited by social movements, from Occupy Wall Street to Black Lives Matter. Critics, mainly from conservative and liberal establishment circles, charged Zinn with bias and polemicism, while others credited him with democratizing historical consciousness and sparking critical engagement.

Zinn’s commitment to activism continued until his death on January 27, 2010. His legacy endures through the Zinn Education Project, numerous documentaries, and continued public debates over the role of history and historians in society.

Select Bibliography

Books by Howard Zinn

• A People’s History of the United States. New York: Harper & Row, 1980.

• Declarations of Independence: Cross-Examining American Ideology. New York: HarperCollins, 1990.

• You Can’t Be Neutral on a Moving Train: A Personal History of Our Times. Boston: Beacon Press, 1994.

• The Zinn Reader: Writings on Disobedience and Democracy. New York: Seven Stories Press, 1997.

• SNCC: The New Abolitionists. Boston: Beacon Press, 1964.

• Vietnam: The Logic of Withdrawal. Boston: Beacon Press, 1967.

• Postwar America, 1945–1971. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1973.

• Disobedience and Democracy: Nine Fallacies on Law and Order. New York: Vintage, 1968.

• The Politics of History. Boston: Beacon Press, 1970.

• Emma: A Play in Two Acts about Emma Goldman, American Anarchist. Boston: South End Press, 1976.

Edited and Co-Authored Works

• Three Strikes: Miners, Musicians, Salesgirls, and the Fighting Spirit of Labor’s Last Century (with Dana Frank and Robin D.G. Kelley). Boston: Beacon Press, 2001.

• Voices of a People’s History of the United States (with Anthony Arnove). New York: Seven Stories Press, 2004.

Selected Articles and Essays

• “Obedience and Dissent in Wartime.” The Progressive, 1971.

• “The Problem is Civil Obedience.” 1970 (speech, widely reprinted).

• “If History Is to Be Creative.” The Zinn Reader, 1997.

About Howard Zinn

• Buhle, Paul, and Edward Rice-Maximin. Howard Zinn: A Radical American Vision. New York: New Press, 2007.

• Arnove, Anthony. “Howard Zinn’s History.” Socialist Worker (UK), 2010.

• Duberman, Martin. Howard Zinn: A Life on the Left. New York: New Press, 2012.