News & Events
Teaching Outside the Textbook Across the Country
We are pleased to announce that 20 teachers from across the country are receiving class sets of A People’s History of the United States. These teachers’ names were selected from the 88 who responded when we asked for stories about teaching a people’s history or “teaching outside the textbook.” The essays were full of inspiring examples of how a people’s history is being taught in middle and high school classrooms, how teachers were introduced to Howard Zinn’s work, and how students respond to learning a more complete version of U.S. history. The list of teachers who took the time to share their story is posted here.
El Monte, California students and their teacher, Chris Lewis (4th from right) with their copies of A People's History of the United States from the Teaching Outside the Textbook class set.
Below are a few excerpts from the essays. Periodically we will share more.
American history teacher Esmeralda Tello (Mastic Beach, NY) said that teaching a people’s history helps her students step into history. In fact, when she recently did a role play on the Trail of Tears, her “students wouldn’t stop speaking about their roles and were still debating even when they went to their next class.” (The role play is posted at the Zinn Education Project site: http://www.zinnedproject.org/posts/1142.)
Middle school social studies teacher, Sarah Treworgy (Lynnwood, WA), used a lesson on the U.S.-Mexican War that brings in the voices of Frederick Douglass; Henry David Thoreau; U.S, Mexican, and Apache combatants; and many others. She writes that, “It was so wonderful to see a group of usually unmotivated students engaged, that I called in another teacher to see this group of students actively involved.” (http://www.zinnedproject.org/posts/1503.)
As American history teacher Michael Swogger (Gettysburg, PA) explained, “I changed the focus of my teaching from a traditional government and hero-centered focus to the very place where change ultimately originates: with the people. After all, my students are, by and large, the ordinary people of today. If society is going to progress, it’s going to come from the people and not the select few.”
One student in U.S. history teacher Bryan Hoang’s (Irvine, CA) class realized by studying a people’s history that “History isn’t so much about what happened in the past. It’s about how to change the future.” An 11th grade student of Mark Isero’s (San Francisco, CA) figured that if “people made history, I can too.”
Many teachers are being recognized for Teaching Outside the Textbook by their respective school district and local media, including Mica Perez who was featured on the San Antonio evening news.
We look forward to staying in touch with everyone who contributed essays so that we can continue to collect and share examples of how to bring a people’s history into the classroom. In addition to 25 copies of A People’s History, the class sets include one copy of the film The People Speak and two additional books: A Young People’s History of the United States and Voices of a People’s History of the United States. The remainder of the 88 teachers who submitted stories will receive one book. The gift of the class sets and the additional books was made possible by donations from HarperCollins, Seven Stories Press, and The People Speak.
A People’s Celebration of Howard Zinn in Boston
Lauren Cooper at A People's Celebration of Howard Zinn. Photo by: Charngchi Way/Susie Husted.
On May 15, 2010, the Zinn Education Project was pleased to participate in A People’s Celebration of Howard Zinn held at the Old South Church in Boston, MA. Lauren Cooper, a Teaching for Change coordinator for the Zinn Education Project, was one of the speakers. Others included Bob Moses, Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and founder of The Algebra Project, Mariama White-Hammond, Executive Director of Project HIP HOP (Highways Into the Past - History, Organizing, Power), Mike Prokosch, staff member of Community Labor United, Myrna Morales of the Progressive Librarians Guild, Michael Spinnato, member of Iraq Veterans Against the War and Veterans for Peace, and many more.
Donations received over the event expenses were donated to the Zinn Education Project, raising $1,000 for our work. We would like to thank the organizers for their time, coordination, and generosity. More photos and Lauren Cooper’s presentation.
Yes! Magazine Recommends Zinn Education Project
We are honored that YES! Magazine featured the Zinn Education Project as the lead story in their May 2010 YES! Education Connection Newsletter. The article begins: “If we want the world to be a better place—who would argue with that?—it is critical for students to rethink from the limited lens of dates, battles, and famous heroes—to study “a people’s history.” YES! recommends the brilliant Zinn Education Project and its resources to provoke and engage your students as they try to make sense of race and the role it—along with class and gender—has played in shaping society.” Subscriptions to the Yes! Education Connection Newsletter are free.
Staughton Lynd’s Tribute to Howard Zinn
Staughton Lynd, noted historian, lawyer, labor activist and Quaker pacifist, was the featured speaker at the Organization of American Historians (OAH) Remembering Howard Zinn session. Staughton Lynd had taught history at Spelman College alongside Howard Zinn in the early 1960s and is well respected for his work in the anti-war movement, labor movement, and for prisoner rights. Hosted by the Labor and Working-Class History Association (LAWCHA) and Historians Against the War (HAW), the remembrance for Howard Zinn at the OAH opened and closed with a song led by Staughton Lynd and Michael Honey (author of Going Down Jericho Road The Memphis Strike, Martin Luther King’s Last Campaign.) Staughton Lynd wrote his speech in direct response to those who have questoned Howard Zinn’s scholarship as a historian. He opened his talk with: “It may seem a strange form of grieving: To remember a friend, who happens to have been an historian, by seeking to discern what kind of historian he was, what vision of history he sought to present, what in the way of history we might wish to carry forward from what he accomplished. Nonetheless that is the project in which I invite you to join me.” We are honored that Staughton Lynd has allowed us to publish his full speech here at the Zinn Education Project website for public access. Other noted historians and activists also shared their remembrances. Following the event, there was a book signing for Staughton Lynd for the new collection of his own work, From Here To There: The Staughton Lynd Reader.
Howard Zinn’s Talk With Teachers Available Online
The Zinn Education Project and Harper Perennial are pleased to share a “talk with teachers” by Howard Zinn, recorded on January 19, 2010. Bill Bigelow (Rethinking Schools) posed questions submitted by teachers from across the country. Listen to the show online or as a podcast. The first 40 minute interview portion of the show features the questions submitted by teachers and high school students to the Zinn Education Project. Highlights from the interview were published by Rethinking Schools in the Spring 2010 journal.
The People Speak Extended Edition on DVD
The People Speak, the feature documentary inspired by A People’s History of the United States and based on live readings of Voices of a People’s History of the United States, is now available in an Extended Edition on DVD. The film features dramatic readings by Matt Damon, Danny Glover, Viggo Mortensen, Sandra Oh, Sean Penn, Rosario Dawson, Don Cheadle, Benjamin Bratt, Morgan Freeman, Lupe Fiasco, Michael Ealy, David Strathairn, P!nk: P!nk, Staceyann Chin, Martin Espada, and John Legend, and musical performances by Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Eddie Vedder, and many other great artists. See a film trailer and many individual performances from the film that can be used in the classroom at Voices of a People’s History. See a full list of contents and a list of related Zinn Education Project teaching activities. Official People Speak website.
Teaching About Haiti
A free downloadable booklet and a list of resources for teaching about Haiti are available online at the Teaching for Change website. The Zinn Education Project welcomes your suggestions of additional resources and/or teaching activities for K-12. Send suggestions to: zep@zinnedproject.org
We Salute Howard Zinn, the People’s Historian
Howard Zinn, 2008 NCSS Conference, Houston, TX. Photo by Steve Puppe.
We were deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Howard Zinn on Wednesday, January 27, 2010. His incredible energy, wit, knowledge, political analysis, vision, and dedication had us convinced that he would outlive us all. At 87, he continued to inform and inspire in his presentations across the country, radio interviews, essays, and film making.
On January 19, 2010, Howard Zinn had graciously responded on air to questions submitted by teachers from across the country. In this Author on Air interview, coordinated by Harper Collins and the Zinn Education Project, he spoke of how textbooks leave “certain parts of the world and certain peoples of the world simply invisible.” He gave examples including Haiti, labor activists, and immigrants.
Howard Zinn has left a lifetime of scholarship and inspiration to make visible the people and places that textbooks leave out. A People’s History of the United States and his many other books, essays, plays, and film provide a wealth of resources for teachers and students. But even more important, Howard Zinn has inspired thousands of educators to recognize the importance of their own role in encouraging young people to think more critically about history and society, and to believe that they can make a positive difference.
Countless teachers have been inspired, by reading A People’s History or simply learning about Howard Zinn’s life, to ensure that their students learn that history is made not by a few heroic individuals, but instead by people’s choices and actions, thereby also learning that their own choices and actions matter.
Here are a few tributes to Howard Zinn. There are many more on HowardZinn.org
♦ Bob Herbert ♦ Alice Walker ♦ Democracy Now! ♦ Rethinking Schools ♦
Historical Analysis and Grassroots Perspectives on Haiti
For news coverage on Haiti with historical analysis and grassroots perspectives on how to help, we recommend Democracy Now! The headline stories are also available in Spanish.
A Young People’s History of the United States Now In Paperback
Now in paperback and updated, A Young People’s History of the United States makes the classic text accessible to young adult readers. Written by Howard Zinn with Rebecca Stefoff, the book was produced by Seven Stories Press.
