Arkansas’ Howard Zinn Witch Hunt Fizzles

Last week nearly 700 Arkansas teachers and school librarians received copies of books by Howard Zinn — thanks to a right-wing state representative.

Well, not exactly. But here’s the story.

Recently, Republican Kim Hendren, introduced legislation that would prohibit teachers in all public schools or state-supported charter schools from including any books in their curriculum by — or even “concerning” — the historian Howard Zinn, author of the classic A People’s History of the United States, who died in 2010.

In response, the Zinn Education Project — a collaboration between Rethinking Schools and Teaching for Change, which I co-direct — offered to send free copies of a Howard Zinn book and A People’s History for the Classroom lessons to any Arkansas middle or high school teacher or school librarian requesting them.

In just a few days, we were flooded with requests. Many of them came accompanied by poignant notes about why people were eager to get the materials.