In the News

A member of Arkansas’s House of Representatives wants Howard Zinn’s A People History of the United States removed from the shelves of public and charter schools. According to the Independent, more than 250 Arkansas teachers have signed up for the Zinn Education Project—an initiative to have Zinn’s work taught in primary and secondary schools—to take advantage of the history lessons it offers. The Project has also pledged to send a free copy of A People’s History to anyone who requests one and has tweeted a photo of high school students from Batesville, the county seat for Hendren’s district, protesting his bill.

Just days after an Arkansas lawmaker filed a bill that would ban books written by Boston University professor Howard Zinn from the state’s public schools, BU alumni have opened their wallets to help send the late historian’s 1980 best-seller, A People’s History of the United States, to interested teachers there. The Zinn Education Project, founded by a former BU student to promote the teaching of Zinn’s work, has received an outpouring of donations from BU alumni to help send A People’s History to Arkansas.

The Arkansas legislature is considering a bill that would prohibit "any books or other material authored by or concerning Howard Zinn" in its schools, on the grounds that Howard Zinn says means things about America, like, "It has the kinds of censoring, undemocratic state governments that ban all books by and discussions of critics of America and its actions." The nonprofit Zinn Education Project is offering free copies of A People's History, along with classroom materials, to all Arkansas teachers.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (KTHV) - A bill introduced to the General Assembly on Thursday, March 2 would ban public schools in Arkansas from using books from best-selling author and historian Howard Zinn. House Bill 1834, introduced by Representative Kim Hendren(R-Gravette), would ban books by Zinn from the years 1959 until 2000 for being used in public schools or an open-enrollment public charter school. In 1980, Zinn released "A People's History of the United States," which looks at the history of America through the point of view of "women, factory workers, African-Americans, Native Americans, working poor, and immigrant laborers."

A Republican Arkansas lawmaker has introduced legislation to ban the works of the late historian, activist, and writer Howard Zinn from publicly funded schools. The Zinn Education Project, which aims to "to introduce students to a more accurate, complex, and engaging understanding of United States history than is found in traditional textbooks and curricula," noted Thursday that educators in the state may have a very different take: "To date, there are more than 250 teachers in Arkansas who have signed up to access people's history lessons from the Zinn Education Project website."

Mary Kay Polashek and Wendy Pixler, from the Ames Children’s Choirs stopped by to talk about Ames Has Talent, which is open to students in K–12. In the second part of the show, the discussion turned to the movement to Abolish Columbus Day. Host Gale Seiler interviewed Bill Bigelow of Rethinking Schools and the Zinn Education Project, and spoke with Greg Wickenkamp, a former middle school teacher in Iowa.

Deborah Menkart, Teaching For Change/Zinn Education Project & Daniel Ruiz, Capital City Public Charter School, joins Thom Hartmann. On Monday — millions of Americans will stay home from work and school to celebrate how Christopher Columbus committed genocide against the Taino people and launched the Transatlantic slave trade. Unfortunately — many Americans won't know that it's a celebration of genocide — because many Americans still don't realize what actually happened when Columbus quote "discovered” America. Fortunately, there are efforts moving forward across the country to celebrate "Indigenous People’s Day" instead of Columbus Day — with Phoenix, Arizona being the most recent city to recognize Indigenous People's Day.

While teaching U.S. history at a public charter high school in the District, Julian Hipkins III noticed that students tended to assume that “race” was as old as mankind. “Almost like it was natural, a given,” as he put it. So, using some specialized lessons, Hipkins helped the students explore the invention of race and the reasons for it, as laid out in colonial law. Especially the Virginia slave codes enacted between 1640 and 1705.