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 ♦

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.

Second Edition of Voices of a People’s History Released

Just in time for the History Channel broadcast of The People Speak, Seven Stories Press released a new edition of Voices of a People’s History by Howard Zinn and Anthony Arnove.

Zinn Education Project Website Out of Beta Phase

January 5, 2010: The Zinn Education Project website was upgraded and is no longer in the beta phase. In response to feedback provided by teachers from across the country, features have been added to make it easier to navigate, to comment on the resources, and to share pages using social media. Additional improvements are in process. This transition requires that everyone who registered during the beta phase (December 5, 2009 - January 4, 2010) re-register the next time they use the site. We welcome continued feedback about the use of the materials and suggestions for site improvements.

Coalition Stops Social Studies Textbook Adoption

A multi-racial coalition of educators, parents, and community members, including Rethinking Schools, has pushed for quality social studies teaching in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. They raised concerns about the content of the social studies textbook series that was up for adoption by Milwaukee Public Schools. After several weeks of mobilization they succeeded in convincing the MPS administration to withdraw its proposal for the $4.2 million adoption. Their objection was that the textbooks miseducated students and failed to teach social responsibility. For more information, see the Social Studies Task Force, Social Studies Resources, and the CLEaR Justice Initiative (a partnership with the Milwaukee district).

Rethinking Schools Releases New Book

Rethinking Schools announced the publication of Teaching for Joy and Justice: Reimagining the Language Arts Classroom by Linda Christensen. It is the ideal book for any language arts teacher looking to infuse the themes and content of A People’s History of the United States into their classroom, or for social studies teachers working to help students develop strong writing skills while studying social issues. The contents include: “Warriors Don’t Cry: Connecting History, Literature, and Our Lives”; “Literature Circles: Slavery and Resistance”; “Honoring Our Ancestors: Building Profile Essays”; “Hurricane Katrina and Everyday Heroes,” and much more.

Lies My Teacher Told Me Author Has New Book

Teaching What Really Happened: How To Avoid the Tyranny of Textbooks and Get Students Excited About Doing History is James Loewen’s follow-up to his landmark bestseller, Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong. Howard Zinn says, “James Loewen’s new book is not only a devastating critique of how our nation’s history has been taught in our schools, but also a wonderful guide to how the teaching of history can open up minds, excite the imagination, and educate a new generation dedicated to making this a better world.” Read the Table of Contents and a sample chapter here.

Hip Hop Theater Festival and Voices of a People’s History

On Tuesday, July 7, 2009, there was a performance of VOICES [of a People's History]: REMIX in Washington, D.C. at The Kennedy Center. The cast included Kerry Washington, Regie Cabico, Staceyann Chin, W. Ellington Felton, Walter Mosley, and DJ Earth 1ne, with Dave Zirin as moderator. This performance was part of the Hip Hop Theater Festival. To see other upcoming engagements,visit www.howardzinn.org.

ZEP Website 2.0 In Progress

The Zinn Education Project has partnered with Vibrant Design Group to launch a new, expanded website, featuring 60-plus new downloads, searchable by theme or timeline, and an extended resource page.

Howard Zinn on Democracy Now!

“We’re trying to energize people by learning a history that is provocative and that is inspirational.” — Howard Zinn

On May 13, 2009, Howard Zinn was a guest on Democracy Now!, where he discussed the new edition of A Young People’s History of the United States (Seven Stories Press) and played clips from the forthcoming documentary The People Speak.

Zinn said, “In this Young People’s History we don’t present the history of victimization; we present the history of people fighting back. We want to give Americans a history [that] shows them that it’s possible to fight back, that you don’t have to depend on the President and Congress and the Supreme Court. In fact, you had better not depend on them, because they’re not going to solve the fundamental problems that we have in our society. We can only do it ourselves, when we organize, when we act, when we protest. And so, we’re trying to, yes, energize people by learning a history that is provocative and that is inspirational.”

Listen to the show or read the transcript here.

Howard Zinn’s Keynote at the NCSS Conference

Howard Zinn offers keynote at 2008 NCSS Conference in Houston, TX. Photo by Steve Puppe.

Howard Zinn spoke to over 800 social studies teachers at the 2008 National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) conference held in Houston, TX. Zinn Education Project representatives were on site to give away 800 copies of A People’s History for the Classroom. Thanks to NCSS, you can now view the keynote address online.

Follow-up Survey Complete

Thanks to everyone who participated in the follow-up survey. We received useful and thought-provoking feedback which we will use to design Phase II of the Zinn Education Project. The raffle prizes will be mailing out in late December/early January. More information in the February 2009 newsletter.

Zinn Education Project Phase 1 Results

The Zinn Education Project (ZEP) is pleased to release the demographic report of 4,000 Zinn Education Packets distributed for free to teachers and teacher educators. In June of 2008, ZEP distributed 4,000 free packets to classroom teachers and teacher educators across the country who signed up at zinnedproject.org. The packet includes a copy of A People’s History of the United States, the teaching guide A People’s History for the Classroom, and the DVD Howard Zinn: You Can’t Be Neutral on a Moving Train. Funded by an anonymous donor, a former student of Zinn’s, this was the first phase of a project to promote and support the use of A People’s History of the United States, and related resources, in middle and high school classrooms.

We reached a diverse group of teachers in all 50 US states, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands and DC. Thirty-two organizations helped us with the outreach to over 30,000 teachers across the country. Within three weeks all 4,000 packets were claimed. Read full report and graphs.

Howard Zinn to Offer Keynote at National Council for the Social Studies Conference

August 2008: The Zinn Education Project is proud to announce that Howard Zinn will deliver the closing keynote speech at the 88th Annual National Council for the Social Studies Conference (NCSS) in Houston, TX on November 16, 2008 at 10am. His keynote will be followed by a book signing. Free copies of A People’s History for the Classroom will be distributed to the first 700 attendees.

ZEP Survey Distribution Begins

On Sept. 2, 2008 the Zinn Education Project (ZEP) will begin inviting recipients of the Zinn Education Packet to offer feedback and help us design the next stage. The survey will take approximately 6-10 minutes. In appreciation, participants will be entered in a drawing to win one of hundreds of books, CDs or calendars generously donated by our fellow independent publishers. The titles include:

Voices of a People’s History of the United States
by Howard Zinn, Anthony Arnove 665 pg. Seven Stories Press
Paralleling the 24 chapters of Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States, Voices of a People’s History is the companion volume to the national bestseller. Here in their own words are Frederick Douglass, George Jackson, Chief Joseph, Martin Luther King Jr., Plough Jogger, Sacco and Vanzetti, Patti Smith, Bruce Springsteen, Mark Twain, and Malcolm X, to name just a few.

Howard Zinn on Democratic Education
by Howard Zinn with Donaldo Macedo 224 pg. Paradigm Publishers
Describes what is missing from school textbooks and in classrooms–and how we move beyond these deficiencies to improve student education. Critical skills of citizenship are insufficiently developed in schools, according to Zinn. Textbooks and curricula must be changed to transcend the recitation of received wisdom too common today in our schools.

Stories Hollywood Never Tells – CD
By Howard Zinn 58 min. AK Press
What sort of view of our history do we get from Hollywood movies? Why are some stories told and others not? In this informal talk given at the Taos Film Festival, Zinn turns his attention to Hollywood, the stories it tells, and the ones it doesn’t. He tells of wars from the point of view of disillusioned deserters, of the differences between All Quiet on the Western Front and Saving Private Ryan, of railroad strikes and the Haymarket Affair, Eugene Debs and the real story of Helen Keller. A spellbinding and provocative talk by America’s most beloved historian.

Founding Myths
by Ray Raphael 368 pg. The New Press
In Founding Myths, Raphael has created a page-turner out of the stuff of American history primers. He documents the errors and inventions that permeate the nation’s most cherished myths, from Paul Revere’s midnight ride to Patrick Henry’s famous utterance, “Give me liberty or give me death!” The author also assiduously sniffs out the origins of the myths and the reasons that they have come to replace the real stories of the Revolutionary period.

A People’s History of the United States: Abridged Teaching Edition
by Howard Zinn 640 pg. The New Press
An abridged classroom edition of Howard Zinn’s bestselling history of the United States, with teaching materials to accompany each chapter.

2009 Peace Calendar
by Syracuse Cultural Workers Full color, 14″x22″
This is the 38th edition of the Syracuse Cultural Workers’ Peace Calendar. The calendar includes people’s history annotations, holidays for many faiths, lunar cycles and 13 native moons.

Free Packet Distribution Complete

Thank you for your interest in the Zinn Education Project. We regret that due to the popularity of this offer, all of the 4,000 free packets have been requested. Shipping of packets began on May 20, 2008. If signed up for a packet and you did not receive one or did not receive a notice, please contact Lauren Cooper.