A Peoples History of the United States - Essay Example

Zinn Essay Assignment In his book, A People’s History of the United s, Howard Zinn writes about the victims of “progress”. In his opinion, history is told by conquerors (such as Columbus) and leaders, which led to accepting the destruction of certain civilizations for the sake of “progress”. However, the focus should be on the viewpoints of the victims of “progress”, such as the Arawaks. This is important, because the destroyed civilizations had a rich culture, which in some respects, such as women’s rights, were more advanced than Western values at the time.

Zinn has strong arguments and I agree that the perspective of the victims of “progress” is valuable to history. According to Zinn, racism was created to ensure that slavery, which was profitable for some people, could continue. To prevent collaboration between white and black people, which could lead to a successful rebellion against the wealthy people, certain laws were introduced. These laws declared blacks as inferior to whites, which produced a racial awareness. Inferior status and derogatory thinking blended into racism.

I agree with Zinn, because his arguments are well thought through. Knowing the cause(s) of racism is important to be able to overcome it.Chapters 4 to 8 are all dealing with types of violent and nonviolent resistance or rebellion against various forms of oppression, such as the American Revolution. The fight against oppression is still a topic nowadays and it will always be an issue. Therefore, it is important to know how people rebelled against oppression in the past. In Chapter 7, Zinn addresses how women dealt with oppression and how some women demanded to be treated equally.

Many women refused to accept their domestic position, which influenced the women’s rights movements. I found it very interesting that women did not only stand up for their own rights, but that they also spoke out against slavery. It seems that many women fought two battles, which is remarkable.