Biography of Howard Zinn - Essay Example

Biography of Howard Zinn Howard Zinn was born on August 24, 1922 and he passed on in January 27, During hisyouthful life, he lived in Brooklyn for most part of it. His parents were Edward Zinn and Jennie Zinn, both of whom were of Jewish origin. His father was a waiter and his original background was from both Austria and Hungary while his mother’s background was from Irkutsk in Siberia (E Notes, “Howard Zinn”). He married his wife Roslyn Zinn, and they had two children by the names of Myla Zinn and Jeff Zinn. As he was growing up, he attended public schools located in New York since his home was Brooklyn. After that, he managed to graduate from Thomas Jefferson High School. After he completed his high school college at 18 years, he got a temporary job as a labourer (pipe fitter) in the Brooklyn Navy Yard that was just close to his home. During this time, he had interest in a number of aspects such as politics. As a result, he became engaged in communist political parties as early as 1939. One of the communist ideological parties that he was part of was the American Communist Party. During this time, the common ideology that was prevalent was fascism. Apparently, Zinn was not happy about the whole ordeal that was brought about with fascism. At a tender age of 20 years, he decided to join the United States (US) Air Force army. It should be noted that this was the period when the World War II was set to begin. After successfully joining the (US) Air Force army, he started working in a number of regions in the world. For example, he used to be given several bombarding missions to avail to that were located in European regions such as Berlin, Hungary and Czechoslovakia. Four years after the end of the World War II – that is in 1949, he sought to go back home and enrol for degree studies at the New York University that is located at Washington Square in New York City. His educational requirements were supported by the GI’s Bill also known as The Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944. This was a Bill that allowed war veterans to benefit with matters such as: low cost mortgages, tuition fees and unemployment compensation. Therefore, he managed to get the admission to study his BA degree and in 1951 he graduated. The following year – that is in 1952, he enrolled to study his master’s degree from Colombia University which is also located in New York City. After the completion of his master’s degree, he proceeded to undertake a PhD in historical studies and political science. 1959 is the year that saw the release of his first book “LaGuardia in Congress” which was highly influence by his master’s thesis on the 1914 Ludlow Massacre – this was an assault to coal miners as well as their families by the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company guards together with the Colorado National Guard. As a professor of history, he taught historical studies at the Spelman College that is located in Atlanta from 1956 until 1963. In 1964, he got a post to lecture political science at the Boston University. His career was well spent at Boston University and in 1988, he went ahead to retire from his lecturing position as well as academia. Zinn was also engaged in civil right movements. For example, while he was at Spelman College, he fought for the right to information, freedom and resources access by showcasing that segregation was highly prevalent in the college and larger parts of Atlanta. As a matter of fact, he coached student activists in the college on how they would conduct their protests and the larger civil rights movements. As cited from Zinn (2002), that did not end well since in his struggle to end segregation at the college, he was dismissed from his duties (Zinn 21). From his autobiography, “You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train: Personal History of Our Times” and an interview that was conducted by the Institute of International Studies, UC Berkeley, Zinn mentioned that the experience that he got from Spelman College was exceptional and that that was “the most interesting, exciting, most educational years” to him. He added that, “I learned more from my students than my students learned from me.” According to Zinn, the experience that he got from Spelman College enabled him to view the world and the black community differently than he was before – “I began to look at history from a black point of view. It looks very different from a black point of view.” (“Zinn Interview: The Early Civil Rights Movement.”) Not only did he engage in college politics but he was also a veteran against the Vietnam War. As cited from Zinn (2002), he had the experience and the feel of what war was all about since he was a pilot during the Second World War. In that bid, he was also fighting fascism on the part of the government authorities. Zinn had a number of reasons as to why he was against the War. He clearly understood the implications as well as other consequences that were prone to brought about by the aftermath of the Vietnam War (Zinn 90 -100). With regard to his anti-war efforts, he published a book titled “Vietnam: The Logic of Withdrawal” whose objective was to request the US government to withdraw from Vietnam. Zinn also had his own ideas with regard to the Iraq war. To him, there was no need for the war and peace was a solution that if it were up to him, he would take it gladly. With regard to his anti – Iraq war efforts, he published a book that critically out spoke about what the war could cause to America as a nation. His autobiography “You can’t be neutral on a moving train: A personal History of Our Times” happened to be the last note in his writing career. He received a number of awards such as the Peace Abbey Courage of Conscience Award in 1996 – for his anti-war efforts; Thomas Merton Award in 1998 – for his civil rights movement efforts; Eugene V. Debs award - for his social justice and peace efforts; Award for Lifetime Contribution to Critical Scholarship from the Havens Centre in 2006 for his lifetime contributions. Bibliography E Notes. Howard Zinn. 2013. Web. Retrieved from: http://www.enotes.com/topics/howard-zinn#critical-essays-zinn-howard Institute of International Studies, UC Berkeley. Zinn Interview: The Early Civil Rights Movement. 2001. Web. Retrieved from: http://globetrotter.berkeley.edu/people/Zinn/zinn-con2.html Zinn, Howard. You can’t be neutral on a moving train: A personal History of Our Times. U.S, Boston: Beacon Press, 2002. Print Zinn, Howard. A People's History of the United States. US: Harper Perennial, 2003. Print Read More