Howard Zinn, Social Activist and Author of ‘A People’s History of the United States,’ Dies

Despite what your views were about Howard Zinn, one thing for certain is that he made an impact and imprint on today’s society. A historian, playwright, and author of more than twenty books. He was a shipyard worker and a Second Lieutenant, U.S. Army Air Corps, serving as a bombardier in World War Two, before he went to college under the GI Bill and received his B.A. from New York University in 1951, M.A. from Columbia University in 1952, and Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1958.

Zinn, professor emeritus at Boston University, has taught at Spelman College and Boston University, was a Post-doctoral Fellow at Harvard University from 1960 to 1961, and has been a visiting professor at the University of Paris and the University of Bologna.

Zinn’s plays have been produced in more than a dozen countries worldwide, including his new play Rebel Voices, which premiered at New York City’s The Culture Project in 2007.

The People Speak, a new feature documentary film co-directed by Zinn with Chris Moore and Anthony Arnove, and based on his books A People’s History of the United States and Voices of a People’s History of the United States, recently premiered on the History Channel. The film has received critical acclaim and will be adapted internationally, including in the United Kingdom, in a new production led by Colin Firth. Additionally, in partnership with New York University and Voices of a People’s history, Dr. Zinn’s work is the catalyst behind NYU Portraits, the University’s diversity orientation program and The People Speak College Tour with Matt Damon and Howard Zinn at NYU in November 2009.
 

Among many other honors, Zinn has received the Thomas Merton Award in 1991, the Lannan Foundation Literary Award, Nonfiction 1998, the Eugene V. Debs Foundation Award in 1999, the Upton Sinclair Award in 1999, an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters, Spelman College, 2005, and the 2006 Haven’s Center Award for Lifetime Contribution to Critical Scholarship in Madison, Wisconsin. In 2003, he received the Le Prix des amis du Monde diplomatique, awarded in Paris, France, for the French translation of A People’s History of the United States.

Posted by The Cotillion Online on Jan 27 2010. Filed under Death Notices, Featured. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.