As children around the United States glided through their history textbooks, one man attempted to remind everyone of the lost and forgotten pages.
Howard Zinn, author of “A People’s History of the United States” (1980), pushed toward the forefront a history that the authors of school textbooks were leaving out.
I read “A People’s History” a little more than two years ago after my brother recommended the 729-page book that told history from the perspective of people who had not been represented in history books.
Zinn wasn’t afraid to discuss the ugly truths that occurred during the early years of America’s civilization. In the opening chapter, Zinn held no punches as he explained the unfortunate impact that Christopher Columbus had on the Native Americans, including slavery and genocide.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I remember being told of the heroic and honorable Columbus who discovered a “lost world.”
An instructor of mine at Sinclair has always told me that an education helps us look at the world in a different light. “A People’s History” helped open my mind and I began to question our historical figures.
The public is reminded of the greatness of George Washington and Benjamin Franklin in textbooks, just to name a few. Zinn reminded me of the ugliness that is sometimes discovered behind our founding fathers.
When Washington was 11 years old, he inherited 10 slaves and 500 acres after his father passed away, according to mountvernon.org. More than 50 years later when Washington passed away, 316 slaves lived on his land.
I’ve heard the arguments that “slavery was the way of life” and “that’s just the way it was.” I’ve also read Washington was opposed to slavery but couldn’t publicly stand against it because it would cause too much hostility between the newly found country.
Give me a break.
It seems a bit contradicting to pursue freedom and liberty from Great Britain, while you own hundreds of slaves.
Zinn challenged me and helped me realize that we can discover new information about our history if we just think outside the box and not out of our high school textbooks.
Zinn died of a heart attack on Jan. 27, and bringing out some of the ghosts of America’s past will never be forgotten.