Zinn --The People's Historian

One of my heroes Howard Zinn died today--born in1922 in Brooklyn New York to working class Jewish immigrant parents he wrote over 20 books and some plays. His upbeat philosophy that we the people wrote history and could evoke change through collective non-violence inspired me and countless others. He worked in shipyards at 18...signed up in WWII to be an airforce bombadier --this led him to say never again to wars. He earned a PH degree in history from Columbia and taught at Spelman College and Boston University. Author Alice Walker studied under him at Spelman and actor Matt Damon grew up next door to him in NY and was influenced by Zinn. Damon participated in his The People's Voices project recently seen on Public tv as well as done by many actors and local people as a reading all across the country. In 2010 Zinn received the MLK Jr. award from NYU for embodying "a vison of peace, persistence in purpose and inspiration in action". The Zinn education project promotes the teaching of his book A People's History which reached the million copies sold mark back in 2003. His autobiography entititled You Can't be Neutral on a Moving Train was made into a dvd narratted by Damon. He also wrote three plays--Emma, Marx in Soho, and Daughter of Venus. My son and I saw him speak live twice here in Seattle and we also saw his play Marx in Soho performed at the art theater up in Capitol Hill. He was so inspirational---he believed in people encouraged us to take stands against the injustices all around and to work non violently for peace ---he was a dedicated man all his life and I will miss him very very much. Thank you Howard Zinn---I dedicte this blip as a celebration of your life---pictures A collection found from ariticles on the web, etc.