mitch daniels
Arkansas Lawmaker Introduces Bill to Ban Howard Zinn From Classrooms
Legislation from Rep. Kim Hendren would keep legendary historian's works from all public and charter schools
A Republican Arkansas lawmaker has introduced legislation to ban the works of the late historian, activist, and writer Howard Zinn from publicly funded schools.
The bill from Rep. Kim Hendren, just noted by the Arkansas Times, was introduced on Thursday and referred to the House Committee on Education.
It states (pdf) that any "public school district or an open-enrollment public charter school shall not include in its curriculum or course materials for a class or program of study any book or other material" authored by Zinn from 1959 until 2010, the year in which he died.
The Zinn Education Project, which aims to "to introduce students to a more accurate, complex, and engaging understanding of United States history than is found in traditional textbooks and curricula," noted Thursday that educators in the state may have a very different take from Hendren: "To date, there are more than 250 teachers in Arkansas who have signed up to access people's history lessons from the Zinn Education Project website."
The project is also offering a free copy of Zinn's seminal A People's History of the United States to any Arkansas teacher who requests it:
At least one high school class in northern Arkansas is making its opposition to the legislation clear already:
\u201c@ZinnEdProject This AR APUSH class doesn't approve of the proposed ban on Zinn and wants its voice heard.\u201d— Dr. Cissy Dowdy (@Dr. Cissy Dowdy) 1488558056
Publisher Haymarket Books, meanwhile, tweeted in response to the news that people should read more of Zinn's works.
\u201cRead more Howard Zinn! https://t.co/rWHPyQiNlf\u201d— Haymarket Books (@Haymarket Books) 1488513605
It's not first time in recent history the works of the legendary Zinn have been the target of suppression.
Emails unearthed by the Associated Press in 2013, for example, revealed that former Governor of Indiana Mitch Daniels sought to ban Zinn's works from that state's classrooms, and the Tucson, Arizona school district in 2012 bannedA People's History from all classrooms.
Given the response in Indiana to the revelations of Daniel's censorship attempt, however, Hendren may also find his own Zinn-banning efforts backfire.
'Howard Zinn Read-In' Celebrates Power of 'Dangerous' Education
Former Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels' attempt to censor Zinn's classic 'A People's History' backfires, sparks ongoing interest in late historian's work.
Controversy flared the summer when the Associated Press revealed that Mitch Daniels, former Indiana Governor and now Purdue University president, attempted to censor Howard Zinn's classic A People's History of the United States from Indiana classrooms. As Zinn Education Project co-director Bill Bigelow told Common Dreams, "When Governor Mitch Daniels attempted to prevent teachers and teacher educators from using Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States, this was an attack on academic freedom and on students' right to learn a fuller, more honest history than is found in their textbooks."
"[A People's History of the United States] is dangerous because it presents a perspective that ordinary people can change the world, which is the main secret that the richest 1% and their political advocates cannot allow young people to find out." -Jesse Hagopian, high school history teacher
But Daniels' efforts to censor the classic work already backfired, instead sparking a surge in public interest in the late historian's work just a month after Daniels' 'Zinn witch-hunt' was revealed.
The censorship controversy also provided the impetus for the Howard Zinn read-in taking place at Purdue on Tuesday.
As event organizers explain:
'The Zinn Read-in Committee' envisions the event to be a commemoration of academic freedom and a declaration of anti-censorship.
The event will also symbolize the ongoing fightback in the United States against the privatization of public education, attacks on teachers and teachers unions, and the need for real democracy in both schools and curriculum. Zinn's A People's History of the United States is an important text for understanding the history of underrepresented populations; the fight for the right to teach this history is never separate from the fight to improve the material lives of students, teachers, minorities and workers around the world.
"As the event organizers point out," Bigelow continued, "Daniels' attempted censorship is part of larger corporate school reform efforts to undermine public schools along with any teaching that helps students question inequality and injustice. The Zinn Read-In is an imaginative and defiant response to the corporate attack on our students and our schools."
Speakers at the Purdue read-in include historian, labor activist and author Staughton Lynd; peace activist Ann Wright; Anthony Arnove, editor, with Zinn, of Voices of a People's History of the United States; and Jesse Hagopian, a history teacher at Seattle's Garfield High School, where he helped lead the MAP test boycott that gained national attention.
"Former Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels believed that Howard Zinn's book A People's History of the United States was a dangerous text for students to read and should be removed from every classroom in the state," Hagopian told Common Dreams in a statement. "Daniels is right about one thing, A People's History is dangerous."
"It's dangerous because it presents a perspective that ordinary people can change the world, which is the main secret that the richest 1% and their political advocates cannot allow young people to find out in an age where wealth inequality is destroying our society," Hagopian stated.
In addition to the event at Purdue, solidarity read-ins are taking place at 9 other campuses across the nation including the University of Chicago, Stony Brook University, New York, and Indiana University.
Organizers will be live streaming the event, which begins at 6PM ET, at www.wearemany.org, and live discussions on Twitter will be using the hashtag #ReadZinn.
Update: Though the event is over, video of the full two-hour read-in at Purdue is available to watch on YouTube thanks to WeAreManyMedia. Click here to watch it.
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Censorship Backfire: Surge of Interest in Zinn's 'People's History'
After revelations former Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels sought to ban classic work, public interest soars
Public demand for Howard Zinn's classic book A People's History of the United States is surging, something likely to make former Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels none too happy.
In July, the Associated Press revealed that Daniels, who is now president of Purdue University, sought to ban the works of Howard Zinn from Indiana classrooms.
But since his "anti-Howard Zinn witch-hunt" has been exposed, Zinn's People's History has become "a hot read at libraries" in the state, the South Bend Tribune reports.
St. Joseph County Public Library, for example, which only had one copy of Zinn's People's History just weeks ago, has now upped the number to 19 due to patrons' interest, but even that wasn't enough. They're all checked out now, and there are 10 people on a waiting list.
At Indiana University South Bend, the book isn't even on any required reading list for the fall 2013 semester, but all the available copies are currently checked out, the Tribune continues.
The surge in interest in the book hasn't been limited to Indiana either.
The Zinn Education Project, which promotes and supports teaching a people's history (upper and lower case) in middle and high school classrooms, has also received a surge of interest in its teaching materials since Daniels' censorship attempts were exposed.
"Thanks to the exposure generated by former Gov. Mitch Daniels' attempt to ban Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States from Indiana schools and teacher education programs, the Zinn Education Project has been flooded with visitors looking for people's history teaching materials," Bill Bigelow, Zinn Education Project co-director, told Common Dreams via email.
"Teachers and parents have told us that they are redoubling their commitment to teach people's history in the face of the proposed censorship. We invite other governors to attempt to ban Zinn's works--it helps introduce A People's History of the United States to huge new audiences," Bigelow added.
In one 2009 email revealed by AP between Daniels and a top state education official, Daniels wrote:
This terrible anti-American finally passed away. The obits and commentaries mentioned that his book "A People's History of the United States" is "the textbook of choice in high schools and colleges around the country." It is a truly execrable, anti-factual piece of disinformation that misstates American history on every page.
Can someone assure me that it is not in use anywhere in Indiana? If it is, how do we get rid of it before any more young people are force-fed a totally false version of our history?