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Howard Zinn: Call for a True People's History
Term Paper ID:27977
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Looks at Howard Zinn's concept of history, racism in the U.S., gender roles, U.S. imperialism, capitalism and workers' movements, and the origins of the civil rights movement.... More...
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Paper Abstract:
Looks at Howard Zinn's concept of history, racism in the U.S., gender roles, U.S. imperialism, capitalism and workers' movements, and the origins of the civil rights movement.
Paper Introduction:
Howard Zinn looks at the way history has been written and finds a high degree of conformity, with most American history beginning with a celebration of the conquest of the New World by Columbus. The emphasis is on heroic discovery, and this also involves highlighting the important characters like Columbus and either ignoring or downplaying their faults. Zinn finds that Samuel Eliot Morison, for instance, is too good a historian to ignore the truth completely, but he gives the unpleasant details no more than a mention and then passes on to something more in keeping with the emphasis on the hero and on progress.
Zinn makes the valuable point that history is generally written from the standpoint of the collective memory of the state. The state in this case is the American state, and it has been built by the white European settlers who conquered the Native
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InBoston, rich and poor were at odds, with the rich trying to keep the poorhumble and the poor showing growing anger toward the rich. Social class divisions within the black community widened as themovement progressed and achieved some of its goals. This view was not universal, and ThomasPaine spoke out for equal rights for women. Zinn finds that the institutionalization of racism was in someways a deliberate decision on the part of government to impose restrictionsbased on race as a way of controlling the workforce. Both had a certain invisibility in society. Classdivisions were apparent over the issue of imperialism. New York: Harper Perennial, 198 . In 19 4,27, workers died on the job, with 5 , accidents taking place in NewYork factories alone in one year. For that matter, it was probably considered a good idea to keep theblacks separate from the white servants because of the frequency with whichservants of both races were escaping together. The imposition of lawssegregating the races were also valuable as a way of separating thecultures, with the intent of suppressing as much of the culture the slavesbrought with them as was necessary to adapt them to their new way of lifeand work. The first settlements consisted almostentirely of men, and women were imported as sex slaves, childbearers, andcompanions. The unions did notchallenge these differences but did try to win concessions for theirmemberships. Radical change was needed inthe face of terrible conditions of labor and exclusivity in unionorganizations. Racism had never been only aSouthern problem, but it was emerging more and more in the North as blacksmade advances and whites became alarmed at the changes taking place. What Zinn calls for is a true people's history, recognizing thatnations are artificial constructs which divide people when in fact allpeople are really alike and united in their humanness. Zinn also finds significance in the rhetoric of the new nation as itmoved toward independence. Such a system was self-propagatingand clearly has lasted far beyond the laws that were originally passed tocreate it. 3 -31). Black in societyopposed imperialism, and black soldiers had mixed reactions to the war. The true nature of these conditions was exposed by several tragedies. When Europeans came to America, they found various situations thatwould impact the role of women. Many letters from soldiers demonstrate the depth of theanguish that existed on the issue (Zinn, 29 -313). Zinn asks whether theantipathy toward blacks was natural and finds that it was not, that it wasin fact imposed and codified in society precisely because it was notnatural. Menwere the explorers, the landholders, and the merchants, and women had asubmerged status based on their biological differences, much like theslaves were submerged for their racial differences. The thoroughness with whichracism was institutionalized in the United States is shown by itspersistence even today when the weight of society has shifted to trying tostamp out the institution society originally created. The black movement developed a more militantaspect as it was faced with growing and even violent white opposition incertain segments of society. The state in thiscase is the American state, and it has been built by the white Europeansettlers who conquered the Native Americans and created the currentsociety. A large number of black soldiers deserted,some of them joining the Filipino rebels against the forces seen as whiteoppressors. The system as a whole worked tocontain the explosiveness of the situation. . The conflictbetween rich and poor in the countryside was used by political leaders tomobilize the population against England. Women were also kept ignorant,given only the education they needed to fulfill their roles as wives,mothers, and household servants. There was a growing fear of aslave rebellion, and institutionalized racism was a way of enlisting abroader public in service of the goal of keeping the slaves under control.Whites were to be convinced that their interests were different from thoseof blacks, and such divisions became codified in the law and in time becametotally accepted as a belief system. Zinncites Charles Beard to the effect that the Constitution was structured sothe rich could either control government directly or control the law bywhich government operates (89). He also notes the impossibility of looking back to a timewhen blacks and whites coexisted without unequal treatment and underfavorable conditions because there are no such instances in history.Relations have long been colored by subordination, exploitation, andenslavement, and this makes it difficult to determine whether racism isnatural or even whether instances of non-racism are natural: "Under suchconditions even the slightest display of humanity between the races mightbe considered evidence of a basic human drive toward community" (pp. Zinn finds evidencethat the monogamous nuclear family within a society valuing privateproperty contributes to the oppression of women, noting that in earliersocieties women were treated more equally when there was an extensive andcomplicated family structure and property was held in common. Othergroups also sought radical change through their own organizations--blacksthrough the N.A.A.C.P. Imperialism was opposed by certain factions in the United States.Philosopher William James was part of the group of politicians,businessmen, and intellectuals of the Anti-Imperialist League. An image wasfostered of the ideal woman, and all women were expected to try to live upto this image, an image that strengthened the prejudices and thesubjugations that already existed. Tensions in both communities played off thetension in the other as well as between factions within each group (Zinn,435-459). The majority of white colonists who either had a bit of landor no property at all were still better off than slaves or indenturedservants or Indians, and they could thus be wooed into the Revolution.Differences between the propertied class and the working class were alsoembodied in the Constitution in spite of its egalitarian nature. Thestrike itself was instigated by the murder of one of the workers. In the end, 66 men, women,and children had been killed. Also, theSupreme Court offered further hope by striking down the "separate butequal" doctrine in Brown vs. This extends not only to the direct victims, those whoare thrown off their land and subjugated by the advance of some newnationalist idea or movement, but also the people involved in theoppression as executioners themselves: "In the short run. Court records demonstratethis, and many laws were passed to stop it. The new factories weredesigned to produce large amounts of goods for the owners, but they werenot designed to make the work easier, safer, or rewarding for the worker. Black and white servants showed littleconcern about their physical differences in the seventeenth century, andthis fact led to the imposition of racially divisive laws by the governmentto prevent the fraternization that was taking place. There were strong socialmovements in the Northeast aimed at a handful of rich landlords. imperialism in the Spanish-American War was supported by thebusiness interests of the nation anxious for increased foreign markets fortheir goods, and an "open door" in trade became the cornerstone for foreignpolicy in the twentieth century. The emphasis ison heroic discovery, and this also involves highlighting the importantcharacters like Columbus and either ignoring or downplaying their faults.Zinn finds that Samuel Eliot Morison, for instance, is too good a historianto ignore the truth completely, but he gives the unpleasant details no morethan a mention and then passes on to something more in keeping with theemphasis on the hero and on progress. This is an internalized andcentrist point of view that colors every aspect of written history. A distinction wasevident between the middle-and upper-class population that was benefittingfrom an improved business and employment situation and from greatereducational opportunities and the poorer classes in the ghettoes of thecity and in rural regions, people who did not benefit directly from thechanges taking place and who were frustrated that the benefits were nottrickling down to their level. 11).This is what Zinn tries to do in his people's history, and he tells this tothe reader at the outset so that his effort can be judged for what it israther than by the standards of traditional history. However, Zinn does find evidence that the races coexisted with adegree of harmony in spite of the way the blacks were brought to America,at least in the beginning. In 1914 35, workers were killed onthe job, and another 7 , were injured. Zinn states that there is no country in the world outside of Americawhere racism has been more important for so long a period of time. U.S. One of the approaches taken was Taylorism, developed by Frederick W.Taylor, who worked out a system of finely detailed division of labor,increased mechanization, and piecework wage systems. Zinn sees the community of man as made up ofvictims and oppressors, usually the same people at different times. He examines the evidence that has been offered that racism was anatural development given the general view of blackness and darkness assignifying evil. Zinn is not simply viewing history in a broader context,however, for he sees instead that the true community of man stands outsidethe political divisions of the time while still being influenced by them.Zinn distrusts government and sees it as the executioner, with the peoplebeing the victims. Leaders of some of these unions were themselves well-paid anddid more for themselves than for the workers. A People's History of the United States. because they were excluded from the union movement,women through suffrage movements because they were excluded from thepolitical process entirely. The public that supported the war thought of it as acase of the Cubans fighting for their own liberation and getting Americanhelp. The ruling class used a variety of means to keep the workers in line. Another source of the gender roles given to women was religion, andthe early colonists who were fleeing religious oppression in Europe broughtcertain ideas with them from the Bible, or from their reading of the Bible. The fact that this was taking place in themilitary influenced thinking in the private sector as blacks wanted toaccelerate the process and extend it into society at large. Carrying through his conception of oppressors and oppressed, Zinnexamines the effects of capitalism on the workforce as the nation movedinto an industrial age at the beginning of this century. Zinn's people'shistory takes the side of the conquered, the slaves, the dominated, thevictims. Zinn sees much of theoppression of women as taking place on the private level, within the familyin a society based on private property and competition. Some of the rhetoric used by Zinn in discussing the gender roles ofwomen fit racial issues as well. Zinn sees history as having a moral purpose as well as aneducational one by teaching people of the successes of the past in orderthat they might take heart for their own struggle. Zinn makes the valuable point that history is generally written fromthe standpoint of the collective memory of the state. the LudlowMassacre in 1914 was the culmination of the Colorado coal strike that beganin September 1913, and ended with the massacre the following April. Mostof the workers were women, and 146 died in the fire. Different organizations were formed toorganize black workers, poorer people, and different factions in society togain advantage. This period inhistory is also a period of the development of class conflict based oneconomic differences. They were thus treated as having a secondary use rather thanbeing valued for themelves or their contribution to the initial community.Zinn finds that women were imported to the colonies at about the same timeas the first black slaves. Zinn describes racism as "practical," and this means that itfulfilled a pragmatic purpose, accomplishing an end valued by society. One of the most notable was the Triangle Shirtwaist Company fire in 1911.This factory did not comply even with the few laws on working conditionsthat existed then. Working conditions were poor for the mass of workersand were particularly onerous for the disaffected such as blacks and women.Immigrants were becoming a larger proportion of the workforce, and theywere more easily exploited as unskilled labor. They were indentured servants and were oftensexually abused by their masters. Zinn finds, though, that this was aninstance of massive class conflict that would have an effect across thecountry: "The threat of class rebellion was clearly still there in theindustrial conditions of the United States, in the undeterred spirit ofrebellion among working people--whatever legislation had been passed,whatever liberal reforms were on the books, whatever investigations wereundertaken and words of regret and conciliation uttered" (p. Board of Education in 1954. Most of theleadership came from the middle class and well-to-do merchant class, andthey were spurred to action by the Stamp Act. . He writes: "If historyis to be creative, to anticipate a [possible future without denying thepast, it should, I believe, emphasize new possibilities by disclosing thosehidden episodes of the past when, even if in brief flashes, people showedtheir ability to resist, to join together, occasionally to win" (p. This people'shistory would have a wider focus than traditional history and would crossborders and other divisions such as ethnic, racial, and sexual as well asnational. Onthe one hand they felt a need to get ahead in a society that denied themopportunities, and on the other there was sympathy with the brown-skinnednatives in the Philippines. History becomes a matter of taking sides, andCamus has suggested that in such a situation it is better to be on the sideof the victims than on the side of the executioners. the victims,themselves desperate and tainted with the culture that oppresses them, turnon other victims" (p. The leaders could win over certain segments of society,classes that were adversely affected by the British. The movement of the black populationinto traditionally white neighborhoods came as employment situationsimproved, but this also caused a reaction for the poor and middle-classwhites who felt threatened or who thought that their property values woulddiminish. Some banking interests took an active part intrying to develop "black capitalism". The doors opened the wrong way, and the doors were keptlocked during working hours rather than unlocked as the law required. Certain British actions werespecifically harmful to the working class, such as the impressment andquartering of troops (Zinn, 59-66). ReferenceZinn, Howard. Zinn finds one trend that continues tothis day--while the position of blacks was onerous, and the position ofwomen oppressed, the position of black women was worst of all. One group of women brought to America werelittle better than slaves. TheNational Guard destroyed the tents of the workers and killed thirteen.This event mobilized thousands of angry workers who marched on the statecapital to protest. The decision wassupposed to be implemented "with all deliberate speed," but even ten yearslater little had been done. Not all the dangers to workers came from accidents. Prior to the start of the American Revolution, there was considerableclass dissension developing in the cities and urban regions alike. There was an attitude that the rich were able to remain alooffrom this sort of situation while the poor and middle-class were beingaffected directly by it. Labor responded with efforts at unionization, a movement that waslargely white and male. There were social divisions on the other side as well, with whitesociety showing different responses to the racial dissension and agitationin the black community. In the broadest sense, history is written by the winner, and thewinner aggrandizes his or her own accomplishments and describes issues inheroic terms, with the ancestors of the present state being the heroes whoproduced this state. Howard Zinn looks at the way history has been written and finds ahigh degree of conformity, with most American history beginning with acelebration of the conquest of the New World by Columbus. In 19 5 a meeting in Chicago with two hundred socialists,anarchists, and radical trade unionists from all over the country led tothe formation of the International Workers of the World--the I.W.W. He notes that women were given work thatwas considered "separate but equal," given equal importance with men's workat least rhetorically, but kept separate from men's work. Thebusing of children to redress racial imbalance in the schools causedconsiderable anxiety, particularly in urban working-class neighborhoods, aspoor whites and poor blacks were pushed into competition with one anotherfor scarce educational resources. There were several forces at work in the early 195 s and into the196 s that caused the civil right movement to develop. Racismbecame institutionalized in the American system over a period of time, andZinn looks to the institution of slavery for clues as to how this processtook place. This was not the onlysuch tragedy, and more and more workers became mobilized around the issuesinvolved and the need for change that might stop the situation. Zinn cites several women who did not accept the role societycarved out for them and who were punished for it, notably Anne Hutchinson,put on trial twice by the church for heresy. Women were treated in certain wayslike the black slaves. Zinn cites Camus to the effect that history is a matter of conflictand that society is made up of conflicts between conquerors and conquered,masters and slaves, capitalists and workers, and racial and sexualdominators and dominated. Such a history is narrow in focus, resulting from thesocial order in which it is written and seeing the world in divided terms,with an "us-against-them" orientation. That movementdeveloped around the busing issue in Montgomery, Alabama, and it was theculmination of decades of frustration and memory after the slave era andover continuing discrimination and ill-treatment. The development of gender roles for women in American society wasaffected by a variety of factors producing the patriarchal system thatcreated a particular place for women, a place largely in the home,separated from much of society as a protection, and relegating women tocertain specific roles and no others. Some business interests benefited directly from the war, such asthose making goods that would be used in the fighting. Certain newspapers joined in the call formilitary colonialism. The economic system clearly had much to do with it, and slavery wasa way of gaining cheap labor while these laws were a way of controllingthat labor and assuring that it remained enslaved. By executive order,the armed forces were in the process of integrating beginning in 1948, aprocess that took 1 years. He cites evidence that the races foundthemselves with common problems, common concerns, common work, and a commonenemy in the form of their master. Thomas Jefferson not only used the phrase "allmen are created equal" but underscored it with the view that women were notsuited for politics or political debate. Laws favored theowners, and clearly government did as well, providing troops when needed tocontrol workers. Zinn feels that the reasons why such laws were imposed can be foundin historical conditions rather than in any innate antipathy between theraces. Some social reforms were instituted because they couldgive the workers a little while not giving them all that they needed. Socialists opposedthe war, but most of the labor unions had sympathy for the Cuban people andsuccumbed to war fever once war was declared. Obviously, though, theopposite view prevailed, and women were excluded from voting in theConstitution and were kept in the subjugated position they had occupiedprior to the American Revolution. Asthe society developed with more differentiated classes, racism becameingrained as part of the social structure. That is, there is the state that is"remembering" history, and there are the outsiders who are seen as enemiesor at best allies of the most important state. Landrioters saw the issue as poor against rich. He citesnumerous instances of this in what would be called primitive societies. These delays added to the frustration felt inthe black community and fueled the civil rights movement. Wage rates were very different for blacks and forwomen as compared to what they were for white males. In the northern cities wherethe key battles were being fought, the colonial leaders had a divided whitepopulation. The conflicts between rich and poor continued to surface during theRevolution. Women were educatedto accept this system, so much so that it is surprising how many rebelledagainst it. Women were seen as property to a great degree and were regarded asadjuncts to their husbands rather than as individuals. 349). 1 ). The union failed to win recognition at this time andthe protests were put down by federal troops.
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