By: Jen C.,
on 8/5/2014
While some of the revelations contained within this classic by Howard Zinn have become familiar since the nearly 35 years after it was published (thanks in part to this book), it is to this day an astonishing and eye-opening read. Several revisions later, it remains a seminal work, in stark contrast to the whitewashed (pun [...]
What I find most hilarious/disturbing about this attempt to remove from the Stafford County (Virginia) Advanced Placement US History reading list Howard Zinn’s much-loved A PEOPLE’S HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES is that the adult who wants the book removed got upset after seeing teenagers voluntarily reading this history book at the town’s public pool. Um…seriously?
Of course, the one actual teenager quoted loved the book. As have many of us loved it over the years — in all my years of asking other people how they became political, it’s certainly the single most-cited book — because it is a book, in Matt Damon’s words, that “will knock you on your ass.”
Which is more or less what I think needs to happen to some people in Stafford County.
UPDATED to add: If you want to stick it to the censors… then first of all, if you haven’t read Zinn’s book, you definitely should! If you have, you might consider reading the primary-source follow-up, VOICES OF A PEOPLE’S HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES, which was co-edited by Zinn and my friend Anthony Arnove. I think it’s a lot of fun to flip through (and even better if you happen to have the chance to see it performed live). I much enjoyed this recent speech by Zinn. Finally, Zinn is coming to Madison this May, so if you happen to live in my town, we can go see the man in the flesh.
Posted in Censorship
The best part? The woman seeking this book to be banned HOMESCHOOLS her children.
“Though Jaworowski’s children are not students in Stafford County public schools, she says she’s concerned about history education and that’s why she’s chosen to get involved.”
While I realize that there are a lot of people who home school for good reasons (illness, living in the back of beyond, needing to travel often, insert other possibly good reasons here) the vast majority that I have met, read about, and learned about home school for terribly xenophobic reasons. I know quite a few do it b/c of religious beliefs and not wanting their kids to be exposed to evolution or even a general, “liberal,” education. These kids are not offered the chance to be exposed to any ideas outside of their parents’. This woman’s crusade to keep students from reading a book she doesn’t approve of is simply an extension of her desire to control what others learn. God forbid they read liberal propaganda suggesting that God didn’t create the world, the holocaust really did happen, and slavery was not a kindly service to the unable-to-care-for-themselves black people.
I have to say, I wished so much to be homeschooled as a kid, but now, being in education, I have seen how terrible it generally is.
Totally, Olivia.
I was lucky enough to go to a very good high school (to the extent that I, ahem, did actually “go” to high school), but even there we had parents trying to wage occasional morality campaigns limiting what students could learn about.
I was very active in the gay-straight alliance and one thing we were unhappy about was the complete lack of discussion of homosexuality in our school’s otherwise very extensive sex-ed program. The teacher told us that this was because some parents had made a fuss (although, I have to say, I wonder if this was totally true, or was the whole story).
On the other hand, there were some kind of awesome parents involved in our PTA. My senior year, we merged the gay-straight alliance with the feminist club (which I was also very involved in), and named the newly combined group Organization Regarding Gender And Sexual Matters. The PTA thought our new acronym was hilarious and, as I recall, increased our funding. Go figure.
Thank you for taking the time to stop by my blog and sharing your thoughts.
Ugh, I hate all kinds of censorship. I remember we read Howard Zinn in my history class junior year of high school. It was a super conservative type town and I think some parents were uncomfortable with it. I’m glad we still got to–it was nice to get a different view of history and for a lot of kids, I’m sure it’s the first time they really think of history from a different viewpoint.
I like your blog too!