Howard Zinn

American anarchist historian, author, playwright, and activist. Zinn described himself as "something of an anarchist, something of a socialist. Maybe a democratic socialist."

Howard Zinn, born on this day in 1922, was an American historian, playwright, civil rights activist, and socialist thinker most known for his work "A People's History of the United States", originally published in 1980.

Zinn was chair of the history and social sciences department at Spelman College, and a political science professor at Boston University. He wrote over 20 books, including his best-selling and influential text "A People's History of the United States", the inspiration for this project.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) created a file on Zinn in 1949 due to his participation in organized labor. In the 1960s, as a result of Zinn's campaigning against the Vietnam War and his influence on Martin Luther King Jr., the FBI designated him a high security risk to the country by adding him to the Security Index, a list of American citizens who could be summarily arrested if a state of emergency was declared.

FBI memos, released in 2010 after a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, also show that they were concerned with Zinn's repeated criticism of the FBI for failing to protect black people against white mob violence. Zinn's daughter said she was not surprised by the files - "He always knew they had a file on him."

Zinn described himself as "something of an anarchist, something of a socialist. Maybe a democratic socialist." He wrote extensively about the Civil Rights Movement, the anti-war movement and labor history of the United States. His memoir, "You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train" (Beacon Press, 2002), was also the title of a 2004 documentary about Zinn's life and work. Zinn died of a heart attack in 2010, at age 87.

"There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people."

- Howard Zinn