Essay on Howard Zinn Chapter 1 Study Questions

1. Zinn’s main purpose for writing A People’s History of the United States is to show history from the viewpoint of others.

History is something we constantly refer to progress ourselves as humans, we learn from our mistakes and continue to strive from our successes. But who is to say what is a horrible mistake or a courageous act of valor? That which was documented about what happened so long ago, was done by a person who spread the story or wrote it down from their perspective. Howard Zinn’s argument that there is no such thing as impartial history clearly illustrates that when history is recorded there is always two sides to the story, that things are either left out or kept in to sway the reader to one side or the other. “Everyone is biased, whether they

Columbus has always been portrayed as an enlightened, peaceful explorer who “discovered” a new world, and became friends with the native people. Howard Zinn’s view on Columbus’s encounter with the natives is an entirely different perspective. Zinn describes Columbus as a man who is willing to torture and kill others to be able to accomplish what he wants; in this case he wanted to obtain gold and other resources to take back with him to Spain.

2. By assigning both, The People’s History of the United States, and A Patriot’s History of the United States, it allows us to take a look at two different views of American history. Howard Zinn, the author of The People’s History of the United States, seems to tell the story from the view of those not in power, like those in slavery, women, and Native Americans. Conversely, the authors of A Patriot’s History of the United States, Larry Schweikart and

2.) His thesis for the first eleven pages is to describe past events as they happened. Regarding Columbus, Zinn wouldn’t glorify him as a hero, because he wasn’t. He was violent and greedy and would describe him as such.

As Zinn presents his weakly-formed argument in chapter one of “A People’s History of the United States,” he uses unconventional amounts of emotion and factual details in an attempt to relay his message that textbooks and historians deliberately exclude alternative perspectives in order to

America is a nation that is often glorified in textbooks as a nation of freedom, yet history shows a different, more radical viewpoint. In Howard Zinn’s A People's History of the United States, we take a look at American history through a different lens, one that is not focused on over glorifying our history, but giving us history through the eyes of the people. “This is a nation of inconsistencies”, as so eloquently put by Mary Elizabeth Lease highlights a nation of people who exploited and sought to keep down those who they saw as inferior, reminding us of more than just one view on a nation’s history, especially from people and a gender who have not had an easy ride.

1.According to Zinn, what is the purpose for writing A People’s History of the United States?

The first Africans to arrive in the colonies were not slaves instead they were considered servants just as other Europeans that worked under a contract that would allow them to be free after they have worked for several years. This contract would include land, their freedom, and clothes. Years after, the more Africans that arrived to the colonies the more the Europeans started to recognize slavery, put laws towards the slaves, and treat the Africans like they would treat the Indians like animals.

Slavery in America was a horrific time period that negatively affected African Americans, and still affect some to this day. Africans were kidnapped from their homes, brought overseas in an inhuman effort, tortured, beaten, and forced to work long grueling hours for no pay. Because of the color of their skin they were considered worthless, and they were also considered as property. Whites did not recognize African Americans as human beings, and

In the chapters 11 and 12 of A People's History Of The United States, Zinn’s underlying point is the corruption within our own government and the problem of American Imperialism, especially during times of war. In order to support these points, Zinn highlights various points in history and stories that relevant to the topic.

5. In tradtional history books, according to Zinn, Christopher Columbus' story is portrayed as an adventure rather than a bloodshed tragedy. Children are taught that he sailed the ocean blue in 1492 and discovered America. However, they are not taught about the many lives destroyed by Columbus and his men when they realized the many advantages they had against the natives.

1. Zinn’s thesis for pages 1-11 is that the English did something that they weren’t supposed do, they killed and made the Indians live a life in hell. He hates how the English took the land from the natives and only to get gold. He hates how the English made the Indians do what they didn’t want to do and that they made them their slaves. His statement is that the English are the bad people and that they didn’t need to do anything that they did.

This book has proven to be an enlightening read. It both teaches and inspires. Howard Zinn has offered us a perspective of the real story of American history heretofore unavailable to us – history from the perspective of real people – immigrant laborers, American women, the working poor, factory workers, African and Native Americans.

African slavery started at the 16th century and ended in the 19th century. Slave life was the most brutal and disrespected period of America. When Africans first stepped foot on the slave ships coming to America things were bad. The white man beat, raped, and treated the black men like animals. Life on the plantation wasn’t any better. The slaves didn’t work for a paycheck, they worked for their lives. The black man had difficulties adapting to the environment, learning another language, and being a monogamous.