I had never heard of Howard Zinn prior to hearing announcements telling of his visit to Pomona. I had heard his book, A People’s History of the United States, mentioned, and the acclaim I’d heard for his book combined with the excitement some friends expressed for his visit made me eagerly anticipate his lecture.

The talk, entitled "The Uses of History," was given to a full house at Seaver Theater on Tuesday night, and was followed by a reception for students at President Peter Stanley’s house. Zinn spoke more about historical methodology than actual history, but he also backed up points he made about ways in which history has been recorded with historical events.

Zinn spoke primarily of a need he sees for history to be recounted from different perspectives. Although people traditionally think of history as factual and objective, Zinn asserted that "there is no such thing as just a fact," that every fact presented "represents a judgement of importance." The history which Zinn wants to tell is not a history of facts. It is one which includes a multitude of different perspectives, and one which interprets existing facts. His is a history which requires its "tellers" to look at the world through skeptical eyes, and to think critically about things that happen.

Zinn also called upon his audience as recipients of information, asking us to question the history which we receive and the sources through which we receive it. Zinn stressed that he does "not believe in objectivity…Inevitably, history involves a selection from a mass of data. What you select to present as history depends on what you perceive as important."

He also made the point that "eras [of history] have been labeled by what the upper class was doing." By emphasizing that the sources from which history has been told are largely elite and powerful, Zinn pointed out that the history told is not the history of all people. Most stories we hear of history are told by an uncritical and partial voice which is using the history to uphold and maintain its own place in society. For example, Zinn cited the "Roaring Twenties" as a time recorded and remembered as prosperous, though "not everybody was living high."

Zinn talked a lot about the influence which his life experiences have exerted over his view of history. He was raised in a working class family in Brooklyn, New York. While growing up, he "developed a class consciousness," an awareness that is "not talked about much in the United States." He felt that his life directly contradicted the American values which his teachers were telling him in class. Though he was taught that people who work hard in America succeed, all around him he saw adults who were working very hard without being rewarded for their efforts. Zinn reflected, "It became clear…that there were things in American history that weren’t given to me in the books given to me in school."

Zinn went on to fight in World War II, dropping bombs because that is how he was taught to fight fascism. That was perceived as "the good war," Zinn said, yet "I had come to the realization that war doesn’t solve fundamental problems…though it may seem to." Zinn was distressed to realize that fascism and racism would still exist in the world, that a war couldn’t wipe them out.

From 1956-1963, Zinn had his first teaching job, at Spelman College in Atlanta, while the civil rights movement was gaining speed. Following the example of his students, he became active with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, and helped fight for civil rights. He learned that, "looking at history from a black point of view…the heroes are different." Zinn cited Woodrow Wilson as a president who, though perceived by white America as a hero, advocated segregation. He also pointed out how, although Abraham Lincoln did play a large part in abolition, his role of the "great emancipator" was played up; that the abolition was a product of the work of many grassroots activists active from 1830-1860.

This example is one of many which Zinn used to support his view that "democracy comes alive only when people act on their own. It doesn’t come from above, it comes from below." The three branches of government, he realized, "hadn’t worked for black people." Zinn called on the attendees of his talk to challenge history as it has been told, the history of rulers, war strategies, and big business. He challenged us to "create alternate sources of information" rather than accept things we read in books and in the press. He told us that "history is useful for making you a skeptic, making you a critical thinker."

Zinn advocated the application of a critical perspective to current politics. Using the situation in Kosovo as an example, he expressed his feeling that "it is important to apply history to what is going on at any moment. If history can’t tell us what is going on today, then what’s the point? It’s as if you were born yesterday." He advocated a analysis of the Kosovo situation in light of the United States’ history of military interventions. Are we usually involved in wars for completely humanitarian reasons? What are the deeper reasons for our involvement in Kosovo?

Zinn’s lecture was introspective, thought provoking, and interesting. During the question and answer session, it also became clear that he truly cared about our opinions and insights as students. My night after the reception was consumed with conversations regarding issues and questions which Zinn raised. He made it feel important–in this Claremont "bubble" where intellectual thought sometimes seems impotent and meaningless–to engage in these dialogues which we have in and out of class and to learn more and more about class relations and social histories. In high school and elementary school, I never understood history. Its applications seemed only theoretical. "All the stuff we’re talking about is already over," I thought, and I dismissed history as a valid field of study. I think that Zinn accurately and powerfully elucidated "the uses of history," just as he set out to do. The history is the present and the future, we hear, and generally don’t believe. Zinn made that usually idle and weak cliché come to life and gain meaning for me.

I did have some problems, however, and feel, ironically, that Zinn would appreciate my viewing his night at Pomona through a critical eye. It’s hard, at a talk as powerfully left-leaning as Zinn’s, to justify the privileged society in which both Pomona students and Zinn live. Given that President Stanley wouldn’t let the Workers’ Support Committee deliver a letter to his house, it’s ironic that the reception for Zinn, considered a radical, socialist leftist by many, was held in President Stanley’s house, and that this time, he let members of the WSC in. If we’re wining and dining a schmancy speaker, Stanley’s doors are open to all. If his students–acting on principles which said speaker advocates–want to speak to our president, he has shown himself to be notably less receptive. (How many of you could pick him out of a lineup?) I’m sure the amount of money we paid Zinn to talk about people who have no money is phenomenal. It’s ironic that we sat in a circle around Zinn, talking about the injustices we witnessed at our minimum wage, part time summer jobs as people served us drinks and picked up our used cups in Stanley’s spacious home. But it is hard to know what else to do. Here we are. Hopefully, we are learning so that we can help. There’s no use in throwing this out, in disowning or failing to recognize the position we have. What we need to know is that acting can make a difference.

Zinn was saying that he gets e-mails from people around the world, who tell him about their situations. He said that people from Kosovo have written and told him that through our offensive, we have killed the strong opposition to Milosovic which formerly existed there. "The enemy is in the sky," he pointed out. Milosovic isn’t bombing them, isn’t accidently hitting their loved ones. We are. Zinn presented his perspective clearly, effectively, and compassionately. He is not just speaking at elite colleges. He has used his intellectual training to question and better society. He is out in the world, helping people understand the world around them and their possibilities. His message is especially inspiring since it centers around individual action. Power is not only held by the government, he says. We are the government, and we are the power.