Republican introduces legislation to ban Howard Zinn's books from publicly funded schools
The bill has been referred to the House of Education
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.A Republican lawmaker has introduced legislation which is looking to ban the works of Howard Zinn from publicly funded schools.
The bill was drafted by Kim Hendren, the member of the Arkansas House of Representatives, and has been referred to the House of Education.
Zinn, who died in 2010, was a historian, activist and writer and penned the best-selling book A People’s History of the United States.
His revisionist account of history focuses on a range of topics including the alleged blood lust of Theodore Roosevelt and the racial failings of Abraham Lincoln.
Mr Hendren is urging public schools not to use the material and the bill he introduced says it will “prohibit a public school district or open-enrolment public charter school from including in its curriculum or course materials for a program of study books or any other material authored by or concerning Howard Zinn”.
The Zinn Education Project said more than 250 teachers in Arkansas had signed up to history lessons from the project’s website.
It also pledged to send free copies of A People’s History of the United States to any teacher that requests it.
This is not the first time there have been attempts to ban Zinn’s books. In 2010 there was a similar move in Indiana and in 2011 his work was removed from schools in Tuscon, Arizona.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments