Zinn Howard’s book A People’s History of the United States has, over time, become a sensation to historians. Over the years, history has mainly focused on the role of the founding fathers and the colonial elites in the American Revolution war. For instance, it has overlooked the contribution of minority groups, including women, freed slaves, and foreign workers to the attainment of independence and democracy for America and their social welfare post-independence. Zinn, in his novel, captures detailed historical events of the aftermaths of the revolutionary war in an entire chapter. Historically, revolutionary war is one of the greatest things to ever happen to America. Zinn names chapter five A kind of revolution because he believes the true revolution is that which is achieved by the revolt of the masses against injustices and oppression.
In chapter five, Zinn provides a detailed discussion of the American Revolution and how the formation of the American government was actualized. He uses the chapter to show the importance of their participation in the war. Many working-class whites and minority groups joined the American militia hoping that they will be fortunate. This, however, did not come to pass. Colonial elites were tasked with the burden of making decisions about the land left by the defeated Loyalists post-Revolutionary war. They largely claimed most of this land for themselves and gave a part of it to middle-class farmers who also participated in the war. Women freed slaves and foreign workers were not considered in sharing of the property (Zinn, 2012). The revolution did not benefit the poor in better social welfare and in fact, oppressed them even more.
Class conflict came in, and the poor resented the rich. This conflict came in due to the non-improvement of welfare among the poor despite their contribution to the war. In retaliation, they went on uprisings against the elites and staged mutinies all over America (Zinn, 2012). Through these forces of protest and rebellions, constitutional changes came about as a result of people’s push.
In the interview on bill Moyers’s journals, Zinn Howard uses the platform to give more insight and emphasize the importance of individual participation in the push for social change. In the interview, Zinn uses “the people speak,” which is an adaptation from his book, through actors, singers, and speakers bringing to live voices of protests from America’s past that shaped the present liberties and democracy. The title “A Kind Of Revolution” is referenced in the interview through what Zinn quotes as ” Change that leaders themselves are not likely to initiate” he links changes that leaders and government have made to the social movements by individuals and activists (Moyer, nd).
The connection of Zinn’s title “A Kind Of Revolution” in the George Plaza interview is brought when George states that the Latin community was a neglected lot in terms of the development of welfare and social amenities. This was despite the Latin community being well represented in both the upper and lower house. Powershift connects the improvement of welfare for the Latinos through activism. George gives examples like the “immigration movement” and demonstrates the importance of activists calling for the government to pay attention to Latino issues and eventually how their revolts shifted power back to the people. This is similar to Howard Zinn’s “A Kind Of Revolution” idea that the true revolution is the one that challenges the status quo by the people pushing for change (Brown, 2021).
The title “A Kind of Revolution” for this chapter was, therefore, Zinn Howard’s way of demonstrating that regardless of how history tells on the American Revolution as a war won by the founding fathers for the independence of America, the actual revolution is one that is orchestrated by the masses pushing for their rights against injustices and oppression by the elite in the thrive to look out for their welfare at the expenses of the low-class citizens. It is the push by the masses that bring on political changes that Howard calls “Change that leaders themselves are not likely to initiate.”
References
“Questioning Brown Power .” Youtube, Buelna News, 18 Sept. 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaWrFCHbRt8.
The Bill Moyer interview: https://vimeo.com/33239792
Zinn, H. (2012). A People’s History of the United States: teaching edition. eBookIt. com.
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