It is so interesting how Zinn is able to retrieve all of this data. Much of which can not be found nor taught in American history. It may be lesser known that Abraham Lincoln didn’t free the slaves out of the kindness of his heart, but the statistics that Zinn gives, are most likely completely unknown and will never be taught about. This is ridiculous, especially with the amount of American “history” that is pushed down our throats during grade school. It is so interesting that these same tactics, excuses, and justifications are still used today today put down minorities and people in poverty.
History is really whatever story “they” are telling and only what they want us to know. Zinn explains the slave community as “a generalized extended kinship system” and it’s so amazing that the black community still has that today in some sense. Without that being blatantly explained to us, our history lives through our culture.
If the condition slaves were put under, and rebellions because of it, were not enough to get people (Northerners) who weren’t directly affected involved, what would? Does the globalization of the world, and increased technology, allow us to have more empathy, feel more connected, and thus make us better equipped to feel for these situations. What about those situations with child labor in cocoa or the production of clothes? What matters more here quality or quantity, what qualifications make a rebellion move people, and makes it able to overcome oppression and military/police brutality during?
I think you make a good point about how history is taught in grade school. Up all the way into high school you learn that Lincoln freed the slaves and seems to be some major abolitionist. I think it’s crazy that more accurate history still is not being taught to younger kids.
Your point is exactly right because we aren’t taught about the real stories of things that happened and little is done to fix this injustice. It is really crazy that a lot of the founding fathers were portrayed as such heroes but yet they all had really bad qualities to them that people either just overlooked or were suppressed in attempt to hide. Even the fact that Lincoln only freed slaves in order gain support for his cause and not because it was truly a good thing to do is extremely unsettling.