The beloved historian, social activist and author of “A People’s History of the United States,” would have turned 90 years old on Friday. “Democracy Now!” remembers Zinn with clips from speeches he gave near the end of his life.

“We should be honest with young people,” Zinn said when asked by “Democracy Now!” host Amy Goodman whether it was right to criticize the traditional heroes of American history.

“We should not deceive them. We should be honest about the history of our country. And we should be not only taking down the traditional heroes like Andrew Jackson and Theodore Roosevelt, but we should be giving young people an alternate set of heroes.”

— Posted by Alexander Reed Kelly.

“Democracy Now!”:

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#christopher columbus#History#howard zinn#mark twain#rosa parks#theodore roosevelt#video