The roots of revisionist history began in the 1960’s and came into fruition with the women’s and civil rights movements. There has been an incredible amount of criticism towards it, for it has both directly and indirectly challenged the status quo of mainstream history put forth by white male historians.
Howard Zinn
Howard Zinn, writer, speaker and world renowned revisionist historian said; “Probably the most important thing anybody can learn… about history, is that history is very subjective and always opinionated. It’s never objective, it’s never neutral… The historian decides for you what is important and puts that down in the history books. And what the historian thinks is important, may not be important to you.” Zinn felt compelled to write when he discovered that many important points in history were either completely ignored or conveniently glossed over, even in his more advanced graduate level history. Zinn’s most popular work, A People’s History of the United States clearly points out many historical omissions regarding Native Americans, African Americans, women and labor movements. To date, Zinn’s bibliography cites 22 other revisionist works as well.
Technology and Historical Research
Today’s historian has more readily available resources for research than ever before at their fingertips. Whether the choice is to take a different perspective or approach on a known subject or bringing light onto less explored areas of history, technology via the worldwide web has proved a valuable research tool. The web has opened doors to a plethora of documentation and supportive evidence previously available only to privileged academics. While many forms of information on the web are under copyright, there are vast libraries with volumes of restored data such as century old memoirs and correspondence no longer under copyright. Public access to genealogical information anf old newspaper archives serve as a fertile starting in terms of exploration of “footnote” history. The web has also created exponential possibilities for exposure and the sharing of historic perspectives with a multinational audience.
Footnote History
Howard Zinn stated in a November 2003 interview: “I’m trying to rewrite history to reflect the point of view of those people who have been left out… I want to change that history to get an idea of what ordinary people have suffered and what ordinary people have done to change their lives.” This is the essence of footnote history. It is the story of ordinary working people, their struggles and triumphs. Memoirs, diaries, and personal correspondence offer first hand information about the lives of people throughout recorded time. That some of these people hold different viewpoints from commonly held beliefs regarding times and events, is a wonderful departure into revisionist history.
Stepping Closer To the Truth
Revisionist history is a rich mosaic of multicultural and multiethnic records of men and women throughout time. While no history is objective or neutral, revisionists work to give voice to those that previously had none. Revisionists explore the omissions of mainstream history and create a climate where all voices are heard. In the process of the telling, history steps closer to the truth about people, places and events that are the substance of our heritage.
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