Zinn, Howard
- Object Type
- Oral history
- Object ID
- 13372
- Date
- December 8 2008
- Description
- Howard Zinn (1922-2010) grew up in Brooklyn, New York. He began working at the Brooklyn Navy Yard as an apprentice after taking a civil service test in 1940. Because he worked at the Navy Yard, his family was able to move into a housing project in Fort Greene, Brooklyn. Zinn left the Navy Yard to join the Air Force in 1943. He later went on to become an historian, author and activist. During his interview, Zinn explains how he ended up working at the Brooklyn Navy Yard and details his work there as an apprentice shipfitter. He says the best part of his time at the Navy Yard was organizing the Apprentice Association, which was an organization of apprentices who were not allowed to be a part of the American Federation of Labor unions at the Yard. He also talks about his salary, organizing a basketball team, commuting to work from Fort Greene, uniforms, witnessing a workplace accident, and race and ethnicity.
- Related Collection
- Brooklyn Navy Yard Oral History Project
- Subjects
- Labor and Yard Workers, Leisure and Recreation
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