Quote from Howard Zinn from his book: "Voices of a people's history"

"What is common to all these voices is that they have mostly been shut out of the orthodox histories, the major media,the standard textbooks, the controlled culture. The results of having our history dominated by presidents and generals and other "important" people is to create a passive citizenry, not knowing its own powers, always waiting for some savior on high - God or the next president- to bring peace and justice.

History looked at under the surface, in the streets and on the farms, in GI barracks and trailer camps, in factories and offices, tells a different story. Whenever injustices have been remedied, wars halted, woman and blacks and Native Americans given their due, it has been because "unimportant" people spoke up, organized, protested, and brought democracy alive."