About The Film
The People Speak is a beautiful and moving film inspired by Howard Zinn’s books A People’s History of the United States—first published in 1980 and one of the bestselling history books in the United States—and Voices of a People’s History of the United States, the primary-source companion to A People’s History of the United States, edited with Anthony Arnove.
Using dramatic and musical performances of the letters, diaries and speeches of everyday Americans, the documentary feature film THE PEOPLE SPEAK gives voice to those who spoke up for social change throughout U.S. history, forging a nation from the bottom up with their insistence on equality and justice.
Narrated by acclaimed historian Howard Zinn, the film is based on his best-selling books, A People’s History of the United States and, with Anthony Arnove, Voices of a People’s History of the United States.

Many millions of people first saw THE PEOPLE SPEAK through the television broadcast on History this past December, and it was Howard Zinn's hope that many millions more would use the film in schools and communities across the country to further education and social change. THE PEOPLE SPEAK Extended Edition DVD is available later this month in a simultaneous launch with "Democracy is Not a Spectator Sport" community campaign dedicated to extending Zinn's vision and inspiring people to stand up and SPEAK OUT.
Learn more about the film at ThePeopleSpeak.com
THE PEOPLE SPEAK is produced by Matt Damon, Josh Brolin, Chris Moore, Anthony Arnove, and Howard Zinn, co-directed by Moore, Arnove and Zinn, and features dramatic and musical performances by Allison Moorer, Benjamin Bratt, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Chris Robinson, Christina Kirk, Danny Glover, Darryl “DMC” McDaniels, David Strathairn, Don Cheadle, Eddie Vedder, Harris Yulin, Jasmine Guy, John Legend, Josh Brolin, Kathleen Chalfant, Kerry Washington, Lupe Fiasco, Marisa Tomei, Martín Espada, Matt Damon, Michael Ealy, Mike O’Malley, Morgan Freeman, P!nk, Q’orianka Kilcher, Reg E. Cathey, Rich Robinson, Rosario Dawson, Sandra Oh, Sean Penn, Staceyann Chin, and Viggo Mortensen.

About Howard Zinn
Howard Zinn (1922-2010) was raised in a working-class family in Brooklyn, and flew bombing missions for the United States in World War II, an experience he now points to in shaping his opposition to war. In 1956, he became a professor at Spelman College in Atlanta, a school for black women, where he soon became involved in the Civil rights movement, which he participated in as an adviser to the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and chronicled, in his book SNCC: The New Abolitionists. Zinn collaborated with historian Staughton Lynd and mentored a young student named Alice Walker. When he was fired in 1963 for insubordination related to his protest work, he moved to Boston University, where he became a leading critic of the Vietnam War.

He is perhaps best known for A People's History of the United States, which presents American history through the eyes of those he feels are outside of the political and economic establishment.

For more about Howard Zinn: http://www.howardzinn.org/default/index.php