He started with a massive sit-in in several cafeterias in downtown Atlanta. They were arrested on countless charges that ranged from conspiracy to refusing to leave the premises. He and his students continued demonstrations and other forms of resistance to prove their diligence in working for the cause. The Spelman administration was in a moral dilemma because of their tight conservatism. The ultimately fired Zinn to the students" distaste, but that did not stop his fight.
This lead him to a new group called the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee where he would be working in the front lines of some of the most historical events of the Civil Rights Movement. He worked on Freedom Days in Albany, Georgia, Selma, Alabama, Greenwood and Hattiesburg, Mississippi in an attempt to register black voters and witness the ignorance of the United States government. He marched from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama on a quest for freedom. He spent the "Freedom Summer" in Mississippi teaching and organizing in the summer of violence and resistance.
Along the way he ran into many prominent people such as Marian Wright, Julian Bond, E. Franklin Frazier, Dick Gregory, Fannie Lou Hamer, and Dr. Martin Luther King. His involvement in the movement, far from minimal, was apart of the bigger picture: The movement for social change. From his days at Spelman to his advising the SNCC actions, he was one of the people on the forefront of change, never tiring in his efforts.
He was apart of history, and he new it. His work paid off when segregation laws were banned, but we know that we still have a long way to go in the never-ending fight for equality.
Being a veteran of World War I made him realize the horrors of war and why it occurs. After his tour of duty, he sought to find out why the United States were doing the things that they were doing. He discovered that the country is out for world domination and they did not want their credibility challenged.