In 1964 Zinn began developing with SNCC an educational program so that the 200 volunteer SNCC civil rights workers in the South, many of whom had been in college but had dropped out, could continue with their civil rights work and at the same time be involved in an educational system. Up until then many of the volunteers had been dropping out of school so they could continue their work with SNCC. Other volunteers had not spent much time in college. The program had been endorsed by SNCC in December 1963 and was envisioned by Zinn as having a curriculum that ranged from novels to books about "major currents" in 20th-century world history-such as fascism, communism, and anti-colonial movements. This occurred while Zinn was in Boston.