Sacco+and+Vanzetti



__**Objective**__
 * Students will analyze the Sacco and Vanzetti court case and explain why they think Sacco and Vanzetti were innocent or guilty.

__**Do Now**__
 * Do you think that holding a radical idea is against the law? Why or why not?

Lesson: Read the excerpt below and analyze the //__**who, what, when, where, and why**__// of the Sacco and Vanzetti court case.
Sacco and Vanzetti In the 1920s a court case in Massachusetts dramatically illustrated the nation’s struggle with nativist and anti-radical feelings. In May 1920, two men, Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, were arrested for armed robbery and murder. The two men were Italian immigrants. More importantly, they proclaimed that they were **anarchists**— radicals who sought the destruction of government. At the trial, it became clear that the evidence against the two men was weak. It also was apparent that Sacco and Vanzetti were on trial for their political beliefs as well as for bank robbery and murder. Amid great publicity and protests in Europe and South America as well as in the United States, the two men were convicted and sentenced to die. They were executed in 1927. Historians still argue over the guilt or innocence of Sacco and Vanzetti. Many agree, however, that the men’s political ideas played a prominent role in the trial. Bartolomeo Vanzetti expressed these same ideas before his trial.

HISTORY’S VOICES
 * “My conviction is that I have suffered for things I am guilty of. I am suffering because I am a radical, and indeed I am a radical; I have suffered because I was an Italian, and indeed I am Italian.” ||
 * —Bartolomeo Vanzetti in court, 1927 ||

The executions of Sacco and Vanzetti were highly controversial at the time. By then, however, the nation had largely recovered from the Red Scare and the turmoil of the postwar years. The 1920s would be very different from the previous decade.

Here are student responses - taken 2-10-11

If you were a member of the jury at the Sacco and Vanzetti trial, would you find them innocent or guilty? Explain your position.
 * Summary/Assessment**