WEB SEARCH on one of the following topics:
1) The political climate at the times of Sacco
and Vanzetti and the RED SCARE (please, do no discuss the trial per
se or the issue of innocence/guilt).
2) ITALIAN therefore ANARCHIST: in the first part of XX century, the trope of "violent, passionate, out-of-control Italians" switched from the personal to the political: at first they were seen as dangerous and volatile foreign element (see The Italian), but once they started integrating into society, they were still seen the same way, but in an even more dangerous role, that of "enemies" of the establishment within the realm of political struggle. The settings changed but the plot remained the same.
3) ARTURO GIOVANNITTI: a young Anarchist,
accused of murder during a violent labor strike, he defended himself
in court. It was the first time he spoke in English in public: his
closing argument was so eloquent that he literally saved his own
life with words. He was acquitted. His speech (and subsequent
literary work, poetry etc.) is easily available online.
DIRECTIONS Premise:
READ your classmates' comments. I will remove comments that do not conform to the directions, and I will also post POSITIVELY REPLIES to comments that you can use as examples of a good job.
WARNING: If you write too much, your classmates won't read the whole thing. If you write too little, they won't think you are giving them enough information. It's the Goldilock dilemma.
i) The first student will do research on topic n. 1. Second student, topic n. 2, and so on. Obviously, student n. 4 will start over from n.1. I
i) Post the link of the website(s) you consulted. NO WIKIPEDIA. Avoid using the previously mentioned sites.
iii) Do not do a summary of the website content. Rather, EVALUATE the information CRITICALLY. What does it mean? It means you have to decide if the site is worth recommending.
FOR INSTANCE (but you don't have to address every suggestion in this list):
How is the quality of the info?
What about the quantity of information? Enough? Too much? Would you have liked more information or more links to other sites with additional information? Was there an overt political bias?
Is the website useful to learn things (well organized etc.)
During the times of Sacco and Vanzetti and the Red Scare, the political climate was very unsettling. Through the orders of Attorney General Palmer, federal agents were conducting raids with out search warrants or probable cause, and arrested suspected anarchists with out regarding their rights. There were various riots that broke out throughout the country. Certain Americans, including Palmer himself, felt that getting out "potential wrongdoers" was more important than protecting peoples civil liberties. Many people were put on trial and received unjust treatment just for their views of anarchy. During these times, both immigrants and citizens - but especially immigrants - were treated in a biased manner that had the sole vision of proving a point. America at that time was more concerned with forcing everyone to have the views that the politicians wanted, rather than ensuring their rights are in order.
ReplyDeleteInformation gathered from: http://www.ushistory.org/us/47a.asp
Arturo Giovannitti was an Italian immigrant who became a famous poet. On his path in life he became involved with the socialist movement. When a teenage girl was killed at a rally, he was named as an accomplice and was arrested. Giovannitti was far away from the scene and many witnesses saw a policeman shot the teenage girl. He spent a few months in prison. During the trail he maintained his innocence and wrote poetry while in prison. Rallies were held all over the world, and in Italy one was even attended by Benito Mussolini. What made the speech memorable was how he used the American ideas of justice and freedom to clear himself.
ReplyDeleteItalyheritage.com/ArturoGiovannitti
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThe political climate during the times of Sacco and Vanzetti and the Red Scare was very tense. A. Mitchell Palmer was the U.S Attorney General at the time of the Red Scare .Immigrants in particular were taken out of their homes, radicals were beaten and arrested. Their "crimes" were seen as a potential threat to the government because of the political upheaval at the time. As we saw in the movie, Sacco and Vanzetti were arrested for robbery and murder, which they didn't commit. However, it seems that they were kept there because of the fact that that they were Anarchists. The government wanted everyone to think the same politically as they were thinking.
ReplyDeleteThe quality of the information I found was okay. However, it would've been more helpful if I found more links with additional information regarding this topic.
http://www.thenation.com/learning-pack/sacco-and-vanzetti-case
Arturo Giovannitti was an Italian-American union leader, socialist political activist, and a poet who came to New York in 1904.
ReplyDeleteHe is best known for his views in the group Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). He along side a man by the name of Joseph Ettor, were accused of murder a few years later when things went bad on the job front. The Lawrence Textile Strike was causing a lot of trouble for the government. Local militias were sent out to break up riots. One day a militia policemen was having a confrontation with a women striker by the name Anna LoPizzo leading to her getting shot down by the cop. Another striker the two men knew was charged with her murder but Giovannitti and Ettor were charged with complicity to the murder. Although the two were three miles away and on the other side of town when the shooting occurred, the authorities targeted them for organizing the workers. Their trial was held at Salem Court House on November 23rd 1912. What was the most surprising was Giovannitti spoke in his own defense and spoke in English for the first time in his life. All defendants in the group were eventually found innocent by a jury. His speech towards the jury was not only memorable but moving in the sense that it gave notice to the ideals of freedom engraved in the constitution through the laws it provides. Arturo moved a lot of people with his speech across the world especially in Europe.
http://www.italyheritage.com/great-italians/history/giovannitti-arturo.htm
http://spartacus-educational.com/USAgiovannitti.htm
It was 1921 when Sacco and Vanzetti were found guilty of first degree murder, which was two years after the Red Scare. Although there was no official evidence to be pinned on them, they were found guilty. This is because they were both Italian immigrant anarchist, this was a political case more than a criminal case. This case shows us how corrupt the political system still is to this day, if you have qualifications of an outsider you are assumed guilty, this could be due to fear or an unjust system. For example: Arabic's living in NYC after 9/11 were seen as the enemy although there was no evidence that they were harmful, they just fit the outsider description.
ReplyDeleteThe information I found gave enough info to be aware of the situation while getting to the point.
http://www.vintageperiods.com/sacvan.php
The political climate at the time of Sacco and Vanzetti was in fear of communist ideals. This time was after the end of World War I. Other countries were in the middle of revolutions and wars. America had to deal with labor strikes and riots. Based on what was going on in other countries America feared that people with communist ideas were planning to overthrow the government. Palmer raids were arranged and people with communist ideals were arrested unlawfully. In January of 1920 the New York Times reported that 650 people were arrested. Sacco and Vanzetti among the 650 arrested. This website seems to be credible, there are other categories from this time period you could look upon. There's a good amount of information on this subject.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.1920-30.com/politics/
Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, were Italian anarchists convicted of murder in the celebrated Sacco-Vanzetti trial.
ReplyDeleteBoth Sacco and Vanzetti were accused of murder and robbery yet there was not enough sufficient amount of evidence to prove that they did it. The website I used to gather my information was http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/m_r/millay/sacco.htm. This website was helpful in terms of information however, it was a bit overwhelming because it had a lot of writing. The good thing about this website regarding quality of information, is that it goes into detail clearly and in an organized way from the beginning of the case towards the end of the case.
The article on Arturo Giovannitti was well written, and short enough and well organized to remain interesting. The article starts out by giving a brief biography on the man, and then goes into his arrest and the trial him, Giuseppe Ettor, and Joseph Caruso were involved in. The article wraps up with his literary accomplishments, along with his relative obscurity. All in all, I thought it was a well written article.
ReplyDeleteI used: http://www.italyheritage.com/great-italians/history/giovannitti-arturo.htm
N.1 the information on the website was short and sweet. It got straight to the point. Although I wished it had more information about both the red scare and the overall American feeling towards the Sacco and Vanzetti trial I felt as is if it did a good job of summarizing the information. The information on this site was well written, easy to understand, and informative. My only negative comment was about the length and details, but other than that it was a good source. It also sites their references which makes the limited information not really a problem since you can click the links for more information.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/roaring-twenties/resources/sacco-and-vanzetti-1921
http://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/giovannittijury.html
ReplyDeleteThis website provides the transcript to Arturo's Giovannitti's losing statement when addressing the jury. This site is a history website, seems very credible and credits Giovannitti himself in the footnotes.
Website used: pi.library.yorku.ca
ReplyDeleteThis website takes you straight to a PDF link taken out of a book written by Hester L. Furey titled "The Reception of Arturo Giovannitti's Poetry and the Trial of a New Society." It provides you with background information on Giovannetti including information about his childhood, but also includes information and direct quotes from Giovannetti and other reputable historians. In the footnotes, the author uses other works by historians who have also studied Giovannitti, opening up the possibility for even more information. The information provided is strongly factual, coming more from a historical perspective and I didn't feel that it was politically biased. There was enough information to cover Giovannetti pre, during and post trial.
http://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/red-scare
ReplyDeleteThe Red Scare was a response following the breakout of the Cold War withe the common fear in America that the idea of Communism would take over the American government.
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-sacco-vanzetti-case-draws-national-attention
In the case of Sacco and Venzetti, American found itself in another cause of government turmoil and peril. With Communism again looming it created a great anti-immigrant sentiment and Sacco and Venzetti tried using that to their advantage.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThe red scare took place in the U.S communist, socialist, anarchist were feared. Anarchist were bombing places continuosly. People were accused of crimes they did not commit and going to prison. This remind me of sacco and vanzetti. Both happened around the same time. When the people found out about sacco and vanzetti they were upset about the verdict so they began to protest and signed a petition. The protest went on all over the world.
ReplyDeletehttp://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/saccov/redscare.html