Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were Italian immigrant anarchists who were controversially accused of murdering a guard and a paymaster during the April 15, 1920, armed robbery of the Slater and Morrill Shoe Company in Braintree, Massachusetts, United States. Seven years later, they were executed in the electric chair at Charlestown State Prison.
Anti-Italianism or Italophobia is a negative attitude regarding Italian people or people with Italian ancestry, often expressed through the use of prejudice, discrimination or stereotypes. Its opposite is Italophilia.
Robert Grant was an American author and a jurist who participated in a review of the Sacco and Vanzetti trial a few weeks before their executions.
Webster Thayer was a judge of the Superior Court of Massachusetts, best known as the trial judge in the Sacco and Vanzetti case.
Alvan Tufts Fuller was an American businessman, politician, art collector, and philanthropist from Massachusetts. He opened one of the first automobile dealerships in Massachusetts, which in 1920 was recognized as "the world's most successful auto dealership", and made him one of the state's wealthiest men. Politically a Progressive Republican, he was elected a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, was a delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1916, and served as a United States representative from 1917 to 1921.
Sacco & Vanzetti is a 1971 docudrama film written and directed by Giuliano Montaldo, based on the events surrounding the trial and execution of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, two anarchists of Italian origin, who were sentenced to death for murdering a guard and a paymaster during the April 15, 1920, armed robbery of the Slater and Morrill Shoe Company in Braintree, Massachusetts.
Calvin Hooker Goddard was a forensic scientist, army officer, academic, researcher and a pioneer in forensic ballistics. He examined the bullet casings in the 1929 St. Valentine's Day Massacre and showed that the guns used were not police issued weapons, leading the investigators to conclude it was a mob hit.
Boston is a novel by Upton Sinclair. It is a "documentary novel" that combines the facts of the case with journalistic depictions of actual participants and fictional characters and events. Sinclair indicted the American system of justice by setting his characters in the context of the prosecution and execution of Sacco and Vanzetti.
Winterset is a 1936 American crime film directed by Alfred Santell, based on the 1935 play of the same name by Maxwell Anderson, in a loose dramatization of the Sacco and Vanzetti trial and execution in 1928. The script retains elements of the blank verse poetic meter on which Anderson based his 1935 Winterset Broadway theater production.
Sacco and Vanzetti is a 2006 documentary film directed by Peter Miller. Produced by Peter Miller and Editor Amy Linton, the film presents interviews with researchers and historians of the lives of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, and their trial. It also presents forensic evidence that refutes that used by the prosecution during the trial. Prison letters written by the defendants are read by voice actors with Tony Shalhoub as Sacco and John Turturro as Vanzetti. Interviewees include Howard Zinn, Studs Terkel and Arlo Guthrie.
Capital punishment, more commonly known as the death penalty, was a legal form of punishment from 1620 to 1984 in Massachusetts. This practice dates back to the state's earliest European settlers. Those sentenced to death were hanged. Common crimes punishable by death included religious affiliations and murder.
"Here's to You" is a song by Ennio Morricone and Joan Baez, released in 1971 as part of the soundtrack of the film Sacco & Vanzetti, directed by Giuliano Montaldo. The song was written by Baez and Morricone themselves. The lyrics are only four lines of text, sung over and over. In the United States and internationally, the song became a veritable symbol for the human rights movement of the 1970s.
Sara R. Ehrmann was a Boston civic leader who fought against capital punishment both city- and nationwide. Best known for her work establishing the 1951 "Mercy Law" in Massachusetts, which allowed juries to opt out of the death penalty on first-degree murder cases, Ehrmann was an influential leader of the Massachusetts Council for the Abolition of the Death Penalty (1928–1969) and the American League to Abolish Capital Punishment (1949–1969). She launched her career as a direct response to the internationally controversial Sacco and Vanzetti case, which her husband worked on as an assistant defense councilman.
Clementina Poto Langone (1896–1964) was a civic leader from the North End of Boston who is remembered for her service to the Italian-American community. During the Great Depression she was known as a "Good Samaritan" who distributed food and clothing to the poor and advocated for them politically. As a member of the Massachusetts Board of Immigration and Americanization, she helped hundreds of Italian immigrants assimilate and obtain U.S. citizenship. She served as vice chairman of the Massachusetts Democratic State Committee and as an alternate delegate to the Democratic National Convention.
Joseph A. Langone Jr. (1896–1960) was a Massachusetts state senator from 1933 to 1940, and was Boston Election Commissioner in the 1940s.
Not all of the 5.3 million Italians who immigrated to the United States between 1820 and 1978 came through Ellis Island. Many came through other ports, including the Port of Boston. Exactly how many stayed in Boston is not known, but it was enough to make Italians the second largest ancestry group in Boston, after the Irish. Most settled initially in the North End; others settled in East Boston, the West End, Roxbury, and other neighborhoods.
Frederick G. Katzmann was an American attorney and politician from Massachusetts who served as district attorney for Norfolk and Plymouth counties. He prosecuted Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti for armed robbery and murder in a case that drew worldwide attention.
Arthur Dehon Hill was an American lawyer who served as District Attorney of Suffolk County, Massachusetts and was a defense counsel for Sacco and Vanzetti.
"Sacco-Vanzetti Story" is a two-part American television play that was broadcast on June 3, 1960, and June 10, 1960, as part of the NBC Sunday Showcase series.
The history of Dedham, Massachusetts in the 20th century saw great growth come to the town. It played host to the Sacco and Vanzetti trial, saw the Endicott Estate and a number of schools constructed, a great deal of economic development, and growth in the number of services provided by the Town.
