The+Trial+of+Sacco+&+Vanzetti

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Event Summary

 * Nicola Sacco** and **Bartolomeo Vanzetti** were two Italian anarchists who were accused of killing the guard and the pay master on April 15th, 1920 in South Braintree, Massachusetts.
 * They were most likely accused because of their political beliefs and their status as immigrants. Neither had any criminal record at all.
 * They were found guilty, but Judge Webster Thayer did not hand down their sentence.
 * There was an outcry called for a new trial, especially after a convicted bank robber, Celestino Madeiros, admitted to having participated in the April 15th events.
 * Despite this new information, Judge Thayer handed down a death sentence in 1927. Sacco and Vanzetti were executed August 23rd, 1927.

[[image:primary_sources.PNG]]Primary Sources
[|The Trial of Sacco and Vanzetti] (1921) from Famous American Trials website

Justice the Issue! Sacco and Vanzetti Defense Committee

Bartolomeo Vanzetti Speech to the Jury

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Sacco and Vanzetti Put to Death This Morning, //The New York Times//



Sacco and Vanzetti Documentary Film Trailer on YouTube

Roger Ebert review of the 1971 film

[[image:Screen Shot 2017-02-24 at 12.30.24 PM.png]]Teaching Resources
Click here for a mock trial lesson on the Sacco & Vanzetti Trial

Safety or Civil Liberty: The Trial of Sacco and Vanzetti



August 23 is Sacco and Vanzetti Memorial Day in Massachusetts

 * Link to 1977 50th Anniversary Proclamation