Italian Immigration In The 1920s

The 1920’s were a time where America was becoming a more modernized country. People were becoming more influenced in consumerism, fashion was changing, and new concepts and views were forming. Due to the new mindset that people had it was relatively easy for people to follow trends, especially if everyone else had a similar view. For example, the trial against Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, brought many American people to have a strong dislike for Italian immigrants for the reason that Americans believed that Italian immigrants were dangerous people, and that they brought over radical thoughts. The Sacco and Vanzetti trial brought the notion that all Italian immigrants were ruining the prestigious country, and the American people wanted

them to leave. Ultimately, this notorious court case was the stepping-stone of how Americans will treat and perceive Italian immigrants in the United States.
April 15, 1920 will forever be a day that people will remember. On that day terrible day, in South Braintree Massachusetts; a guard Alessandro Berardelli, and paymaster, Frederick A. Parmenter, were gunned down by three unidentified men. During this altercation both the guard and paymaster were shoot multiple times and killed. The criminals ran away with almost sixteen thousand dollars . Once news spread about the robbery, police officers wasted no time, and immediately started to investigate Italian immigrants for this heinous crime; due to the reason that many police officers in Massachusetts were hunting down, and deporting Italian anarchist back to their country. The reasoning behind the automatic assumption had to do with the Coacci house. This house had a reputation of hosting anarchist activities . Michael Boda, an Italian anarchist, was one of the individuals that was living in the house illegally. On the day of his court appearance, he did not show up claiming that he was taking care Mrs. Coacci a family friend, who was very ill but the police did not believe Mr. Boda. The reasoning for the high suspicion had to do with the fact that Mr. Boda’s original court date was also on the same date that the shooting occurred on April 15, 1920. Also another reason for the police to not believe Mr. Boda was that a witness had described the car that the bandits rode off in during the robbery, and that the cars description fitted that of Michael Boda’s car. . On May 5, 1920 Sacco and Vanzetti had asked to borrow the same car, not knowing of the implications that the car brought. Police officers on lookout for this exact vehicle saw it and pulled over Sacco and Vanzetti. While they were searching the car and the suspects, police officer found some questionable items on Sacco and Vanzetti. When the police officer searched Sacco, they found he was carrying a .32-caliber Colt pistol , the same bullet that was used to kill the guard and the paymaster. When they searched Vanzetti, he was caught carrying a Harrington & Richardson .38-caliber revolver, this gun was not used in the crime, but the guard was missing the exact weapon . These major key evidence landed Sacco and Vanzetti in jail. From the beginning tainted thoughts were predetermined about Italians immigrants. During the integration of Mr. Sacco and Mr. Vanzetti, Chief Stewart, of the Bridgewater Police station, asked Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti biased questions. Such question include, “Are you an anarchist”, “Are you a socialist?”, “Do you belong to any clubs or societies?”, and “Do you believe in changing the government by force, if necessary?” By having these types of questions it is showing the stereotypes of what American’s thought of what a typical Italian immigrant was like during the 1920’s. This trial was the spark that lit the fuse to an uproar in America and changed the views of immigrants.
Since the beginning of 1920s, Americans already had a negative view on immigration, because they believed immigrants brought over crime and radical ideas.

The American people felt that having immigrants enter their country, and bring over their own culture decreased the beauty that America had established. Giving into these views, United States citizens were becoming less unified, and tensions were heightened. The fact that Sacco and Vanzetti were Italian immigrants did not help them connect to the American people. While many Americans felt that Sacco and Vanzetti were guilty of the charges that were brought against them other Americans, minorities mostly, thought that these two were being prosecuted unjustly. For example, on May 31, 1921, the New York Times published an article goes over the different organizations groups that are helping the Sacco and Vanzetti cause. One organization that helped Sacco and Vanzetti is the League for Democratic Control. Secretary Elizabeth Glendower Evans, made a statement that states “We propose to stand by Sacco and Vanzetti as a second stand by a duelist with the Italian Embassy, we propose to see that every ethic of justice is observed. If it is not, we can multiply our voices a million-fold to spread the news across the land. ” Other institutions that are giving their funds and supports are American Civil Liberties Union, and The New England Civil Liberties Committee . Since these were well-established organizations that were contributing to Sacco and Vanzetti case, other minorities groups also donated to the defense team. In 1925, the Sacco-Vanzetti defense committee released a book that gave the complete breakdown of who, where, and how much money people gave to aid in the defense of Sacco and Vanzetti cases . Due to the support of the people and the various institutions they were able to raise close to 300,000 dollars . On the account that the trial of Sacco and Vanzetti was immensely publicized many people were not

afraid to express their thoughts and feeling on it. For instance, Anatole Francis states “Sacco and Vanzetti have been condemned of a crime based on opinion. Save them for your honor, for your honor of your children, and all of generations yet unborn” . This quote feeds into the emotions that minorities understood the feeling of opposition through the Sacco and Vanzetti case. Due to the high tensions that the court case brought, it was not uncommon to see riots to form. In 1927, the Hartford courant published a photo of a large amount of protestors in Union square, New York. The demonstration was for Sacco-Vanzetti case, but it was quickly dispersed . People who were pro Sacco and Vanzetti knew that preconceive notion of Italians immigrants were getting in the way for a fair trial. The people who believed that Sacco and Vanzetti were guilty of the crimes fought back in newspaper article, The Washington Post printed an article in 1921, explaining how people were getting caught in the “propaganda” of the case. In a counteract, this article shoots down the indication the case was biased and the only reason why these two individuals were charged was, because they were anarchist, when in fact they were not charged on corroborative evidence. “under no circumstances can propaganda be permitted to influence the administration of justice” .
On July 14, 1921 Sacco and Vanzetti were found guilty of robbery, and murder and was sentenced to death in Massachusetts. Sacco and Vanzetti were schedule for execution on August 23, 1927 via electric chair . During their time in prison Sacco and Vanzetti wrote back to home to their loved ones and expressing that they are innocent. In 2009 Janet Zandy wrote a journal article called “Teaching the Letters of Sacco and Vanzetti In and Against the American Grain ” that takes a more personal viewpoint of Sacco and Vanzetti. In one of the letters, Sacco states “we represent two opposite class; the first want to live at any cost and the second fight for freedom, and when it come to take away from him he rebel” . Meaning that this case represented how differently immigrants were treated in America, especially Italian immigrants. Vanzetti identified himself as more of a peaceful man. “The insurrection, the great movements of the soul, do not need dollars. It needs love, light, spirit of sacrifice, ideas, conscience, and instincts. It need more conscience, more hope and more goodness” . These letters gave insight of who these individuals actually were and showed how their limited knowledge about the American culture and language put them in a disadvantage in the America. Hearing the guilty verdict lead to more violence and people separating into two distinctive groups. One group was pro verdict and the other group was against the verdict. The eruption of emotions was not just local it went internationally as well. Russia, England, and Italy all felt that the case against the Sacco and Vanzetti was purely based on race and ideology, not on the facts. The Manchester Guardian, a newspaper company in England, published a story in 1927 that explained how people were outraged on the verdict against Sacco and Vanzetti, these individuals fled to the streets and demanded that Sacco and Vanzetti needed to be released from jail immediately.
Sacco and Vanzetti case caused the powder keg that showed of how immigration was treated unjustly in American. The outcome of this case only continued to show the dividing gap between immigrants and people who were born here. The treatment of Sacco and Vanzetti gave American citizens the excuse to push for harsher regulation when dealing with immigrants coming to America.