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Role Cards
Role Card 1: The Lowell Committee Your group represents members of the Lowell Committee. You will run the clemency hearing by asking witnesses from six groups a set of questions. Follow these instructions to conduct the hearing:
Step 1: Decide who will represent Governor Alvan

American Civil Liberties Union: What is the name and purpose of your organization? Do you believe that the anti-immigrant sentiment of the period prevented Sacco and Vanzetti from getting a fair trial? Why or why not? Should Governor Fuller grant Sacco and Vanzetti clemency? Nativists: What is the purpose of your group? Do you believe that the social tensions of the period prevented Sacco and Vanzetti from getting a fair trial? Why or why not? Should Governor Fuller grant Sacco and Vanzetti clemency? International Workers of the World: What is the name and purpose of your organization? Do you believe that the labor tensions of the period prevented Sacco and Vanzetti from getting a fair trial? Why or why not? Should Governor Fuller grant Sacco and Vanzetti clemency? Plymouth Cordage Company: What is the name of your company? How do you know Bartolomeo Vanzetti? Do you believe that the labor tensions of the period prevented Sacco and Vanzetti from getting a fair trial? Why or why not? Should Governor Fuller grant Sacco and Vanzetti clemency? East Boston Anarchists Organization: What is the name and purpose of your organization? Do you believe that the political tensions of the period prevented Sacco and Vanzetti from getting a fair trial? Why or why not? Should Governor Fuller grant Sacco and Vanzetti clemency? Official in the Palmer Raids: What is your job? What role did you have in the Palmer Raids? Do you believe that anarchists like Sacco and Vanzetti are dangerous to American society? Why or why not? Should Governor Fuller grant Sacco and Vanzetti clemency?

Fuller. Governor Fuller will start the hearing, call witnesses, and announce the final verdict.
Step 2: Determine who will examine each witness.

Each group member should examine at least one witness. When a witness is called, ask him or her the corresponding questions below.
Step 3: When your teacher tells you to begin

the hearing, Governor Fuller should make the following statement: As the governor of Massachusetts, I now convene the Lowell Committee to hear testimony in the case of convicted felons Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti. After listening to the testimony, the committee will advise me whether or not to grant clemency to these men. I first call on ____________ to testify.
Step 4: Governor Fuller should call on witnesses

in the order below until all groups have testified.

Step 5: Once all groups have testified, vote on

whether to grant the men clemency. Governor Fuller should then make the following statement: The Lowell Committee has rendered its verdict on whether Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti should be granted clemency. I have decided to take their advice. The decision, therefore, is that clemency [will or will not] be granted. The Lowell Committee is now adjourned.

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Role Card 2: American Civil Liberties Union Your group represents the American Civil Liberties Union. All group members should be ready to answer the following questions. Use the information from the lesson to prepare your testimony. What is the name and purpose of your organization? Do you believe that the anti-immigrant sentiment of the period prevented Sacco and Vanzetti from getting a fair trial period? Why or why not? Should Governor Fuller grant Sacco and Vanzetti clemency? Integrate one fact from the text and the following two facts into your response: (1) The police did not use a lineup to have witnesses identify the suspects. Instead, they placed Sacco and Vanzetti alone in the middle of a room and had them pose as bandits. (2) The defense produced 17 witnesses who provided alibis for Sacco and Vanzetti on the day of the murder. One was an official at the Italian Consulate, who remembered that Saccos passport picture was too large to be used.

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Role Card 3: Nativists Your group represents the Nativists. All group members should be ready to answer the following questions. Use the information from the lesson to prepare your testimony. What is the purpose of your group? Do you believe that the social tensions of the period prevented Sacco and Vanzetti from getting a fair trial? Why or why not? Should Governor Fuller grant Sacco and Vanzetti clemency? Integrate one fact from the text and the following two facts into your response: (1) On the day of the arrest, Sacco was carrying a loaded .32 Colt automatic rifle and had more than 20 loose shotgun shells in his pocket. Vanzetti was carrying a .38 Harrington & Richardson rifle and had three shotgun shells in his pocket. (2) Sacco and Vanzetti lied about their whereabouts on the day of the arrest. Role Card 4: Industrial Workers of the World Your group represents the Industrial Workers of the World (Wobblies). All group members should be ready to answer the following questions. Use the information from the lesson to prepare your testimony. What is the name and purpose of your organization? Do you believe that the labor tensions of the period prevented Sacco and Vanzetti from getting a fair trial? Why or why not? Should Governor Fuller grant Sacco and Vanzetti clemency? Integrate one fact from the text and the following two facts into your response: (1) Sacco and Vanzetti lied about their whereabouts on the day of their arrest because they thought they were going to be labeled radical aliens and deported. They lied to protect family members and friends. (2) The prosecutions eyewitnesses provided faulty testimony. One man claimed that Vanzetti had shouted to him in unmistakably clear English, yet Vanzetti spoke broken English. Another witness said Vanzetti drove the getaway car, yet Vanzetti did not know how to drive.
Teachers Curriculum Institute understanding Postwar tensions

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Role Card 5: Plymouth Cordage Company Your group represents the Plymouth Cordage Company, the rope company where Vanzetti once worked and where he had helped organize a strike in 1919. All group members should be ready to answer the following questions. Use the information from the lesson to prepare your testimony. What is the name of your company? How do you know Bartolomeo Vanzetti? Do you believe that the labor tensions of the period prevented Sacco and Vanzetti from getting a fair trial? Why or why not? Should Governor Fuller grant Sacco and Vanzetti clemency? Integrate one fact from the text and the following two facts into your response: (1) On the day of the arrest, Sacco and Vanzetti were preparing to hide anarchist literature from the authorities in order to help suspected subversives. (2) One witness to the murder provided a precise and accurate description of Sacco, including details such as the length of his hair and the size of his hand.

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Role Card 6: East Boston Anarchists Organization Your group represents the East Boston Anarchists Organization. All group members should be ready to answer the following questions. Use the information from the lesson to prepare your testimony. What is the name and purpose of your organization? Do you believe that the political tensions of the period prevented Sacco and Vanzetti from getting a fair trial? Why or why not? Should Governor Fuller grant Sacco and Vanzetti clemency? Integrate one fact from the text and the following two facts into your response: (1) A fellow inmate, named Celestino Madeiros, wrote a note confessing to the double murder. Judge Thayer refused to consider this new piece of evidence. (2) The jury foreman, Harry Ripley, was a former police chief who detested radicals. When his friend suggested that the two men might be innocent, Ripley reportedly responded, They ought to hang anyway.

Role Card 7: Official in the Palmer Raids Your group represents an official involved in the Palmer Raids. All group members should be ready to answer the following questions. Use the information from the lesson to prepare your testimony. What is your job? What role did you have in the Palmer Raids? Do you believe that anarchists like Sacco and Vanzetti are dangerous to American society? Why or why not? Should Governor Fuller grant Sacco and Vanzetti clemency? Integrate the following facts about the case into your response: (1) A gun expert suggested that one of the bullets from the murdered victim could have been shot from Saccos gun. (2) The fellow inmate, Celestino Madeiros, who confessed to the crime in 1925, could not give a detailed description of the crime or the crime scene.
Teachers Curriculum Institute understanding Postwar tensions