A Father's Plea for Innocence: How America Treated Working-class Immigrants
Storyboard Text
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- In the 19th century, working-class immigrants from across the globe flocked to the United States. While some traveled across the sea in hopes of new opportunities in the land that appeared promising, others were forced to take long journeys to escape crises in their homes. For Italians, many fled both during the unification and later during the rise of fascism.
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- However, many Americans reacted to these immigrants, especially those from poorer backgrounds, with hostility. Furthermore, during the rising fear of communism in the West, such as the United Kingdom or the United States, immigrants and the working-class were often suspected of communist activity.
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- One such example of American classism and xenophobia is the case of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, two Italian anarchists in the United States who were accused of robbery and murder and, despite the lack of evidence, were sentenced to death. In his letter to Dante Sacco, Nicola's son, Vanzetti pleads for his innocence, vividly portraying a tragic impact classism and xenophobia left in the history of the American working class.
- My dear Dante
- The documents of our case, which you and other ones will collect and preserve, will prove to you that your father, your mother, Ines, my family and I have sacrificed by and to a State Reason of the American Plutocratic reaction.
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