Sacco and Vanzetti - High School US History

I'm in the midsts of reading Zinn's "A People's History of the United States" (Yes, I know I'm probably the last person on DU to have read it but at least I finally did...see my thread in Books: non-fiction" :) )

Anyway, I came to the discussion of the Sacco and Vanzetti in the book and I was reminded that they were arrested in my home town. I remember discussing this case in one of my High School history classes. I don't really remember how it was presented but I distinctly remember we talked about it.

My question is this. Was this something I was exposed to in my High School just because of it's local connection or is this standard subject matter in US High Schools. I somehow suspect that it isn't usually covered.

I graduated in the mid 80's.

Anyone else remember covering the Sacco and Vanzetti case in High School US History Class?

FYI: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacco_and_Vanzetti

Nope, never heard about Sacco and Vanzetti at all in high school that I recall. Of course, back then it would have been more "current events" than "history." :)

On edit and further thought: Now that I reflect further, we did read a little book called "Only Yesterday" about the time between the end of WWI and the election of FDR, roughly the 1920s. Sacco and Vanzetti was probably mentioned in the book, but I don't recall it being a subject of any thorough discussion.

In Mid Mo, and the only reason I knew of Sacho and Vanzetti is due to my mother's mentioning of it, and my own love of history. Wasn't covered in any school curriculum that I know of.

I remember discussing it in history class

ago channel 5 did and really good show about the case.

That's where we discussed it. I think I also heard about it in Jr. High School. I went to East.

so now for the question only a Brockton high alum would understand.

Which House :)

But there wasn't really a lot of discussion about what happened, and the book mentioned that later evidence seemed to indicate that they were guilty.

We went into a little more detail when it came to the trial of the Rosenbergs.

If I remember correctly that case was part of a general presentation on the Red Scare and the case wasn't dwelled upon persay.

Never once heard about any case where someone was wrongly convicted except Dred Scott.

classes I took in high school and college....1964-1967 era.

..about them then.

Like Helen Keller, their ideological commitment to their leftist cause (and Sacco's personal eloquence as a writer) was papered over. It was treated as purely anti-immigrant thing with no discussion of the reasons there were so damn many leftists waltzing around the country at the time. I don't see much cover up here, so much as shallow coverage of worthwhile topics.

US/20th Century history. Red scare.. no evidence...immigrants with little English... the whole thing. Proud of it.

but I was a voracious reader with an interst in history from an early age, and I was about six years old the first time I read about Sacco and Vanzetti...so it was something I already knew by the time I was in high school.

I don't remember if it was covered in school. I loved history and still do so I am sure I did a lot of studying about the case on my own. I also remember it being in the news again in the 70's when Gov. Dukakis declared that they had not had a fair trial (or something to that effect).

I had a great lesson on it.

I had a filmstrip on the case but the catch was it came with two different audio-casettes. One casette made them look incredibly innocent, the other incredibly guilty. I divided the class in half with another teacher and sent half my class to her room and half her class came to mine.

In her class they did the film on Sacco and Vanzetti, the other class did the poetry of the Harlem Renaissance, especially WEB DuBois' "The Negro Speaks of Rivers" (if I remember the title correctly).

Then after the two days the kids were asked to write a brief summary of whether they were guilty or innocent and why.

No surprise, the ones who saw it the first day almost all said guilty, the second day almost all said innocent.

It was a great lesson because in additon to the Red Scare, and the S-V case, we also learned to be careful about what you hear and how effective propaganda could be. There was always the 2-3 people in each class who went against the main opinion, and were real proud of themselves.

Norman Schwartzkop's dad was the prosecutor of the case by the way.