By Kajal Gheewala

Highlighting the Italian-American experience, University authors discussed an integral trial that defined “Poverty, Prisons, Poetry and Politics” in the Cultural Center Theatre on Thursday night. The event, part of the cultural lecture series, encompasses four nights with discussions based around four different books, each covering a different facet of Italian-American life.

The third and most recent book of this four part series entitled “Representing Sacco and Vanzetti,” focuses on two Italian born anarchists who were arrested and executed in Massachusetts in 1927, portraying the men in different forms of media. Jerome Delamater, Professor Emeritus of Audio/Video/Film at the University and Mary Ann Trasciatti, Associate Professor and Chair Department of Speech Communication, are the co-editors of the book, serving as the speakers for the lecture.

“It has been almost 80 years exactly since their execution and the case of Sacco and Vanzetti has been talked about from the day they were arrested to, well basically today,” said Delamater.

By displaying the case and the trial, Delamater and Trasciatti spent 90 minutes covering the ways in which Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti have been represented in Giuliano Montaldo’s movie, “Sacco e Vanzetti,” and a documentary on the trial by Peter Miller, as well as various other works such as art and literature like Upton Sinclair’s “Boston.”

“It was, of course, an important event, and while we cannot shed any new light onto the topic of whether or not they were guilty, we can and are here to speak of what happened and the ways in which the case has been represented over the last 80 years or so,” Delamater said.

Interchanging movie clips with lecture points, Trasciatti offered the audience the historical accuracies of the case while Delamater discussed the reasons behind the artists’ interpretation of the events. The two focused on key points of the Montaldo film, showed an in-depth look into the Palmer Raids on immigrants and political activists of 1920. Other points discussed about Montaldo’s “Sacco e Vanzetti” featured several scenes of the trial using the actual transcript from the case before both men were executed.

Additionally, another documentary by filmmaker Peter Miller entitled Sacco and Vanzetti, showcased the artwork that the Sacco and Vanzetti case inspired.

“Their execution led them to political martyrdom,” said Trasciatti. “Many artists wrote poems, songs and books that captured the spirit which the case represented, not to mention the drawings and paintings that were done as well.” After the information session, Trasciatti and Delamater held a question and answer period, allowing comments from the audience before turning in for the night.

“I enjoy coming to these lections at the University,” said Mary Catan, a Farmingdale resident whose husband is a University alum. “They always bring in cultural or religious ties to the events and it sparks interest with the alumni who live near the school.”

Audio/Visual/Film professor Jerome Delamater discusses the Sacco and Vanzetti trial through various digital mediums.