Resources Supporting the John Adams Courthouse Visitors Film Companion Guide

Part of the companion guide to the John Adams Courthouse Visitors Film, providing resources about cases, lawsuits, documents, historical figures and other information referenced in the Visitors Film.

This section of the companion guide offers online resources to further explore the film’s content, and to serve as a springboard for subsequent history and civics projects. 

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC)

• History of the Supreme Judicial Court
• Current Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Justices

Current Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Justices ^(1.)

Interviews with SJC Justices

• Supreme Court Justices interviewed in the film: 
  • Chief Justice Margaret H. Marshall 
  • Chief Justice Roderick L. Ireland 
  • Chief Justice Ralph D. Gants 
  • Justice Robert J. Cordy
  • Justice Geraldine S. Hines

Related Cases

References and links to information about Massachusetts and United States cases that relate to the Film. 

Salem Witch Trials

• Overview of the Salem Witch Trials (1692) 
• Salem Witch Trials hysteria and context

Oil painting depicting a case of the Salem Witch Trials, entitled "Examination of a Witch" ^(2.)

Watercolor portrait of Elizabeth Freeman, entitled "Mumbet," 1811 ^(3.)

Freedom Lawsuits

• Brom and Bett v. Ashley(1781) 
  • Biography of Elizabeth Freeman, National Women’s History Museum Long Road to Justice
• Quock Walker v. Jennison(1781) 
  • The Quock Walker Cases, Long Road to Justice
  • The Quock Walker case: "Instructions to the Jury," Public Broadcasting Service (PBS)
  • Biography of Quock Walker, BlackPast

Engraving of Sarah Roberts entitled "Turned Away from School," 1839 ^(4.) 

Desegregation Lawsuits

• Roberts v. City of Boston (1849)
  • Sarah C. Roberts vs. The City of Boston, Long Road to Justice 
  • Freedoms Agenda, Commonwealth Museum
• Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) 
  • Plessy v. Ferguson Court Case, Oyez
  • Plessy v. Ferguson law case, Britannica 
  • Plessy v. Ferguson, Topics in Black History
• Brown v. Board of Education (1954) 
  • Brown v. Board of Education, Topics in Black History 
  • The Power of One Decision, Annenberg Classroom

Photograph from the first day of school in Virgina, entitled "Times are Changing," 1955 ^(5.)

Murder Trials

• Rex v. Preston (1770)
  • The Trial of Rex v. Preston (Boston Massacre), Revolution250
  • Notes on the Boston Massacre trials, by John Adams, 1770, "Captn. Prestons Case", Massachusetts Historical Society
  • Boston Massacre Trials: An Account, University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC)

Depiction of one of the first people killed by British Soldiers, Crispus Attucks, in this painting entitled "Boston Massacre," 1770 ^(6.)

Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti (1921) ^(7.)

• Sacco & Vanzetti(1921)
  • Sacco & Vanzetti: Justice on Trial (exhibit), Mass.gov
  • Sacco and Vanzetti Were Executed 90 Years Ago. Their Deaths Made History, TIME (global media)
  • The Sacco and Vanzetti Case and its Impact, The Arthur Ashe Legacy at UCLA
  • Sacco and Vanetti, Digital History

Legal Document References

Cover page of "Thoughts on Government" by John Adams ^(8.)

• The Quartering Act (1765), Boston Tea Party Ship
• Thoughts on Government, by John Adams (1776)
  • "Thoughts on Government: Applicable to the Present State of the American Colonies", Massachusetts Historical Society 
• Massachusetts Constitution & Declaration of Rights (1780) 
  • Massachusetts Constitution (1780), Constitution Center 
  • John Adams & the Massachusetts Constitution, Mass.gov
• United States Constitution (1789) 
  • The United States Constitution, Constitution Center 
  • Constitution of the United States—A History, National Archives 
• Bill of Rights (1791) 
  • U.S. Bill of Rights, Constitution Facts 
  • The Bill of Rights: How Did it Happen?, National Archives 
• Emancipation Proclamation (1863) 
  • Emancipation Proclamation & General Order No. 3, National Archives Foundation 
  • Transcript of the Proclamation, National Archives

Key figures

John Adams of Massachusetts: Continental Congress delegate, diplomat in Europe, vice president to George Washington, and 2nd president of the United States.^(9.)

• John Adams (1735-1826), UVA Miller Center 
• George Grenville (1712-1770), The American Revolution
• Captain Thomas Preston (1722-1798), Captain Preston's Unknown Biography, Boston Massacre Historical Society
• Chief Justice William Cushing (1732-1810), Oyez
• Justice Edmund Trowbridge (1709-1793), Wikipedia
• Justice Samuel Sewall (1652-1730), Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive and Transcription Project
• The Evil (Chief) Justice William Stoughton (1631-1701) Was the Ultimate Hanging Judge at the Salem Witch Trials and Here’s Why, History Collection
• Justice Ruth Ida Abrams (1930-2019), Associate Justice Memorial, Mass.gov
• Sarah C. Roberts (born circa 1984-death date unknown) vs. The City of Boston (1850), BlackPast
• Robert Morris, Sr. (1823-1882), Boston African American National Historic Site, National Park Service
• Charles Sumner (1811-1874), Civil War Biography, American Battlefield Trust
• Chief Justice Lemuel Shaw (1781-1861), Centennial Memorial, Mass.gov
• Nicola Sacco (1891-1927) & Bartolomeo Vanzetti (1888-1927), The Case of Sacco & Vanzetti, Law Library, Mass.gov

Images used

1. Current Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) Justices (Top row left to right: Justice Gabrielle R. Wolohojian, Justice Elizabeth N. Dewar, Justice Serge Georges, Jr., and Justice Dalila Argaez Wendlandt, Bottom row left to right: Justice Frank M. Gaziano, Chief Justice Kimberly S. Budd, and Justice Scott L. Kafker). Photo from the SJC. 
2. "Examination of a Witch," by Thompkins Harrison Matteson. Oil painting on canvas representing the Salem Witch Trials of Massachusetts (1853), from the collection of the Peabody Essex Museum.
3. "Mumbet" portrait of Elizabeth Freeman, born as "Mum Bett," painted by Susan Anne Livingston Ridley Sedgwick. Watercolor on ivory painting (1811). Photo courtesy of Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston. Licensed under Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.  
4. "Turned Away from School," engraving, the Anti-Slavery Almanac, Boston, 1839. From the Long Road to Justice education section on Sarah C. Roberts vs. The City of Boston.
5. "Times are Changing," first day of school in Virgina, 1955, desegregation, issued by the United Press, photo for public use from the Library of Congress.
6. "Boston Massacre, March 5th,1770," artwork by William L. Champney in 1855, modeled after a hand-colored engraving created right after the event. Courtesy of the Massachusetts Historical Society. 
7. Photograph of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, whose robbery and murder convictions started a radicalized movement, by an unidentified artist in 1921, from the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution. 
8. Photograph of the front cover page to "Thoughts on Government: Applicable to the Present State of the American Colonies" by John Adams (1776). Courtesy of the Massachusetts Historical Society.
9. Bust portrait of President John Adams, photo for public use from the Library of Congress.