JURY TRIALS FOR THE CLASSROOM Analyzing the Haymarket Riot Lesson on the Vire Dire in the Haymarket Trial Resources from the Chicago Historical Society

The American Jury: Analyzing the Haymarket Riot

Beverly Ellison
Forsyth County
North Carolina

Grade: 9th, 11th

Subject: Legal and Political, United States History

Objectives

By utilizing primary and secondary sources related to and recounting the Haymarket Riot and the trial of the Haymarket defendants, students are expected:

• To gain an understanding of the political, social, and economic conditions that existed in the late nineteenth century.
• To examine the jury's role in the judicial process and how its compositions can impact the outcome of a trial.
• To define, explore, and analyze the impact of bias on the deliberation and decision process of the jury.

North Carolina Social Studies Standard Course of Studies

Legal and Political Systems

Competency Goal 2: The learner will explain rights and analyze the obligations of a responsible citizenship

• 2.7 Analyze cost and benefits of jury service, voting, seeking office, and civic action in general United States History

Competency Goal 6: The learner will interpret economic, social, and political trends of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

• 6.2 Make inferences about the influences of immigration and rapid industrialization on urban life
• 6.3 Trace the development of labor unions and judge their effects on economic arrangements and the lives of working people

Suggested time allowance: 1- 2 class periods

Resources/ Materials:

• Civic textbook
• U.S. History textbook
• Pen/ pencils/ paper
• Resources containing information about the Haymarket Riot
• "Haymarket: Whose Name the Few Still Say With Tears," an educational script published by the American Bar Association
• Photographs, transcripts, and other information about the Haymarket Riot and Trial at the Chicago Historical Society.
• 12 Angry Men (1957), video and lesson resources
• Jury Research Institute voir dire questions

Activities/ Procedures

1. Using their journals as a warm-up exercise, students respond to several of the following questions: "What are the first five things you notice when you meet a new person from a different culture or race? (Students do not have to just sight, but other sensory perceptions) What opinions do you form immediately about this person? How do these observations determine whether or no you would like to get to know them better? How does their dialect or clothing make a difference in your judgment?
2. Alternative warm-up exercise: To understand the difficult and confusing job that is presented to jurors, read the following scenario to your class:

   Imagine you have "been volunteered" to take a semester doctoral level course on nuclear physics. Your classmates and you have been selected because you do not have any background or training in nuclear physics. This class is unlike any course you have taken. The very first day, your professor announces the class rules:

   1. There will be no syllabus given to you or order of topics to be covered.
   2. There is no assigned reading to help you understand the course material.
   3. The entire course will be presented in lecture format and you will not be able to ask any questions of the teachers.
   4. You will not be allowed to take notes during the lecture.
   5. You are prohibited from discussing the course with your classmates, friends, and family.
   6. You may not seek help from anyone you may know who has experience in nuclear physics.
   7. You will have two teachers taking turns teaching nuclear physics. However, these two experts have two very different approaches to nuclear physics, and they will each bring in their own guest lecturers to help you understand their versions.
   8. Finally, there will be just one exam at the end of the course; and it will be a group exam. You will not be told the specific questions on the exam until the end of the course, but you are told that you will have to figure out which version of nuclear physics you think is the true one. Twelve of your classmates will be required to arrive at the same answers.

   Discuss the following questions:

   • What frustrations would you feel taking this course?
   • Which rule or requirement would be specifically difficult for you to follow?
   • Why do you think attorneys do not want jurors to be too knowledgeable about certain topics?
   • How is this course scenario similar to the jury's duty?
3. Students will read aloud or act out either the script, "Haymarket: Whose Name the Few Still Say With Tears" or the selected Haymarket trial transcript of the voir dire process. After reading the script or transcript, students should focus on the following discussion questions:
   1. Discuss the role of the prosecuting and defending attorneys.
   2. How were their questions to the potential jurors different?
   3. How were their questions to the potential jurors similar?
   4. Note any improper procedures the judge made? Why might he have done this?
   5. How could the judge's improper actions affect the jury's decision?
   6. What examples of bias can be noted during the voir dire process?
   7. What facts are known about each selected juror?
   8. How were voir dire questions for the Haymarket jury different from a present day jury?
   9. What would be a concern for an attorney in the 1880s? In 2000?
   10. How would the physical make-up of the jury be different in a present day jury? How could this make-up reflect a change in the verdict?
4. Divide students into small groups and assign each group to create different voir dire questions for the prosecuting and defending attorneys. Teachers may refer to the Jury Research Institute's voir dire questions.
5. Create a newspaper using information from the textbook and other resources. Use bias and shocking headlines to attract readers.
6. After hearing the facts and testimony of the Haymarket Affair, students should deliberate a verdict. A selected foreman will summarize the deliberation process.

Further Activities

7. An excellent video that depicts the jury process is Twelve Angry Men. Classroom materials are included with this lesson

8. Compare the transcript of the Haymarket trial voir dire proceedings and a recent trial, such as Timothy McVeigh, O. J. Simpson, and Rodney King. A great resource for modern day voir dire questioning is courttv.com

9. Post journal writing: "Why are courts having difficulty filling the jury box? What is so difficult about serving jury duty?

Evaluation/ Assessment

This may vary depending on the teacher's objectives and outcomes. Assessment may be based on the following:

• Participation
• Knowledge and understanding of facts and vocabulary
• Journal writing
• Test

Vocabulary

Bibliography and Acknowledgments

Foner, P. The Autobiographies of the Haymarket Martyrs. New York: Humanities Press, 1969.

McLean, N.G. The Rise and Fall of Anarchy in America. Chicago: R.G. Badoux and Co., 1888.

Tigar, Michael. "Haymarket: Whose Name the Few Still Say with Tears." Chicago: American Bar Association.

Transcripts of the Haymarket Square Trial; Exam of Potential Jurors," From the Collection of Dr. Ernest Schmidt, pp., 57 – 63, 103-111.

http://www.cpl.lib.unic.edu/004chicago/disasters/haymarket.html

courttv.com

http://www.cpl.lib.unic.edu/004chicago/disasters/haymarket.html

http://www.cs.utah.edu/`galt/mayday.html

http://www.jri.com/voirdire.htm

http://www.kentlaw.edu/ilhs/haymkon.htm

http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/haymarket/Hayma.htm

This lesson can be found on-line on the "Jury Trials in the Classroom" page of "The American Jury" web site,

Acknowledgment

I was my privilege to work with the Constitution Rights Foundation Chicago, the Chicago Historical Society, and the fifteen unique educators at the American Jury Institute. A special thanks goes out to Nisan Chavkin and Carolyn Peirera as our group's awe-inspiring facilitators. Along with my fellow Haymarket Affair team, Lora Radke, Wisconsin; Jack Rousso, Washington; and Ann Schultzi, Colorado, I'd like to send a special thanks to my North Carolina group, Brian Etheridge of Wake County, Kevin Holland of Johnston County, and Beth Wiley of Wake County, who were tremendously helpful, creative, and supportive.

Questions for Voir Dire

The Jury Research Institute of California suggested the following voir dire questions:

• What is your occupation?
• Who is your employer?
• What is your employment status (full-time, part-time)?
• What is the principal activity of the company where you work?
• Do you hold any other jobs at present (second job, part-time job)?
• What is your title or position?
• In your work, do you have management or supervisory responsibilities? (This is an important question in assessing leadership on the jury panel.)
• Have you had management or supervisory duties in the past? (This and the previous question should alert the attorney to possible persuaders.)
• What other occupations have you worked in?
• Have you ever been a member of a trade union?
• Have you ever owned your own business? If yes, please describe?
• Do any other adults live in your household? (If yes, get occupations and educational backgrounds of all.)
• What is your marital status?
• What city do you live in?
• What other cities have you lived in for more than five years?
• Where did you grow up? (questions about where a juror has lived gives the attorney a sense of how narrow or wide a juror's exposure to different people has been)
• What is your educational background? What was your major area of study?
• Have you attended any other educational programs (evening schools, certification programs)?
• What type of volunteer work have you done? (this especially important in personal injury cases, from both plaintiff and defense perspectives)
• Do you have children? (if yes, be sure to get ages and occupations, if appropriate)
• What are the occupations of your extended family members (parents, brothers and sisters)? This question is often overlooked, yet parents and siblings, especially those living nearly, exert strong influences on jurors, certainly as important as a spouse's does.
• Do you have any friends or relatives who are judges or attorney?
• What civic, social, religious, or other organizations are you affiliated with?
• What are your major hobbies, interests, and spare-time activities?
• Have you, any members of your family, or close friends ever filed a lawsuit? (If yes, who filed the lawsuit? What was the suit about? How was it resolved? What were your feelings about the process at the conclusion of the case?
• Have you, members of your family, or close friends ever been sued? (If yes, who filed the suit? What was the suit about? How was it resolved? What were your feelings about the process at the conclusion of the case?)
• Have you ever testified in a trial or ever given a deposition?
• Have you ever retained an attorney?
• Were you satisfied with the services you received?
• Would you describe yourself as a leader infrequently, occasionally, or frequently?
• Have you ever written a letter to the editor of a magazine or newspaper? (This question is a red flag for identifying a participant. A person who has written a letter to the editor obviously has opinions and wants to share them.)
• What magazines or periodicals do you enjoy reading? (This is extremely informative question. You can tell quite a difference between a juror who responds, "Wall Street Journal, Business, Week and Money Magazine" and the person who says "People Magazine, National Inquirer, and Sports Illustrated")
• How would you describe yourself in 10 words?
• Have you ever served as a juror? (If yes, get details.)
• Were you ever the foreperson of the jury?
• Have you, any of your family, close members ever worked for ___________________?
• What additional information should I know?