It is #ItalianHeritageMonth and this is the story of Angelina Napolitano, who brought domestic abuse to national awareness
Napolitano was born in Naples, Italy on March 12, 1882 & came to Canada in 1909 with her husband Pietro, settling in Sault Ste. Marie.
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The couple had four children but the marriage was abusive. Pietro often hit and threatened Angelino. In November 1910, he stabbed her nine times in the face, neck, shoulder, chest & arms with a pocket knife. He was charged but received a suspended sentence.
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In the winter of 1910-11, Pietro started to pressure Angelina to earn money through prostitution.
On April 16, 1911, while she was six months pregnant, Pietro told her to go out and prostitute herself or he would kill her.
He said she had until he woke up to earn money.
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As he slept, she took an axe and hit him four times in the head, killing him. She then went to her neighbour and said "I just killed a pig"
She waited for the police to arrive as she held her youngest child.
She was put on trial on May 9, 1911. The trial lasted 3 hours.
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Her lawyer was the first to use the "battered woman defense" but the judge said it was inadmissible evidence.
The jury returned a guilty verdict & asked for clemency. Instead, the judge sentenced her to death. Her execution date was set for Aug. 9.
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Her execution date was one month after the due date for her baby.
The media coverage of her story was typically racist, calling her a hot-blooded foreigner.
The public saw her differently, and someone who had suffered in her marriage. Public outcry hit a fever pitch.
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Sir Allen Aylesworth, the federal Minister of Justice received many letters and petitions asking for clemency.
On July 14, 1911, her sentence was commuted. She served 11 years in Kingston & upon her parole, lived a quiet life until she died on Sept. 4, 1932.
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On Aug. 17, 1923, the 71-branch Home Bank of Canada failed.
Faced with public outcry over constant bank failures, the government acted.
Since 1923, two Canadian banks have failed, while 17,000 have failed in the USA.
This is the story of Home Bank of Canada
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For the first half century of Canada's existence, the only safeguard that customers had with their banks was the competency of management and the hope that assets covered deposits. It was not a good system and by 1923, 40% of Canadian banks had failed.
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Finance Minister W.S. Fielding, who assumed the post in 1896, saw nine bank failures by 1910. Many Canadians, and even industry leaders like H.C. McLeod, the GM of the Bank of Nova Scotia, wanted to have government inspections to prevent fraud in Canada's banks.
Every Canadian province and territory has a capital.
The names of those capitals come from many different sources.
Sometimes it is royalty, and sometimes it is an Indigenous name.
Here is how each capital received its name.
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Victoria, British Columbia:
The site the city sits on was called Camosack by the local Indigenous, meaning "rush of water". In 1843, Fort Albert was founded but it was soon after renamed to Fort Victoria in honour of Queen Victoria.
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Edmonton, Alberta:
The Cree called the area amiskwacîy (Beaver Hills). The current name comes from Edmonton, Middlesex, England, which was the hometown of the Lake family. The Lake family were influential in the Hudson's Bay Company.
When John Diefenbaker cancelled the Avro Arrow, he announced that Canada would purchase 56 Bomarc Missiles from the USA.
When the public learned the missiles were only effective if tipped with nuclear warheads.
it sparked the Bomarc Missile Crisis.
This is the story.
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During the Cold War in 1957, Canada and the United States created NORAD to handle continental air defence against the Soviet Union. As part of NORAD obligations, Prime Minister John Diefenbaker Canada was pressured to put Bomarc missiles on its soil.
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The plan was to have the missiles deployed near La Macaza, Quebec and North Bay, Ontario. Both sites would have storage and launch facilities, and quarters for US personnel. Diefenbaker's plan was to have the missiles replace the Avro Arrow program.
Tommy Douglas was one of the most important politicians in Canadian history.
The premier of Saskatchewan, he later led the federal NDP and was instrumental in bringing in Universal Healthcare.
In 2004, he was named The Greatest Canadian.
This is his story.
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Tommy Douglas was born on Oct. 20, 1904 in Scotland. When he was seven, the family moved to Winnipeg. Around this time, he injured his knee and Osteomyelitis set in. He went through various operations and doctors stated he would lose the leg.
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One surgeon agreed to treat Douglas for free. This free medical care greatly influenced Douglas later in life. At McMaster, he wrote a thesis that endorsed eugenics. He later abandoned his eugenics stance and advocated for vocational training for the handicapped.
On Feb. 20, 1959, the Avro Arrow program was cancelled by the Diefenbaker government.
Thousands of people lost their jobs, and the Canadian aeronautical and aviation sector was decimated. The day became known as Black Friday.
This is the story of the Arrow.
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In the 1950s, with the dawn of the nuclear era, there was a concern that the Soviet Union would attack North America with bombers over the Canadian Arctic.
To deal with this possibility, the RCAF commissioned Avro Canada to build an all-weather nuclear interceptor.
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It needed to fly higher and faster than any aircraft of its class. With the Arrow contract, Avro quickly expanded and had 20,000 people working for it by 1957. Nine models, one-eighth the size of the finished plane, were tested in rockets over Lake Ontario.
On Feb. 19, 1942, German soldiers marched through Winnipeg.
The mayor, premier and Lt. Governor were arrested, and the city was renamed Himmlerstadt. Books were burned, and the German flag flew across the city.
This is the story of Winnipeg's If Day.
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During the Second World War, Victory Bond Campaigns were held to raise money for the war effort. On Feb. 16, 1942, the second Victory Loan campaign began and Manitoba decided to go all out. The idea was to show what would happen if Germany invaded Canada.
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The plan was for German soldiers (actually volunteers from the Young Men's Board of Trade) to invade Winnipeg. The city was defended by 3,500 Canadian Army members. Uniforms were rented and German troops were given scars on their faces.