Saturday, October 27, 2018 | 7 p.m. Duquesne University Power Center Ballroom, 1015 Forbes Ave., Pittsburgh, PA. Admission is free with ticket registration. You are invited to attend a documentary screening celebrating the Italian American experience.

Brothers James J. and Justice Louis L. Manderino from Monessen, Pennsylvania were born two of six children to Southern Italian immigrants Anthony and Angelina Mandarino in the era of the Great Depression. The brothers attended St. Vincent College and law school: Lou studied at Harvard and Jim at University of Michigan. The brothers established a legal practice in Monessen when both opted for lives as public servants.

Jim was elected to the Pennsylvania State Legislature in 1966 and held positions of party Whip, Majority Leader, and died while serving as the first Italian American Speaker of the House. Justice Louis L. Manderino served as Dean of the Duquesne University Law School, was part of the 1967 PA Constitutional Convention, was appointed to the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court, and died while serving as the youngest justice elected to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

"Raising the Bar" traces Southern Italian immigration to the U.S., the rise of a U.S. steel town, and the extraordinary careers in public service of two first-generation Americans. The story is told by filmmaker Laura M. Magone and features interviews with U.S. Senator Robert Casey, Federal Judges Donetta Ambrose and Joy Flowers Conti, Pennsylvania Gaming Board Commissioner Kathy Manderino, Pennsylvania State Representative Tony DeLuca, Melissa E. Marinaro, Director, Italian American Program at the Senator John Heinz History Center, and several others.

Tickets are required for admission and are available on a first-come, first-served basis for no charge here.