The official historical marker for Leo Frank has been absent from its location in Roswell, GA going on two years now due to a DOT road project, but, thankfully, many historical, academic, arts, and religious groups and institutions in Metro Atlanta will be honoring Leo Frank beginning this month through the end of the year. I’m going to try to attend as many of these exhibits, discussions, and services as I can. August 17th marks the 100th anniversary of Frank’s lynching in Marietta, GA by the Knights of Mary Phagan, a group of politically well-heeled, most likely anti-Semitic men that kidnapped the Jewish factory manager from prison in Milledgeville, GA, so as to take justice for the murder of Mary Phagan, a 13 year-old employee of Frank’s at the National Pencil Company, into their own hands. They were angry that Frank’s death sentence had been commuted by then Governor John Marshall Slaton to life imprisonment. Many of these same men gathered at the top of Stone Mountain but a few months later, on November 25, 1915, to change the groups name and declare themselves the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. Frank was later posthumously pardoned in 1986, and most historians and researchers fully believe in his innocence, and, in fact, a historical marker was recently placed this summer to honor Governor Slaton for sparing Frank’s life, where barbarous men, of course, did not.

August 13, 2015, 8:00pm

The Ghosts of Leo Frank: Reckoning With Georgia’s Most Infamous Murders 100 Years Later

Earl Smith Strand Theatre
117 North Park Square
Marietta, GA 30060
The Georgia Historical Society (GHS), in partnership with Cobb Landmarks and the Marietta Museum of History, presents an evening with journalist Steve Oney, author of And the Dead Shall Rise: the Murder of Mary Phagan and the Lynching of Leo Frank, and GHS Senior Historian Stan Deaton on the centennial of the Frank lynching.
*FREE, NO RSVP required.
 

August 17, 2015, 10:00am-11:30am

ADL Commemoration of the 100th Anniversary of Lynching of Leo Frank

The Georgia Club
100 Galleria Pkwy
Suite 1700
Atlanta, GA 30339
Invite only. Program commemorating the 100th anniversary of the lynching of Leo Frank. Program line-up and speakers TBD.
Contact: Jackie Beres, 404-262-3470
 

August 17, 2015, 2:00pm

Centennial Remembrance

Congregation Ner Tamid
1349 Old Hwy 41
Suite 220
Marietta, GA 30060
678-264-8575
*Seating is limited; RSVP requested at 470-578-4699
 

August 17-November 29, 2015

Southern Museum to Lead Exhibition and Programs to Memorialize 100th Anniversary of Leo Frank Lynching

Southern Museum of Civil War & Locomotive History
2829 Cherokee Street
Kennesaw, GA 30144

• Exhibit Opening Day, Aug. 17 from 9:30am-5:00pm: The “Seeking Justice” exhibit will open to the public at the Southern Museum on Monday, August 17. The Southern Museum will host a members-only preview, for members of the Southern Museum, the day prior on Sunday, August 16.
• Centennial Remembrance, Aug. 17 at 2:00pm: Congregation Ner Tamid will lead a centennial remembrance of Leo Frank’s lynching. Rabbi Tom Liebschutz will lead the Kaddish prayer.
• Community Conversation: Media and History, Sept. 21 at 7:00pm: Kennesaw State University will host a Community Conversation, discussing the role the media played in covering and sensationalizing the Leo Frank trial and lynching. The dialogue will be facilitated by faculty and staff at Kennesaw State University.
• Community Conversation & Gallery Tour: The Past Speaking to the Present, Oct. 15 at 6:00pm: The Southern Museum will host another Community Conversation, where exhibit curators and historians will discuss the role artifacts play in shaping how we engage with and understand the Leo Frank trial and lynching.
• “Parade” Performance, Nov. 19 at 7:30pm: The capstone event of the Leo Frank lynching remembrance is a special performance of native Atlantan Alfred Uhry’s Tony Award-winning musical “Parade.” The musical will be performed at the historic Strand Theater in downtown Marietta, and will be followed by a Community Conversation led by Uhry.
• Encore Performance, Nov. 22: An encore performance of Alfred Uhry’s musical, “Parade,” will be performed at The Temple in Midtown Atlanta. Founded in 1867, The Temple is the city’s oldest synagogue and is where Leo Frank and his family were members. For a century and a half, it has built a tradition of social justice work. Following the performance, the final Community Conversation will take place, led by Uhry and KSU faculty.

August 18, 2015, 6:15pm-9:00pm

An Evening with History, From the Dark Side: Leo Frank/Mary Phagan Murders with former Marietta City Councilman Van Pearlberg

Marietta Museum of History
1 Depot Street
Marietta, GA 30060
*$20 non-members, $10 members
 

September 21, 2015, 7:00pm

Leo Frank: 100 Years in the Media

Museum of History and Holocaust Education at Kennesaw State University
3333 Busbee Drive
Kennesaw, GA 30144
A conversation about the role the media played in covering and sensationalizing the Leo Frank trial and lynching. The dialogue will be facilitated by Dr. Matthew Bernstein of Emory University. Light refreshments will be served.
*FREE, NO RSVP required.