Leo Frank Lynching Centennial Events
The Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History is playing host to an exhibit through Nov. 29 titled “Seeking Justice: The Leo Frank Case Revisited.”
The exhibit, organized by the William Breman Jewish Heritage Museum and supported by Kennesaw State University’s Museum of History and Holocaust Education, opens to the public at 9:30 a.m. Monday, Aug. 17, at the Southern Museum, 2829 Cherokee St., Kennesaw. Museum admission is $7.50 for adults, $6.50 for seniors, $5.50 for children ages 4 to 12, and free for children 3 and under.
“The lynching of Leo Frank is a difficult moment in our state’s history and one that still resonates a century later,” Southern Museum Executive Director Richard Banz said in a press release. “While its memory and aftermath are painful even 100 years later, we expect this exhibit to spark an exploration of how we can work together to eliminate bigotry from the public square.”
The exhibit opening is one of several public events marking the 100th anniversary:
■ Steve Oney, the author of the definitive book on the Frank case, “And the Dead Shall Rise,” and Georgia Historical Society senior historian Stan Deaton discuss “The Ghosts of Leo Frank: Reckoning With Georgia’s Most Infamous Murders 100 Years Later” at 8 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 13, at the Earl Smith Strand Theatre, 117 North Park Square, Marietta. Free.
■ Georgia Senior Assistant Attorney General Van Pearlberg of Marietta lectures on the case — from the slaying of 13-year-old Mary Phagan in April 1913 to Alonzo Mann’s revelation 70 years later that he saw Jim Conley carrying the body at the National Pencil Co. factory — at 7 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 15, at Congregation Ner Tamid, 1349 Old Highway 41, Suite 220, Marietta. Free.
■ Rabbi Steven Lebow leads a memorial service and call for Frank’s exoneration at 2 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 16, at Temple Kol Emeth, 1415 Old Canton Road, East Cobb. Those scheduled to attend include Pearlberg, Cobb County Superior Court Chief Judge Stephen Schuster, Cobb Board of Commissioners Chairman Tim Lee, lawyer Dale Schwartz, and the current and two former chief justices of the Georgia Supreme Court. Free; ravlebow@aol.com.
■ Rabbis Shalom Lewis and Albert Slomovitz lead a memorial service at 2 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 16, at Congregation Etz Chaim, 1190 Indian Hills Parkway, East Cobb. In addition to such scheduled speakers as Marietta City Council member Philip Goldstein, Schwartz, and lawyer Charles Clay, a great-nephew of one of the suspected lynchers, the ceremony includes a brief film presentation and a tree planting. Free; etzchaim.net/LeoFrankMemorialProgram.
■ Oakland Cemetery, 248 Oakland Ave., downtown Atlanta, holds two special tours Sunday, Aug. 16: “Fear & Accusation: The Leo Frank Story” at 5 p.m. and “The Jewish Grounds of Oakland” at 6:30. Take either tour for $12 or both for $20.
■ The Anti-Defamation League’s Southeast Region commemorates the centennial with a program featuring new ADL National Director Jonathan Greenblatt, Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens and former Gov. Roy Barnes at 10 a.m. Monday, Aug. 17, at the Georgian Club, 100 Galleria Parkway, Suite 1700, in Cobb County’s Cumberland area. Free; cwilliams@adl.org or 404-262-3470.
■ The Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History, the Breman Museum, Kennesaw State’s Museum of History and Holocaust Education, and Congregation Ner Tamid hold a commemoration featuring Barnes, Rabbi Tom Liebschutz, Ner Tamid President Kristine Goldstein and Kennesaw State professor Catherine Lewis at Ner Tamid, 1349 Old Highway 41, Suite 220, Marietta, at 2 p.m. Monday, Aug. 17. Free but with limited space; RSVP to mhhe@kennesaw.edu or 470-578-4699.
■ Pearlberg discusses the case as part of the Marietta Museum of History’s “Evening With History” series at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 18, at the museum, 1 Depot St., No. 200, just off Marietta Square. The event starts with libations at 6:15. Admission is $10 for museum members, $20 for nonmembers (membership, as little as $30, can be purchased at the door).
Centennial events will continue in the fall, including a discussion of the role the media played in the Frank case at 7 p.m. Monday, Sept. 21, at Kennesaw State; a tour of the Southern Museum exhibit and discussion of the artifacts by curators and historians at 6 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 15; and performances of Alfred Uhry’s musical on the case, “Parade,” with Uhry leading post-show discussions, Thursday, Nov. 19, at the Earl Smith Strand Theatre at Marietta Square and Sunday, Nov. 22, at The Temple in Midtown.
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