Although nothing can compare to the horror of thousands of lynchings of African Americans in the United States, members of other ethnic groups — including Jewish Americans — were also lynched. Perhaps the most infamous Jewish case was the lynching of Leo Frank in 1915. Frank, a 30-year-old factory superintendent in Atlanta was convicted — wrongly, in all likelihood — of murdering a 13-year-old girl. When his death sentence was commuted to life, a mob took matters into their own hands by abducting Frank from prison and hanging him. Antisemitism played a prominent role in the event.
Quote: “Even after Frank’s housekeeper placed him at home, having lunch at the time of the murder, and despite gross inconsistencies in [custodian Jim] Conley’s story, both the grand and trial jury chose to believe Conley…. Historian Leonard Dinnerstein reports that one juror had been overheard to say before his selection for the jury, ‘I am glad they indicted the God damn Jew. They ought to take him out and lynch him. And if I get on that jury, I’ll hang that Jew for sure.’ ”
Sources: Wikipedia, MyJewishLearning.com
Learn more about the lynching of Leo Frank on Wikipedia. >>
Watch “The Temple at 150: Leo Frank” [5:30]. >>
Photo: AJC
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