How the Case Impacted the U.S.
The logo of the Anti-Defamation League
The Leo Frank Trial was one of the most important trials of the 20th century. Few, if any, other trials had as many people constantly following everything and begging for either guilt or innocence. It was a perfect example of Southerners taking the law into their own hands and of their hatred of the North after the Civil War. It was also the biggest example of anti-Semitism in the U.S. and is something that Jews and non-Jews alike will try to prevent from happening again.
After Frank's hanging, there was a sense of being lost. All the people who were part of the anti-Frank mobs were still full of anger, but the man they hated was gone. Colonel William J. Smith took the opportunity to continue the anti-Semitism and hatred. He gathered the Knights of Mary Phagan, a group without a purpose, and brought back the Ku Klux Klan. However, because of the horrifying events of the chaos, B'nai B'rith founded the Anti-Defamation League, or the ADL for short, which to this day fights discrimination against all groups of people. Additionally, courts all over the U.S. began to take extra measures to make sure that judges and juries wouldn't be influenced by public opinion.
After the Frank case, however, the anti-Semitism continued. People began to target their Jewish neighbors, and the Jews became more and more disliked. None of Georgia's Jews mentioned the Frank case, for fear of getting attacked by a mob. They became less and less prominent, and even started foregoing certain traditions, such as having weddings under chupas (large and exquisite sheets of fabric under which Jewish couples get married), so as not to attract attention.
In 1982, an 83-year-old named Alonzo Mann, who was an office boy at the National Pencil Factory in 1913, made a shocking statement: On the day of Mary Phagan's death, he had seen Jim Conley carry her corpse down into the basement. Because Conley had threatened to kill Mann if he shared this and the mobs were on the loose, Mann's mother told him not to mention what he'd seen. Added to the previously ignored 1923 discovery of teeth marks on Mary Phagan's body that didn't match Frank's dental X-rays, the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles pardoned Leo Frank.
Nonetheless, the impact of the Frank case is far from over. The case showed how easily people can turn on others and sway the legal system. It showed how far hatred of a particular group of people can go and what it can do. It proved that people will believe in something, no matter how outrageous it is. Especially given the racist and anti-Semitic events that still occur throughout our country and world, the story of Leo Max Frank must never be forgotten.
After Frank's hanging, there was a sense of being lost. All the people who were part of the anti-Frank mobs were still full of anger, but the man they hated was gone. Colonel William J. Smith took the opportunity to continue the anti-Semitism and hatred. He gathered the Knights of Mary Phagan, a group without a purpose, and brought back the Ku Klux Klan. However, because of the horrifying events of the chaos, B'nai B'rith founded the Anti-Defamation League, or the ADL for short, which to this day fights discrimination against all groups of people. Additionally, courts all over the U.S. began to take extra measures to make sure that judges and juries wouldn't be influenced by public opinion.
After the Frank case, however, the anti-Semitism continued. People began to target their Jewish neighbors, and the Jews became more and more disliked. None of Georgia's Jews mentioned the Frank case, for fear of getting attacked by a mob. They became less and less prominent, and even started foregoing certain traditions, such as having weddings under chupas (large and exquisite sheets of fabric under which Jewish couples get married), so as not to attract attention.
In 1982, an 83-year-old named Alonzo Mann, who was an office boy at the National Pencil Factory in 1913, made a shocking statement: On the day of Mary Phagan's death, he had seen Jim Conley carry her corpse down into the basement. Because Conley had threatened to kill Mann if he shared this and the mobs were on the loose, Mann's mother told him not to mention what he'd seen. Added to the previously ignored 1923 discovery of teeth marks on Mary Phagan's body that didn't match Frank's dental X-rays, the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles pardoned Leo Frank.
Nonetheless, the impact of the Frank case is far from over. The case showed how easily people can turn on others and sway the legal system. It showed how far hatred of a particular group of people can go and what it can do. It proved that people will believe in something, no matter how outrageous it is. Especially given the racist and anti-Semitic events that still occur throughout our country and world, the story of Leo Max Frank must never be forgotten.
