08 LC
14 9838
Senate
Resolution 1066
By:
Senators Hill of the 32nd, Thompson of the 33rd, Rogers of the 21st, Stoner of
the 6th and Wiles of the 37th
A
RESOLUTION
Commemorating
March 7, 2008, as the date of the placement of a Georgia historical marker at
the site of the Leo Frank lynching and commending the organizations
participating in the dedication of the historical marker; and for other
purposes.
WHEREAS,
Mr. Leo Frank, superintendent of the National Pencil Company in Atlanta, was
charged with the April 26, 1913, murder of 13-year-old Mary Phagan, an employee
of the factory; and he was convicted and sentenced to death by an Atlanta court
while angry mobs gathered around the courthouse chanting anti-Semitic slogans
and calling for his death; and
WHEREAS,
on June 21, 1915, Georgia Governor John Slaton commuted Frank's death sentence
to life imprisonment because the Governor concluded that the evidence did not
support a conviction; and on July 18, 1915, Mr. Frank was relocated to the state
prison in Milledgeville to serve the remainder of his sentence; and
WHEREAS,
on August 17, 1915, Mr. Frank was roused from his prison bed by a mob from
outside the prison and was driven 75 miles to Marietta, Georgia, where he was
lynched at a site now identified as 1200 Roswell Road in Marietta;
and
WHEREAS,
a number of statements by others involved in the Mary Phagan case suggest that
Mr. Frank was innocent of the crime; and in 1986, with support from Governor Joe
Frank Harris, and through the efforts of attorneys associated with the
Anti-Defamation League, the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles granted Leo
Frank a posthumous pardon based on the state's inability to secure his safety
while he was in state custody; and
WHEREAS,
the Frank case propelled the Anti-Defamation League, in existence only two years
at the time of the hanging, to international prominence; and the case became
inextricably linked to the ADL's mission to fight bigotry against Jews and to
secure justice and fair treatment for all; and
WHEREAS,
in Georgia, the Anti-Defamation League is working to end the terrible toll of
hatred through its "No Place for Hate" anti-bullying program, now operating in
more than 160 Georgia public, private, and parochial schools in grades K through
12; and
WHEREAS,
on March 7, 2008, the Georgia Historical Society, the Jewish American Society
for Historical Preservation, the Anti-Defamation League, and Cobb County
synagogues Congregation Kol Emeth and Congregation Etz Chaim will officially
dedicate a state historical marker at the site of the lynching as a reminder of
the ravages of bigotry.
NOW,
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE that this body hereby commemorates March
7, 2008, as the date of the placement of a Georgia historical marker at the site
of the Leo Frank lynching and commends and extends best wishes to the
above-named organizations participating in the dedication of the historical
marker.
BE
IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Secretary of the Senate is authorized and directed
to transmit an appropriate copy of this resolution to each of the above-named
organizations.