The Forward’s coverage of Leo Frank’s story has never been fully translated into English.  This is a major gap in American Jewish history.  Let’s fill that gap.

Leo Frank, a 29-year old Brooklyn-raised and Cornell-educated Jew, was convicted of the murder of his 13-year old employee Mary Phagan on August 25, 1913, in Atlanta, Georgia. 

Most scholars have concluded that he was innocent; and that the murderer was an African-American janitor named Jim Conley who testified for the prosecution.

Mr. Frank’s sentence was later commuted by Governor John Slaton to life in prison.  Then, on August 17, 1915, Mr. Frank was lynched.  His killers were never prosecuted because members of the lynching party were part of the investigation.

The trial and its aftermath were covered in Yiddish by The Forward.  The paper’s editor, Abraham Cahan, wrote about his interviews with Frank.  Some of this material is in English, but much is not.  This is the only source material we have on how the leading American Jewish paper in the country covered this tragedy.  But it remains beyond our reach.

There is a tremendous amount of material to be translated.  Will you help?  The goal is to publish the material as a full-length book, with annotations by scholars of the trial.  Esteemed translator Rivka Schiller is on board.  www.rivkasyiddish.com  And Steve Oney, author of the definitive book on the trial, is providing counsel.  www.amazon.com/Dead-Shall-Rise-Murder-Lynching/dp/0679764232