Leo Frank Case, Change in Assimilationist Tendencies Related in Atlanta History Wishing the Community A Happy HANUKA IIIIMININIM111111111111111U1211111111111 Modern Office,Inc. 642-5600 31535 SOUTHFIELD ROAD 9"Yeer I*3 11,00 - 510D Sat 9:130-12.06 "r" Garr ••••• • •••••••• ■ • (6.1".... 13 14 M.I. u..) • Holiday Greetings • * • * • • * * • * * * * * * * • * * * * * * * * * * * * * * TREAT YOURSELF • • • TO A COMPLETE MAKEOVER• • • • • The Deluxe Facial .• • The Makeup and Hair • . • The Consultation • • • • • • The Pedicure • • • The Manicure • • • • The Nail Wrapping • • • • • The Designer Clothes • • For Beautiful People • by Sonia Freedman • • vriiie r axiews, • • Z • E • • 31409 Southfield, Beverly Hills • • . 26400 W. 12 Mile, Southfield • Racquetime Bldg., 356-7722 • • 642-3315 Emile Deux Fois • . * . Thursday Is Men's Night. ••• ■•■ ••••• ■ ••• ■ The tragic Leo Frank case, in which an innocent Jew was lynched in Geor- gia, the assimilationist trends of the early decades of this century and the eventual acceptance of Jewish responsibilities by an entire community and relevant Southern Jewish experiences are under re- view in an important his- tory of a leading Jewish community in the South. "Strangers Within the Gate City': by Steven Hertzberg, a history of the Jews of Atlanta ("Gate City of the New South"), is the first such study of its kind; it forms a significant contri- bution toward understand- ing the unique experience of a distinctive American Jewish group. As background for his study of Atlanta Jewry, the author, a young historian trained at the University of Chicago, notes the special' paradoxes that have marked the experience of Southern Jews: "Merchants in a land dominated by an agra- rian ideal, religious dis- senters in a Christ- haunted land, venerators of learning in a society plagued by illiteracy, vic- tims of violence and reli- giotis prejudice who took sanctuary in a section characterized by a milit- ant spirit and racial op- pression, and foreigners in a hotbed of xenophobia, they lived the drama of isolation, accommodation and mo- bility." The formal history of the Atlanta Jewish community begins with the settlement of the first Jews in the city in 1845. The major influx, however, occurred,after the Civil War, when the city emerged as a regional met- ropolis whose Jewish com- munity. was one of the largest in the South. The half century follow- ing the war — the prime focus of this study — began with the Jewish newcomers being welcomed as harbin- gers of commercial oppor- tunity, and it was during this period that many of the community's enduring in- stitutions were established. It ended with the notori- ous Leo Frank case of 1913-15 — a virulent out- break of anti-Semitism culminating in the lynching of a Jewish factory superin- tendent wrongfully con- victed of murdering a gen- tile girl. Atlanta Jewry was shattered by the Leo Frank case, "one of the great causes celebres of the 20th Century and perhaps the most lurid manifestation of anti- Semitism in American history." However, as the author describes in the epilogue that brings his story up to date, the At- lanta Jewish community revived from the tragedy, sharing with jts non- Jewish neighbors in the city's increasingly boom- ing economic and cul- tural development. Within recent years, At- lantan have elected not only a Jewish mayor, four state legislators, and a number of judges, but also Georgia's first Con- gressman. In addition to such tradi- tional sources as the local press, institutional records, and personal papers, Dr. Hertzberg has carefully mined other materials such as tax digests, census schedules, death certifi- cates, city directories and naturalization documents to extract information. -- - THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS Friday, December V, 1918 29 Follow The Tracks To 35300 GRAND RIVER FARMINGTON HILLS 478-0500 appu 5:1