I visited the Breman Museum today (1440 Spring St. @ 18th St.
in midtown Atlanta) to see the new Leo Frank exhibit.  The exhibit tells the story of the Leo Frank lynching connected with the murder of Mary Phagan in suburban Atlanta in 1913. 

The legal case and subsequent lynching has many twists and turns including trying to figure out who the murderer of Mary Phagan was (Leo Frank or someone else), his trail and the battles in the newspapers, Leo Frank's death sentence being commuted and his subsequent lynching by a mob including a former Georgia Governor, a sitting judge and many other prominent citizens.  Issues of Race and Religion permeate the case and the Breman has done a brilliant job of presenting the material in an engaging fashion.

A few tips for the future Center I picked up today (especially since I followed a group of teenagers through the exhibit). 

1) The exhibit has a model (recently build) of the factory where Mary Phagan's murder took place.  This really set the stage for the subsequent rooms on the trial and also had the visitors showing it to one another-- "come here-- you have to see this".  The model and accompanying photos gave the students something to "discover" and then show one another.  Strong start

2) The extensive use of newspapers really framed the issue.  The newspapers had large pictures (see some here) on the front page which engaged the eye.  The text explained why each issue was important and then it allowed a reader to read the entire newspaper.  I think the use of pages with large pictures really made them come alive-- I'm usually skeptical of news pages, but these work very well.

3) The toughest image in the exhibit (a large blowup photo of the actual lynching) is partially blocked so you can't see it from a distance nor can young kids get to it.  It's almost like it's in a box and you have to put your face in a viewfinder to see it.  This respectfully protects folks but doesn't detract.

Overall-- a well done exhibit on a very disturbing human rights case from Georgia's past.  Go see it and attend some of the events associated with the exhibition.

DS