Parade Performance Guide
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ABOUT THE PLAY
Parade was written by Alfred Uhry and lyrically and musically composed by Jason Robert Brown in 1998. The show opened at the Lincoln Center Theatre on December 17th, 1998 and closed February 28th, 1999 with a total of 39 previews and 85 performances. It won the Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical and Best Original Score and the New York Drama Critics Circle for Best Musical. It also won Drama Desk awards for Outstanding Musical, Outstanding Actor (Brent Carver), Outstanding Actress (Carolee Carmelo), Outstanding Book of a Musical, Outstanding Orchestrations (Don Sebesky), and Outstanding Score of a Musical.
Alfred Uhry is a playwright, lyricist and screenwriter. Born in Atlanta, Georgia from German- Jewish descendants, Uhry graduated Brown University in 1958 with a degree in English and Drama. Uhry relocated to New York City where he taught English and wrote plays. His first success was the musical adaption of The Robber Bridegroom. He received a Tony Award nomination for Best Book of a Musical. His other successful works include Driving Miss Daisy, Last Night of Ballyhoo, and LoveMusik.
Jason Robert Brown is a composer, lyricist, conductor, arranger, orchestrator, director and performer. He was born in Ossining, New York and was raised Jewish. He attended the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. His most well-known works include Songs for a New World, The Last Five Years, Urban Cowboy, Wearing Someone Else’s Clothes, 13, The Bridges of Madison County, and Honeymoon in Vegas.
We are using the version revised in 2007 for/by the Donmar Warehouse production in London.
The 2007 version consists of the reduced size of the cast and orchestra.
DIRECTOR’S NOTE
Fabio Polanco
Set Between 1913 and 1915 in Atlanta, Milledgeville, and Marietta, Georgia, Parade (book by Alfred Uhry and music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown) is based on the 1913 rape and murder of 13-year-old Mary Phagan and the subsequent arrest, trial, sentencing, and lynching of Jewish factory superintendent Leo Frank. Inspired by the spirit of Epic Theatre, our hope is to show how art can “lead spectators to think, question, and learn about the social conditions exhibited in the work,” consider parallels between the past and the present, and engage in civic discourse.
The play is about yearning, grasping, and fighting for “home” and a restoration of the past. Frank yearns for the familiarity of Brooklyn. He fights to return home. Lucille yearns for Leo to integrate into her home. Leo and Lucille find a home in each other as they fight to bring him home. The Phagans have left their rural home to live and work in a foreign Atlanta. Young girls
are forced from their homes to toil in factories. The Black Atlantans who are displaced from their home yearn for security, safety, and betterment of their lives while many white Christian
Atlantans yearn for a return to their antebellum home.
The atmosphere of Parade resonates with a sense of fear amidst changing economics, population migration, and demographics. Under a perceived existential threat from industrialization, the North, Jews, and African Americans, the white Christians in the play fear that they are losing their identity, dignity, self-determination, power, and privilege. They are also afraid of the denigration of the Confederacy, the exploitation of their children, and an influx of immigrants whom they see as a threat to supplant them and all they hold dear. This fear leads to media sensationalism, anti- Semitism, racism, intimidation, mob rule, and, finally, the erosion of civil rights and violence. We also see how fear can prompt members of non-dominate groups to turn against other non- dominant groups.
In the hope of a final resolution to the murder of Mary Phagan and the trial of Leo Frank, an investigation of the case was reopened through the Fulton County Conviction Integrity Unit established in 2019. What is resolved is that there have been at least 4,700 lynchings in the history of the United States, overwhelmingly of Black men, and those extrajudicial executions, including that of Leo Max Frank, are criminal violations of civil and human rights. Amidst all of this, we must also be very careful never ever to lose sight of the terrible violation and murder of an innocent 13-year-old girl.
Parade includes many factual pieces about the Phagan murder, the Frank case, and the subsequent events. We acknowledge that not all perspectives or events are presented in Uhry and Brown’s work. It is our hope to unpack multiple voices and perspectives through our story-telling.
An Interview with Scenic Designer Tammy Honesty
I have a scene-design team that consists of our first-year graduate students: Travis Williams, Sam Catone, and Brian Seckfort. During our meeting with Fabio Polanco, the director of the show, we discussed the opening scene with a young soldier going to war with the Old Red Hills of Georgia behind him. We envisioned the natural world changing to the industrial world. When the young soldier returns from the Civil War, the audience can see that transformation.
We wanted our design concept to have a through-line with Fabio’s artistic vision. With Travis Williams, I explored ways to visualize the sense of yearning and longing. Travis created original sketches of vines reaching out as if they were fighting for space and air. Sam Catone transformed the sketches into the treetops. She also came up with the idea of symbiosing the bark and a rope to suggest, throughout the show, a noose to hang Leo Frank. This represents how racism, bigotry, and prejudice are rooted in the deep part of their lives.
Efficiency was one of our priorities. The biggest challenge was getting the transitions to happen quickly and efficiently. The scenes move so quickly from one location to the next. There are also flashbacks and simultaneous scenes. We played with the type of latches we used for the platforms to make these transitions as easy and quick as possible. Also, originally the trees were 16 feet tall with no railing We changed this by putting the trees on slidable panels that could easily move on and off stage. Adjusting our design concept to fit the needs of the production was our biggest priority.
The process of Parade has been very nonlinear and organic. It’s exciting to see it all come to life. What is fabulous about an educational environment is students get the experience of learning new techniques and skills that also inspire our faculty to dig deeper into their own skillset. This show has challenged us to think about how we approach and visualize difficult issues in the most efficient, conscientious, and thought-provoking way.
Costume Design Concept: Kelley Shephard
To incorporate the director's concept of yearning and longing for home, I focused on the character's connection to each other and to Atlanta manipulating colors, shapes, and styles.
My inspiration came from the real people the characters are based on in the musical which takes place in 1913-1915 Atlanta, Georgia. My research sources include catalogues from the time period. I drew upon the photographs of the trial, in particular, to grasp what they used to wear. My color scheme came from the colorized black and white photographs. Because those photographs are either under-saturated or over-saturated, giving a tinge of “fakeness.” I used muted jewel tones as well as pastel colors for some characters.
The biggest challenge was the enormity of the cast of over 30 characters. I invented a color-coded way to stay organized and I also employed the “broad strokes to details” approach. For example, I made sure everyone had their main pieces such as an ensemble of pants, vest, and jacket first, and then added details like hats, ties, and jewelry later.
I avoided stereotypes of the characters. For example, I saw Jim Conley as a desperate human being who is threatened and pressured by law enforcement and prosecutors. We also discussed the characters of Riley and Angela, who are normally portrayed as servants. Riley, in our production, can be a professor, and Angela is a middle-class Georgian, reflecting the historical period in which black intellectuals, entrepreneurs, and middle-class were blossoming.
I specifically applied more of a historical replica to the characters of Leo and Mary. Leo wears a tight and high collar. Leo’s monotone and “tight” attire allows him to stand out from the rest of the townspeople. For example, during the song “How Can I Call This Home.” Leo, in a tightly buttoned up colorless suit, steps out of a crowd of colorfully dressed people. Mary Phagan’s huge bows, which I saw in several books and articles, emphasize her innocent, cheerful, and full-of-life essence, which was tragically cut short.
For this show, we built for seven clothes: Mary’s dress for Memorial Day Parade, Lucille’s day dress, and Sally’s blouse jacket ensemble and her ball gown, Judge Roan’s vest, and Angela and Mrs. Phagan’s shirts. I also pulled and rented a variety of clothes and items that resonated with my design. If needed, I modified my design so that both the items would produce a sense of replication of my renderings.
We all collaborate in this educational setting as learners at different levels. Filled with energetic and dedicated “learners,” our costume shop always exudes positive energy, which has become invaluable fuel to support this musical.
Antisemitism in America: Past and Present
By Richard Steigmann-Gall
The Definition and Heritage
I teach the history of the Holocaust at Kent State University and what I always emphasize is the scope of antisemitism which has been found everywhere in history. When we talk about “antisemitism,” we have to consider many contexts. Who is a Jew? How do we define being Jewish? For example, I have Jewish heritage but I do not identify myself as Jewish in terms of religion because it is not my faith. On the other hand, one does not have to practice Judaism to be still considered Jewish. Jewishness is also not just a question of personal belief, but also collective identity. In German, there is a phrase, Schicksalsgemeinschaft, meaning a “community of fate.” This term applies to a great deal of Jewish history, and suggests that Jewish identity is shaped in large part by external forces—by those who are antagonistic to Jews, who wielded power over Jews, and who viewed Jews not just as a different religious group, but as a separate “race.” The reality, of course, is that anyone can be Jewish. Jewishness is usually perceived in this country as white but Jews come in many colors. And around the world, there are African Jews, Arabic Jews, even Indian and Chinese Jews. This is intimately bound up with the diasporic history of the Jewish people.
Judaism as Religion
When we think about the Jewish religion, we must keep in mind that there are a variety of Judaisms: Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, Reconstructionist, Secular Humanist, and so on. The idea that one’s Jewishness is determined by your mother’s Jewishness and her mother’s Jewishness is a historical understanding of “inheriting” the faith most closely tied to Orthodox Judaism. But starting with the development of Reform Judaism in nineteenth-century Germany, one could start to convert to Judaism. Unlike Christianity, however, Judaism does not seek out converts. There is no such thing as a Jewish “missionary.” Judaism and Christianity both believe in the same God. However, Christians believe the Messiah has already come whereas Jews are still waiting for a Messiah. For many centuries of European history, Jews were considered responsible for the death of Christ. In the twentieth-century, especially after the Holocaust, this view began to change. For instance, up until the Second Vatican Council under John XXIII, the Catholic Church taught that both biblical Jews and living Jews were responsible for the death of Jesus. With the promulgation of Nostra aetate4 in 1965, this teaching was finally declared outdated.
Antisemitism
It is in this historical context that we must situate the question of antisemitism. Antisemitism, like any hostility toward a minority group, is a kind of undergrowth in human society. It never quite goes away, even as it might disappear from view. And in the right circumstances, it can quickly spread. We saw antisemitism 2000 years ago, and we see it again today. Before the Enlightenment, Jews of Europe were forced to live in ghettoes. Venice, Italy, was the site of Europe’s first ghetto, located in a neighborhood just off the Grand Canal named “Ghetto.” In the ghetto, Jews would live in confinement, under the watchful eye of the monarch or city authorities, which would constrict their activities but also promise to keep angry mobs at bay. They did not have freedom of activity and were instructed that they could only undertake certain trades. They were forbidden from owning land or becoming farmers—and since banking many centuries ago was considered unholy for Christians (the sin of “usury”), the princes of Europe gave the task of running their financial systems to Jews. This led to the accusation among antisemites that Jews were innately “good with money.” With the Enlightenment, Jews were released from ghettoes and embraced emancipation—but could still be subject to great violence. Before the Holocaust, the worst violence experienced by Jews in modern times was the pogroms in the Russian Empire in the late 1800s.
Historically, America has experienced less antisemitic violence than Europe, but that “undergrowth” has been no less evident here. Historical markers of antisemitism in this country include: General Grant’s edict to remove all of the Jewish people from the state of Tennessee when the Union forces invaded (Lincoln interceded to reverse this); the first and second “generation” of the KKK, which was powerful enough to take effective control of the Indiana state government in the 1920s; the writings of Henry Ford, who openly admired Adolf Hitler and who in turn was admired by Hitler, and who published antisemitic articles in his newspaper The Dearborn Independent in the 1920s; the Madison Square Garden Nazi Rally in the late 1930s; and the ill-fated voyage of the SS Saint Louis, which carried over 900 Jewish refugees from Europe, and which was denied entry into American ports after being turned away at its original destination, Havana.
Tragically, violent acts of antisemitism in this country are at an all-time high and include the terrible mass shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh in October 2018, which became the worst day of antisemitic violence in US history; the Charlottesville march carried out by the ”Proud Boy” group (whose members chanted “the Jews shall not replace us”), and the recent attacks in New Jersey. The desecrating of Jewish historical markers, such as tombstones at cemeteries and synagogues, or the stereotyped and degrading representations of Jews on social media and chat boards, are part of this wave. When the arguments put forth by antisemites here and abroad are examined, we see the ironic insistence that Jews are both communists and capitalists. They are often considered “smart” and, therefore, “cunning.” They are viewed as “effeminate” but also possessing sexual power over gentile women. In the musical Parade, the story of Leo Frank and his persecutors reveals some of these stereotypes being utilized.
The ugly face of antisemitism has once again come into public view today. Antisemitic discourse has once more been employed in our public sphere and our politics. The notorious antisemitic tract, “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion,” a fraudulent document published in the early twentieth-century purporting to reveal a secret Jewish conspiracy to take over the world, has never been more accessible. The internet plays a central role in the dissemination of this bigotry. The question of when criticism of Israeli government policies becomes a mask for antisemitism is also very real today—and deeply complicated by the fact that Jewish Israelis will, as occurs in any democracy, find themselves in disagreement with their government.
While antisemitism never quite disappears, this should not lead us to believe that all societies are always equally antisemitic at all times There have been many periods of progress, most notably during the Civil Rights movement, when the personal friendship between Martin Luther King Jr. and Abraham Heschel typified a constructive and warm Jewish-black relationship more broadly. Forged in common work to fight racism, to this day, the relationship still lives on in the name of intersectional justice.
In Parade, one can see several characters who actively participate in antisemitic actions, as well as those who confront that antisemitism. We hope the audience will ponder their actions and their motives during the Frank case. In particular, Tom Watson, an opportunist and a leader of the “populists” of the period, uses his newspaper to depict Leo Frank in negative ways. Originally, someone who sought political alliances with minorities, Watson would become an avowed racist and antisemite later in life. We hope this performance will shed light not just on a particularly vivid moment in our nation’s history, but also make you reflect on our present as well.
On Parade: Jim Crow Through the Generations
By Denise Harrison
The musical Parade opens with a scene at the beginning of the Civil War and ends in 1915, the eve of World War I. In the context of race and war, it is important to remember that the first soldier to die during the Revolutionary War was a black man named Crispus Attucks. From the moment that America fought for her independence, Black people were on the front lines but with inequality and injustice. President Wilson refused to integrate Black soldiers into the military. The ironic thing is during World War II, soldiers of Japanese descent—those who were incarcerated in internment camps in the United States because of their ethnicity and the unfounded threat of loyalty to the motherland (Japan) 6 —were fully integrated into white units. Although President Roosevelt, pressured by the African American community, integrated the defense industry, Black soldiers could not get GI bills after they returned home from the war.
The Jim Crow7 is the period legally started approximately 14 years after the Emancipation and Proclamation and lasted through the 1960s. The Jim Crow system is the fixed system of behavior commodified with policies such as “colored only” and “white only” segregation laws. Before the Jim Crow period, African American men gained some legal status as office holders and representatives of Congress. Legal progress was made for African American men, allowing them to get into politics as Congressmen and civic leaders. In a little over a decade after that progress, However, African Americans would see an erosion of those rights and the rise of white supremacist groups. The Knight Riders and other white supremacy groups intimidated, terrorized, and attacked everyone who was not white Protestants, including Catholics, Italians, Jewish, Blacks, and gays. That kind of fear and intimidation resides at the heart of the musical Parade. Throughout this Jim Crow period, people of African descent continued to demonstrate their resistance to these unfair laws implicit in attitude and explicit in creating a culture of fear and intimidation.
The resistance began with those who never reached the shores of the North American continent; those who resisted by refusing to cooperate with their enslavers by looking into the eyes of the slave traders, by refusing to comply with the degradation of the middle passage, and simply by refusing sustenance. Some Africans made a conscious decision to jump overboard. The simple but absolute truth is that the Jim Crow era left so much trauma in those who were affected, including so many who suffer psychological and generational trauma today.
I have a mom, 96, who is now transitioning and at the end of life. When she was a little girl in Birmingham, Alabama, she could not drink water from faucets reserved for whites. Yet, her family exercised resistance. My mother’s grandmother was very light-skinned and could pass as a white woman (Grandma Brook’s dad was a white Southerner). Grandma Brooks took her granddaughter—my mother—to the local picture show. Black and white people thought the daughter of her black housekeeper was escorting a white woman to the movies. What Grandma Brooks did was an act of defiance and resistance.
Whenever I drink from a public water fountain, I think about all those Americans who were forced into this system of imbalance. The Jim Crow system has governed every aspect of people’s lives in the South, normalizing racist fear-tactics and the psychological behaviors of the white supremacy towards blacks. For example, in the South, if a barber cut a black person’s hair, he could not use the same clippers for his white patrons without incurring fines.
Writers Anna Julia Cooper and Mary Church Terrell argue that black women belong “to the only group in this country that has two huge obstacles to surmount both sex and race.8 African American women did not resent when their “brothers” were given voting rights. Black women emphasized that black men could not fully speak on their behalf; African American men cannot be a perfect spokesman for their black sisters.9 And we need to remember black women were an
integral part of social justice; Ida B. Wells-Barnett launched an anti-lynching crusade in 1892 and published the results of her findings in the book, Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases.
10
Bryan Stevenson’s Equal Justice Initiatives (EJI) and The National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama, is a contemporary resource to remind people of the scale of the institution of slavery not only in the South but across the country, including the state of Ohio.11 The 15 names of the victims who were lynched near Cincinnati, Sandusky, and other locations throughout Ohio are engraved on the Ohio column. At the memorial site, one learns horrific but important facts. For example, you see that there were lynchings in every county in Louisiana.
When one enters; this memorial site, they may feel like walking into a rusty dust-dry hot cemetery. The first of the rusted steel cylinders hung from the ceiling are at eye level. As you move through the exhibit, you look up at the cylinders since as the level gets higher, they look like those lynched and dying in the trees. There are also jars of dirt from the locations of the lynchings. Stevenson believes that the DNA of the victims still lies in the soil as evidence of violence inflicted on Black citizens, men, women, and children. Visitors are challenged to bear witness to this horror.
Bigotry and racism against people who are considered “different” are deeply rooted in America.12 We have all have seeds of discrimination against others. Yet, as history tells, the Black-Jewish relationship has grown positively, though mainstream media does not cover it. After the attack on the home of the Orthodox Rabbi, Chaim Rottenberg in December 2019, African Americans were outraged and expressed their condemnation on the attacker but much of them was never broadcast in the mainstream media.
Just look around, we discover so many human connections with people with different cultures and histories. For example, Jewish communities have done so much for the arts, education, and medical facilities in this country. When you receive a scholarship, you may want to check where that money comes from. Many times, it is from the Jewish community with its commitment to supporting the arts, education, and medical advancements.
We must continue to fight Jim Crow. Lorraine Hansberry wrote A Raisin in the Sun in 1959,13 a play about a Black family moving to the white suburbs of Chicago. In the case of Hansberry’s protagonist, the white council leaders and the rest of the community offer to give the family more than the value of the home not to move in. We had many cases of “A Raisin in the Sun” in the 1970s and we still do today. In the 1970s, when our family was living on the east side of Akron, we became friends with a family of stature and affluence in the greater Akron community. They purchased a house in Green township. When they visited the new house, they found graffiti with racial slurs all over the walls. Basketball superstar and entrepreneur, Lebron James, purchased a home in California and it was vandalized with a “racial” slur in 2017. You may well afford to live here in a free county, but you may not be welcomed in a certain community.
Patriarchy is also one of the core issues of Parade. Men talk, make decisions, and act. Audre Lorde says, that “the master’s tool cannot dismantle the master’s house.” 14 This tool is “patriarchy.” The musical suggests that young women are coerced to testify that Leo Frank acted inappropriately towards them. Though we never know what exactly happened during the investigation, Parade illustrates how patriarchy operates at multiple levels. In his book, Just Mercy,15 Stevenson talks about two things; we have to come to terms with an unequal justice system, and we have to look at where we can be merciful. We have the penal system that does not allow space for redemption. That mindset seems to result in the unlawful “execution” of Leo Frank.
We have so much work to do to fight racism, sexism, and other kinds of discrimination. We need to be vigilant since the media will not bear witness; in 2019. at least 22 transgender people and gender non-conforming people were killed, and yet, they are not centered in our consciousness.16
We need to keep talking and exploring ways to challenge the normalcy of passivity and silence.
GLOSSARY
ARMAGEDDON
In the New Testament, it is considered “the site or time of a final and conclusive battle between the forces of good and evil.”1
CAPITOL CITY CLUB
It was and still is a private social club in Atlanta, Georgia. It was founded in 1883 and is considered one of the oldest social clubs in the South.
CHAIN GANGS
A group of prisoners chained together to perform menial or physically challenging work as a form of punishment. Such punishment might include repairing buildings, building roads, or clearing land. Chain gang population: African Americans men 90%, African American women 4-5%, White men 5-6% and White women less than 0.1%. Chain gangs weren’t abolished in Georgia until the 1950s. See Robert Elliot Burns, I Am a Fugitive from a Georgia Chain Gang.
CHATTAHOOCHEE
A river rising in northern Georgia and flowing southwest and south to join the Flint River at the Florida border, merging with the Apalachicola River.
COMMUTE
To substitute one punishment in the place of another. For example, if a man is sentenced to be hanged, the executive may, in some states, commute his punishment to that of life imprisonment.
CONFEDERATE MEMORIAL DAY APRIL 26
A day for confederate pride and celebratory traditions to honor confederate soldiers and the divide between North and South.1 It was celebrated on April 26, in Georgia, Alabama, Florida, and Mississippi. Several other southern states have celebrated Confederate Memorial Day on May 10. It is no longer an official holiday in Georgia. It remains an official holiday in South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, and North Carolina.
CROKER SACK
A bag made of burlap or similar material. An example of a croker sack is a bag that holds many pounds of potatoes.
“DEAR DYING LAMB: THY PRECIOUS BLOOD SHALL NEVER LOSE IT’S POWER” & “SINNERS PLUNGED BENEATH THAT FLOOD”2
Reference to hymn “There is a Fountain Filled with Blood”.
“DIXIE I WISH I WAS IN DIXIE LAND”3
A Confederate song “I wish I was in Dixie Land.”
GUNNYSACK
Also known as a gunny shoe or tow sack, “gunnysack”is an inexpensive bag historically made of hessian (burlap) formed from jute, hemp or other natural fibers.
HENRY FORD
Founder of the Ford Motor Company. “In 1919 he purchased the Dearborn Independent, an obscure Michigan city newspaper. Dearborn was the headquarters of his automobile company. For eight years he weekly published articles abundant with prejudice and racism. Some articles were antisemitic.”4
IMMANUEL REFERENCE - FUNERAL: THERE IS A FOUNTAIN
A song “Praise for the Fountain Opened” composed by William Cowper. This hymn is a “meditation on the saving power of the blood of Christ.”5
INDICTED
To be formally suspected of committing a crime. This is given by the grand jury after they have enough evidence.
JACOB’S DRUG STORE
The original store is named Jacobs Pharmacy. The owner Joseph Jacobs is well-known as the owner of the drug store that housed the soda fountain that sold the very first Coca-Cola in May 1886.
MESHUGGENEH
An Yiddish word for crazy and senseless.
MR. MONTAG
Sigmund Montag was an elite Jewish Atlantan. He was the principal stockholder of the National Pencil Company and president of a thriving paper manufacturer. Montag testified that on the morning Mary’s body was discovered, he was at least as nervous as Frank.”6
OL’ BLACK JOE
A parlor song Old Black Joe by Stephen Foster. The fictional Joe was inspired by an African American servant in the home of Foster’s father-in-law Dr. McDowell of Pittsburgh.
OLD RED HILLS
Red Hills or Tallahassee Hills is a region of gently rolling hills in the southeastern United States covering parts of Florida and Georgia. The soil of this area is red. The area was first settled by Paleo Natives, Apalachee Natives, and the Seminoles from the sixteenth through the nineteenth century. In the nineteenth century white settlers started cotton plantations.
On Mary Phagan’s tomb are inscribed “Little Mary Phagan’s heroism is an heirloom than which there is nothing more precious among the old red hills of Georgia.”
Martin Luther King’s I Have a Dream speech mentions the hills, “I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood.”7
PIEDMONT PARK
Originally owned by Benjamin Walker, who used it as his gentleman’s farm and residence. He sold the land in 1887 to the Gentlemen’s Driving Club who wanted to establish an exclusive club and racing ground for horse enthusiasts.
PUBLIC APPROBATION
Formal word for approval or praise. Approbation is like getting the nod in a big way. Politicians rely on the public’s approbation to get elected.
RABBI
A Jewish scholar or teacher, especially one who studies or teaches Jewish law. A person appointed as a Jewish religious leader.
SHABBAT
A festive day for Jews beginning Friday evening until Saturday night to exercise their freedom from the regular labors of everyday life. Some Shabbat laws ask one to refrain from engaging in normal daily activities such as writing, business transactions, driving, shopping, using technology, using electricity, cooking, doing laundry etc.
SHALOM
Used as a salutation by Jews at meeting or parting meaning ”hello, goodbye and peace.’
SH’MA
A Jewish Prayer, which is also the first two words of a section of the Torah, and is the title of a prayer that serves as a centerpiece of the morning and evening Jewish prayer services.
SILVER GUN
Movie Silver-Plated Gun, directed by Allan Dawn, was released in 1913. Avenged, the outlaw takes his way into the mountains, followed by a sheriff. Both struggle for their lives in the wilderness until a silver-plated gun leads the two back into town.
SODOMITE
A person who engages in sodomy.
WATERMELON PICKLES
Watermelon rinds boiled in vinegar, sugar and spices until soft and served as a popular southern snack.
YANKEE
A native or inhabitant of a northern U.S. state, especially of one of the northeastern states that sided with the Union in the American Civil War.
YONTIFF
An Yiddish word meaning “good holiday.” It is normally used when referring to Yom Tov holidays such as Yom Kippur or Rosh Hashanah, but can be used for any holiday. In Hebrew the translation is Hag Same’ah meaning happy holiday. Saturday April 26th, 1913 was the fifth day of Pesach/Passover.
CONTEXT
ANTISEMITISM
Antisemitic language and treatment is used and depicted in Parade. Antisemitism means “hatred of Jews or unreasonable prejudice against them; a term coined in 1875.” However, in reality it goes back “to the beginnings of Judaism itself.”8 Visit The History of Antisemitism.
RACISM
Racist language and treatment are used and depicted in Parade. The African American characters in Parade show how African Americans are prejudged before and during the trial. Visit: Exploring Racism and Social Justice through the Film.
“...A red-blooded man...sweet-smellin’ girl, near enough to feel that hot breath on your face” “You had to touch her didn’t you....” “Hangin’ another nigra ain’t enough this time” (Parade scene 11, p. 26)
Atlanta and the Civil War
• American North: The Union and voted against slavery.
• American South: The Confederate and pro-slavery
• Secession: separation from the Union and declare itself confederate/separate nation.
• Georgia’s secession from the Union took place on January 19, 1861. The South’s main motivation was to preserve the institution of slavery for economic and agricultural growth.
• By March 1862 the Union had captured most of Georgia’s coastal islands.
• On April 10, 1862 - the Union forces captures Fort Pulaski near Savannah.
• In April 1862: the Union tries to destroy Georgia’s railroad system. During the raid that lasted seven hours, James Andrews and his 20 associates, they were caught in Marietta the Confederates.
• 100,000+ Georgians served in the Confederate armed forces. Governor Brown tried to stop Confederate militias from growing, but efforts failed.
• Atlanta, Georgia was known for its abundant military supplies, rail center, rolling mills, quartermaster’s depot, and several military hospitals. Other locations in Georgia that provided industrial efforts to the war were Savannah, Augusta, Columbus, and Macon.
• Financing the war became problematic. Instead of taxes, the South used bonds and treasury notes (1864). This caused extreme inflation across the South. (ex. firewood $80 a cord, flour $120 a barrel). People suffered from extreme poverty. The army had major shortages of food. Women had to step into multiple roles, aiding soldiers, working in hospitals and factories, and providing for family.
• In 1862 several slaves joined military forces on the Coast and Northwest Georgia.
• In 1864 the Union destroyed the last railroad in Atlanta. The Union also destroyed all factories and bridges.
• In 1866, the period of Georgia’s Reconstruction begins. “While the majority of Southern whites had owned land during the antebellum period, the majority had become landless sharecroppers by the early 1900s. Although landownership by Georgia's black farmers had grown to 13 percent by 1900, most remained sharecroppers.”9
TRIAL TIMELINE
DATES OF TRIAL
Event | Date |
Mary Phagan is Murdered | April 26, 1913 |
Night Watchman Newt Lee Finds Mary Phagan's Body | April 27, 1913 |
Funeral of Mary Phagan | April 29, 1913 |
Newt Lee and Leo Frank are Investigated | May 8, 1913 |
Jim Conley is Investigated | May 18, 1913 |
Grand Jury Indicts Leo Frank for the Murder | May 23, 1913 |
Trial Begins: Prosecution Presents its Case | July 28, 1913 |
Jim Conley Testifies | August 4, 1913 |
Jim Conley is Cross-Examined by Defense | August 5, 1913 |
The Defense Presents its Case | August 7, 1913 |
Leo Frank Speaks in his Own Defense | August 18, 1913 |
Jury Finds Leo Frank Guilty of Murder | August 25, 1913 |
Judge Leonard Roan Sentences Leo to Hang | August 26, 1913 |
B'Nai B'rith Establishes Anti-Defamation League | September 1913 |
Hearing for an Amended Motion for a New Trial | October 4, 1913 |
Judge Roan Denies Motion for a New Trial | October 31, 1913 |
Leo Frank is Scheduled to be Executed on April 17, 1914 | October 31, 1913 |
Defense Presents its Case to Georgia Supreme Court | December 15, 1913 |
Georgia Supreme Court Denies New Trial | February 17, 1914 |
Jim Conley Sentenced to 1 year imprisonment as an accessory to the crime | February 24, 1914 |
Defense Files in Fulton County Superior Court to Set Aside Frank Verdict | April 6, 1914 |
Fulton County Superior Court Denies | June 6, 1914 |
Defense Appeals to Georgia Supreme Court | June 6, 1914 |
Georgia Supreme Court Denies Appeal | October 14, 1914 |
Defense Appeals to U.S. District Court of North Georgia | November 14, 1914 |
Execution Reset to Occur on June 22, 1915 | November 14, 1914 |
Writ of Habeus Corpus Denied by U.S. District Court of North Georgia | December 21, 1914 |
U.S. Supreme Court Rejects Appeal | April 9, 1915 |
Defense Team Appeals to Pardons and Paroles Board of Georgia Prison Commission and is Denied | May 21, 1915 |
Governor John Slaton Investigates and Commutes Leo Frank's Sentence from Death to Life in Prison | June 20, 1915 |
Leo Frank is Transferred from Fulton County to State Prison Farm in Milledgeville, Georgia | June 21, 1915 |
Leo Frank's Throat is Slashed by Fellow Prisoner, He Survives | July 18, 1915 |
Leo Frank is Kidnapped from Prison by 25 Armed Men | August 16, 1915 |
Leo Frank is Driven 72 Miles to Marietta, Georgia and is Lynched | August 17, 1915 |
Leo Frank is Buried in Brooklyn, New York | August 20, 1915 |
The Knights of the Ku Klux Klan is Re-constituted | November 25, 1915 |
HISTORICAL INFLUENCES ON THE EVENTS OF PARADE
- THE END OF THE CIVIL WAR
- EUROPEAN MIGRATION
- HIGH TENSION BETWEEN THE NORTH AND SOUTH
- WOMEN’S RIGHTS
- JIM CROW LAWS AND THE SEGREGATED SOUTH
- RACISM
- GLOBAL ANTI- SEMITISM
- THE JUSTICE AND LAW SYSTEM
- JEWISH ASSIMILATION
- ECONOMIC DIVIDE AND POVERTY
- SOUTHERN URBANIZATION AND INDUSTRIALISM
- EXPLOITATION OF CHILDREN
- RISE OF YELLOW JOURNALISM
TRIAL OUTCOMES
ANTI DEFAMATION LEAGUE
Formed in September 1913 after Leo Frank's death sentence. The Anti Defamation League was formed to “protect the Jewish people and to secure justice and fair treatment for all. Today ADL continues to fight all forms of hate with the same vigor and passion.”10
RE-EMERGENCE OF THE KKK
Many believe that the murder of Mary Phagan and the subsequent trial led to the re-emergence of the Ku Klux Klan.
POSTHUMOUS PARDON FOR LEO FRANK- STATE OF GEORGIA 1986
In 1983, right before his death, 85-year-old Alonzo Mann told The Tennessean that he had seen Jim Conley carry Mary Phagan's body to the basement on the day of the murder.11 Led by the ADL’s attorney, Charles Wittenstein, Frank supporters submitted a second application for a pardon. Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles officially pardons Leo Frank. The official pardon says: “The lynching aborted the legal process, thus foreclosing further efforts to prove Frank’s innocence.”12 The Pardon did not deem Frank innocent.
CASE REOPENED IN GEORGIA
In 2019, Paul Howard, Fulton County District Attorney founded the Conviction Integrity Unity to investigate the Leo Frank trial and other similar cases. Led by former Georgia Governor Roy Barnes, the case is being reexamined to see if it could be re-adjudicated.
SOURCES
http://changingminds.org/analysis/i_have_a_dream.htm
http://oldredhills.tripod.com/paradetitle.html
http://www.jewfaq.org/express.htm
http://www.pbs.org/tpt/slavery-by-another-name/themes/chain-gangs/
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/henryford-antisemitism/
http://www.theellipsis.org/the-murder-of-mary-phagan/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_City_Club
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chattahoochee_River
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dixie_%28song%29
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Black_Joe
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piedmont_Park
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbi
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Hills_Region
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yankee
https://hymnary.org/text/there_is_a_fountain_filled_with_blood_dr?extended=true
https://jacobinmag.com/2012/08/the-war-of-northern-aggression
https://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/commute
https://www.dictionary.com/browse/indicted
https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/arts-culture/alfred-uhry-b-1936
https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/leo-frank-case
https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/reconstruction-georgia
https://www.history.com/topics/reconstruction/ku-klux-klan
https://www.hymnal.net/en/hymn/h/1006
https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/parade-5704
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2212346/
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/henry-ford-invents-a-jewish-conspiracy
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/what-is-shabbat-jewish-sabbath
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/approbation
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Armageddon
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/croker%20sack
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gunnysack
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sodomite
https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/shalom/
https://www.quora.com/Why-does-the-South-call-the-Civil-War-the-War-of-Northern-Aggression-when-Jefferson-Davis-fired-the-first-shot https://www.prindlepost.org/2017/08/civil-war-war-northern-aggression/
https://www.thefreedictionary.com/meshuggeneh
https://www.thespruceeats.com/watermelon-rind-pickles-recipe-3059156
FOOTNOTES
1https://www.britannica.com/place/Armageddon)
2Parade script: songs “There is a Fountain & Old Red Hills of Home”
3Parade script: songs “There is a Fountain & Old Red Hills of Home”
4(https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/religion/the-dark-legacy-of-hen…)
5umcdiscipleship.org
6Justice.gov.usao/justice-101/charging
7HTTP://CHANGINGMINDS.ORG/ANALYSIS/I_HAVE_A_DREAM.HTM
8https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/reconstruction-georgia
9Steve Oney, And the Dead Shall Rise 289.
10(HTTPS://WWW.ADL.ORG/WHO-WE-ARE)
11And The Dead Shall Rise, 648
12Robert Seitz Frey and Nancy C. Thompson. Mary Phagan and the Lynching of Leo Frank (Copper Square Press, 1988),