Cour­tesy of Mary Glickman 

1. The child mur­der that is cen­tral to Ain’t No Grave​’s action occurs at a fac­to­ry in Atlanta, the Nation­al Pen­cil Fac­to­ry, dur­ing an era that saw mass employ­ment of chil­dren as young as nine. 
   1. In 1913, child labor was both legal and sub­stan­tial­ly dam­ag­ing to most chil­dren in the grasp of big Indus­try. Dis­ease fre­quent­ly swept through fac­to­ry pop­u­la­tions, not spar­ing its most vul­ner­a­ble, and on-the-job injury was com­mon. Protest was frequent. 
   2. In 1938, fed­er­al labor law out­lawed child work­ers in fac­to­ries and mines. Chil­dren under the age of 14 were per­mit­ted to work in agri­cul­tur­al jobs with parental per­mis­sion. That exemp­tion was born with the fam­i­ly farm in mind but is not restrict­ed to it.
   3. Across the globe, chil­dren are employed in fac­to­ries, mines, and fields with­out restric­tions or pro­tec­tions. Many Amer­i­can cor­po­ra­tions take advan­tage of that real­i­ty to pro­duce cheap­er goods.
   4. Cur­rent­ly in the US, chil­dren are allowed to work in cer­tain sec­tors (think tele­vi­sion actors, for exam­ple), but if the child is under 12, he/​she is restrict­ed to 3 hours of work per school day. 
   5. Chil­dren employed in agri­cul­ture may work up to 10 hours a day, depend­ing upon the sea­son. 
       

2. The chief wit­ness dur­ing the tri­al against Nation Pen­cil man­ag­er Leo Frank was Jim Con­ley, the factory’s Black jan­i­tor, a man con­sid­ered the true mur­der­er post tri­al and lynch­ing, when his own lawyer broke the legal code of ethics to announce that Con­ley had con­fessed to him. (Two oth­er men came for­ward to report that while drunk, Con­ley con­fessed to them, too.)

   The case pit­ted Blacks and Jews against each oth­er as the streets of Atlanta erupt­ed first with racist and then with anti-Semit­ic protest. The shift from one brand of hate to anoth­er was quick. Peo­ple were fired up by the press. 

   What is the dif­fer­ence between racism and anti-Semi­tism? Is there one?

3. For two years, Leo Frank was front page news. What about the case made it a sen­sa­tion? How much did the media of the day have to do with the trial’s result? With the com­mu­ta­tion of Frank’s sen­tence? With his lynch­ing? What stops the press from manip­u­lat­ing opin­ion today?
    
4. Ain’t No Grave uses spir­i­tu­al­ist notes to fore­shad­ow, as points of ten­sion, and as metaphor. What are some exam­ples from the text?  (The pre­dic­tions of May­hay­ley Lan­cast­er, Uncle Mor­ris and his Siren, Max’s encounter with the snake preach­er.) 
    
5. When they are first sep­a­rat­ed, Ruby hears Max’s voice in her head, advis­ing her as she makes her way to Atlanta. Back home in Buck­wood, Max calls to her across time and space but nev­er hears a response from her. What keeps them con­nect­ed until they reunite five years lat­er? Why does Ruby fear she’ll lose Max when they return to Buck­wood for a fam­i­ly emer­gency?
    
6. Rab­bi Marx of The Tem­ple hosts Frank’s wife Lucille and lat­er, Sig­mund Liv­ingston at ral­lies sup­port­ing the defen­dant and rais­ing mon­ey for the fledg­ling ADL. How are these received by the com­mu­ni­ty at large? 
    
7. Do you feel that the chal­lenges pre­sent­ed in Ain’t No Grave have par­tic­u­lar res­o­nance with the chal­lenges today’s Jew­ish com­mu­ni­ty expe­ri­ence? In what way? In Frank’s day, a mul­ti­tude of Geor­gian Jews left the state. What would the prop­er response be today?

Sug­gest­ed Addi­tion­al Reading

• And the Dead Shall Rise: the Mur­der of Mary Pha­gan and the Lynch­ing of Leo Frank, Steve Oney 2003, Ran­dom House

• Black-Jew­ish Rela­tions on Tri­al: Leo Frank and Jim Con­ley in the New South, Jef­frey Mel­nick 2000, Uni­ver­si­ty Press of Mississippi

• An Unspeak­able Crime: The Pros­e­cu­tion and Per­se­cu­tion of Leo Frank, Elaine Marie Alphin, 2010, Car­ol­Rho­da Books

• Ora­cle of the Ages: Reflec­tions on the Curi­ous Life of For­tune Teller May­hay­ley Lan­cast­er, Dot Moore with Katie Lamar Smith, 2007, New South Books