By Joshua Short
Published: May. 16, 2024 at 7:14 PM EDT
SOUTH BEND, Ind. (WNDU) - A century ago this week, there was a multi-day riot in downtown South Bend.
It was brave. It was bold. It was brutal. And it all had to do with the rise of one of the oldest hate groups in the country.
We’re talking about the Ku Klux Klan, and what many people don’t know is a second iteration of the Klan was emerging in the 1920s. It was built on white supremacist ideologies but included a disdain for Jews and Catholics as well.
Part one of our series looks at the literal battle between two uniquely American institutions: the KKK and the University of Notre Dame.
You’re looking at present-day South Bend, Indiana. In news, we call this a beauty shot.
But 100 years ago, what happened here wasn’t a thing of beauty.
Back then, the days looked a bit different. The South Bend-based Studebaker Special Six was a popular ride at the time. But what wasn’t as popular here had already become particularly powerful throughout Indiana: the rise of the Ku Klux Klan.
Indiana was a stronghold for the hate group back in the early 1900s, claiming more members here than in any other state. But its anti-Black, anti-Irish, anti-Catholic ideologies didn’t really make inroads in South Bend.
“So, the Klan thrived among native, the Klan thrived among white Protestant Americans. So symbolically, it was important for the Klan to have a show of power in South Bend. So, they announced that there would be a three-day rally and parade in South Bend, Indiana,” explained Todd Tucker, a Notre Dame alum who wrote a book detailing this bitter battle of “God, Country, and Notre Dame” back in May of 1924 called “The Twelve Days of Notre Dame.” “So, the idea that someone would come into, on their turf in South Bend — which was not a Klan stronghold — and impugn their Americanness really got them fired up.”
At the time, Notre Dame was an all-men’s school — many of whom were in World War I, including then-Notre Dame President Matthew Walsh, who served as a chaplain. Walsh and Notre Dame students eventually got word of this multi-day rally, and they weren’t too happy.
In fact, leading up to it, President Walsh warned students about potential issues with the upcoming Klan, asking them to “ignore whatever demonstration that may take place today. This suggestion should be taken in all seriousness.”
JOSH: This is an important corner in the city’s history, but also the state’s history.
TODD: Right here was the site of the South Bend Klan headquarters in 1924, and that was a focal point of the riots in May of 1924 where the students gathered and eventually kind of had that building under siege and knocked out all the windows. And that was the center of Klan power in St. Joe County.
D.C. Stephenson was the Grand Dragon, or leader, for the Klan at the time here in Indiana. He was also a political power broker. But neither he nor his Klansmen broke the spirit of the Fighting Irish.
University officials were concerned in the weeks and days leading up to the plans. Then-Police Chief Larry Lane told the director for off-campus students and other university officials “if necessary, I shall deputize enough men to stop it; and moreover, I shall make preparations for a machine gun and tear bomb attack if necessary.”
TODD: We’re at the… it was formerly the side of the College Football Hall of Fame. But in 1924, this was the location of a pool hall called Hully and Mike’s (Pool Hall and Cigar Shop). It was a, a hangout for Notre Dame students, the majority of whom lived off campus at the time in town. And on day two of the riots, May 19, it became kind of a makeshift hospital and retreat point, as the Notre Dame students were taking a beating that day.
Nonetheless, the planned parade didn’t go “as planned” for the Klan.
Soon after the riot, a scathing letter was left for the university president, reading in part: “you can thank your lucky stars that you have your buildings intact, for if the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan assembled in South Bend last Saturday had been as lawless as your bunch of Anarchist students, they would have wiped the Notre Dame buildings off the Earth.” It was signed by “A Kluxer.”
JOSH: Talk about the significance of this location.
TODD: This was really a, a critical spot in that whole weekend, because this is really where it came to a close. The Notre Dame students in retreat, they kind of gathered here. And Father Walsh, who had tried his best to ignore the riot, then he tried to prevent the students from participating. He reluctantly came out here and gave a kind of a very dramatic speech right here on the courthouse lawn where he implored the students to return to campus. And they did, and that brought the Notre Dame-Klan riot to a close on May 19th, 1924.
JOSH: When you hear the term “Fighting Irish,” there is actual history when it comes to that, right?
TODD: Yeah, for sure. I mean, it was a stereotype that originated as an insult about kind of Irish immigrants and their kind of belligerent nature. And then it’s something that the Irish eventually embraced and made the mascot of their favorite university.”
A lot of threads to pull, right?
Notre Dame’s administration was initially embarrassed by the stereotype of its Catholic students brawling in the streets and throwing food at Klan members. But according to historians, the university also never disciplined a single student for standing up to the Klan.
This is one of the many things you’ll learn about at an exhibit in South Bend, which opens up Friday right across the street from where this all started. We’ll preview that in part two of our series, and we’ll also tell you about the Klan’s attempted resurgence here in St. Joseph County in more recent years and what a family member of a former Klan leader told WNDU 16 News Now when we brought up this story to him just a couple of weeks ago.
Meanwhile, Indiana Sen. Todd Young delivered remarks on the House floor on Thursday on the 100th anniversary of the confrontation known as Notre Dame vs. the KKK.
It was a passionate six-and-a-half-minute speech about the events from 1924.
To watch Sen. Young’s full floor speech, click here.
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