Looking back 100 years: How Notre Dame students resisted the KKK

In May of 1924, the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) planned a rally in the city of South Bend, the home of many Jewish and Catholic residents, and the nearby University of Notre Dame. In an intense conflict, some of the university’s Catholic students confronted members of the Klan, pushing them back to their headquarters a few blocks away. The students followed, and violence ensued. The Indiana Historical Society’s RESIST! exhibit depicts images from a clash between Notre Dame students and the KKK in 1924. (Photo/ Indiana Historical Society) Following the confrontation back to the KKK headquarters in South Bend, a small group of the nearly 1,500 Catholic students attending Notre Dame, proceeded to break the windows and attempted to infiltrate the headquarters upstairs, according to the Indiana Historical Society. A Klan member produced a gun, and the students backed off. A truce was called wherein the Klan could hold their rally without their weapons or their robes. Primary sources, archives, photographs and immersive experiences from this day in 1924 make up the Indiana Historical Society’s (IHS) new exhibit, RESIST! A recounting of the events that unfolded, RESIST! is open to the public until Aug. 2, and features a wide array...