Fighting Irish: The Murder of Madge Oberholtzer and Death to the Klan

The Ku Klux Klan controlled the state of Indiana in 1924. They believed themselves invincible and were moving to expand their organization when they encountered resistance from Irish Catholic Notre Dame students. Notre Dame students halted the Klan’s advances in South Bend, Indiana, but it was Madge Oberholtzer who killed the Klan for good.

Sources: 

“A Clash Over Catholicism.” University of Notre Dame. August, 2018. https://stories.nd.edu/stories/a-clash-over-catholicism/

“The Dying Declaration of Madge Oberholtzer.” Famous Trials by Professor Douglas O. Linder. https://www.famous-trials.com/stephenson/86-dyingdeclaration

Egan, Timothy. Fever in the Heartland: The Ku Klux Klan’s Plot to Take Over America, and the Woman Who Stopped Them (New York: Viking, 2023).

Kahler, Abbott. “‘Murder Wasn’t Very Pretty’: The Rise and Fall of D. C. Stephenson” Smithsonian Magazine. August 30, 2012. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/murder-wasnt-very-pretty-the-rise-and-fall-of-dc-stephenson-18935042/

Milz, Mary. “How Notre Dame Students Battled the Klan 100 Years Ago.” Indianapolis Monthly. May 16, 2024. https://www.indianapolismonthly.com/arts-and-culture/how-notre-dame-students-battled-the-klan-100-years-ago/

Tucker, Todd. Notre Dame vs. the Klan: How the Fighting Irish Defeated the Ku Klux Klan (Chicago: Loyola Press, 2004).

Music: Credits to Holizna, Fesilyan Studios & Virginia Liston