1924

Largest New England KKK Gathering Ends in Violent Riot

Front page of the Worcester Telegram, October 19, 1924
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Front page of the Worcester Telegram, October 19, 1924 Credit: Accessed March 4, 2024 via https://open.substack.com/pub/wstr/p/the-worcester-klan-meeting-and-riot?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

The largest New England Ku Klux Klan gathering takes place in Worcester and ends with a violent riot.

The KKK has a resurgence in Massachusetts in the 1920s with meetings held in Worcester County towns. Klan members believe that Catholic, Jewish, French Canadian, Irish, and Italian arrivals to the area will challenge the then-dominant population of Anglo-Saxon Protestants. The rally in Worcester is the last public meeting of the Klan in the area. As one report summarized, "The Klan rally in Worcester in the fall of 1924 and the reaction to it were part of a national struggle over who could be considered truly American."
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