The Flaming Circle PDF Download

By the end of 1925, the Ku Klux Klan had lost most of its members across the United States. This work examines opposition to the group from 1922 to 1926. It seeks to understand the decline in membership the 1920s Klan experienced after its power peaked in 1923 and 1924. To do so, it examines anti-Klan activity in Steubenville, Ohio; Williamson County, Illinois; and in Ohio’s Mahoning Valley with a focus on Niles, Ohio. Legal efforts to oppose the Klan by the Knights of Columbus and two foreign-language newspapers in the Mahoning Valley are explored. However, examining the role of the Knights of the Flaming Circle, a rival organization, in opposing the Klan in these locations is the primary focus. The Knights of the Flaming Circle emerged as an opponent to the Klan in August of 1923 and spread from Pennsylvania into Ohio and Illinois. Initially, the group, founded in Kane, Pennsylvania, championed the causes of liberty and equality and announced its intention to challenge the Klan in an orderly and legal fashion. However, as the organization spread to the industrial cities of Western Pennsylvania and Ohio, the tone of the organization’s rhetoric changed, and, the threat of violence between it and the Klan loomed. The threat became a reality when the Flaming Circle movement reached the coalfields of Williamson County in late 1923. Not long after, Niles, Ohio, joined Williamson County, as the other primary location of conflicts between the factions. From August 1923 to early 1925, the Flaming Circle’s fierce opposition to the Klan resonated around the country due to numerous violent riots and because these incidents were covered by the local and national press. This ensured that even people not located in areas where the two groups were active had constant updates anytime there was trouble. As a result of the conflicts, and a host of other complicating factors, Klan membership dropped significantly across the United States. This study seeks to understand what motivated both sides to engage in such violent behavior toward each other and to analyze why the Knights of the Flaming Circle were successful in helping to halt the Klan movement in the North.