Who was Jesse Washington?
Q: Who was Jesse Washington?
A: Jesse Washington was a teenage African American who worked on a farm in Robinson, Texas.
Q: What did he allegedly do?
A: He was accused of raping and killing Lucy Fryer, the wife of his white boss.
Q: How did people react to the event?
A: Over 10,000 people, including city officials and police, gathered to watch the attack. People enjoyed the attack, many children attended the event. Members of the mob removed his testicles, cut off his fingers, and hung him over a bonfire. Pictures of the event were taken by a professional photographer and printed as postcards in Waco. Lynching was supported by many Waco residents but not supported by newspapers around the United States.
Q: What action did NAACP take after receiving Freeman's report?
A: The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) hired Elisabeth Freeman to investigate and after receiving her report co-founder and editor W. E. B Du Bois published an in-depth report featuring photographs of Washington's burnt body in The Crisis magazine as part of their anti-lynching campaign.
Q: How did this event change people's view on lynching?
A: The media attention this event received made people become against lynching - it was seen as "barbarism" rather than an acceptable form of justice.
Q: What reputation did Waco gain after this incident?
A: After this incident Waco gained a reputation for racism despite being known as a modern and progressive city prior to it happening.
Q: Did any monuments get built for this event in later years?
A: In later years some Waco residents wanted to build a monument for this event but it didn't gain enough support from other members within the city so no monument got built
