that had been piled underneath him. His body was then raised and lowered into the flames while 15,000 people—approximately half of Waco’s population at the time—stood and watched. Law enforcement did nothing to intervene.17
Responses to the Lynching
The response of the local white population to the lynching varied from shame to indifference to a sense of self-righteous approval. Although there was some public condemnation—including from a special committee of Baylor faculty—denouncements were few and far between. And of those that did publicly decry the event, many focused on the excessive cruelty or the external reproach the act would bring upon Waco rather than on the lynching itself.18
The local Black community’s response was generally one of public regret and condemnation for Washington’s purported crime, yet geographic proximity and fear often limited authentic and open responses on the part of Black citizens. Elizabeth Freeman, the NAACP reporter assigned to investigate this case, described a feeling among B lack Wacoans that “while they had one rotten member of their race the whites had 15,000.”19 Through Freeman’s reporting we also know that there was great disappointment among the local Black community that white clergy in Waco had not been more outspoken about the brutal and extralegal killing of Washington. A week after the event, Freeman reported that, “So far I have not found a Christian minister who has protested against the action of the Waco folk.”20
On the national level this event sparked significant debate and backlash. It was one of the few lynchings documented while it occurred, and graphic images of the execution emerged and spread across America. 21 The NAACP—which had already identified lynching as one of the most pressing barriers to racial advancement—saw this incident as a cause célèbre which could help galvanize their national anti-lynching efforts.22
Remembering (Forgetting?) the ‘Waco Horror’
Today no marker or monument exists in Waco to commemorate Washington or to remember the city’s history of such violence. Over time, the story of Washington’s lynching has been repressed or forgotten altogether in the city’s collective consciousness. Local history books did not even mention the event until the late 1960s.23
Wacoan public attention to the “Waco Horror” was renewed in 1998 when Councilman Lawrence Johnson—who heard about the lynching for the first time during a visit to the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis—chose to read the story aloud at the swearing-in for his next term. Johnson also called for a formal condemnation of the event by the City of Waco and for the erection of a monument or memorial to remember the event—neither occurred.24
In 2002, public attention was drawn yet again to Washington and the city’s history of lynchings when an image of a hanging tree was discovered in a painting in the lobby of the McLennan County Courthouse, which is located in Waco, the county seat. The image—which shows a noose hanging over a tree between the courthouse and city hall—was discovered
that had been piled underneath him. His body was then raised and lowered into the flames while 15,000 people—approximately half of Waco’s population at the time—stood and watched. Law enforcement did nothing to intervene.17
Responses to the Lynching
The response of the local white population to the lynching varied from shame to indifference to a sense of self-righteous approval. Although there was some public condemnation—including from a special committee of Baylor faculty—denouncements were few and far between. And of those that did publicly decry the event, many focused on the excessive cruelty or the external reproach the act would bring upon Waco rather than on the lynching itself.18
The local Black community’s response was generally one of public regret and condemnation for Washington’s purported crime, yet geographic proximity and fear often limited authentic and open responses on the part of Black citizens. Elizabeth Freeman, the NAACP reporter assigned to investigate this case, described a feeling among B lack Wacoans that “while they had one rotten member of their race the whites had 15,000.”19 Through Freeman’s reporting we also know that there was great disappointment among the local Black community that white clergy in Waco had not been more outspoken about the brutal and extralegal killing of Washington. A week after the event, Freeman reported that, “So far I have not found a Christian minister who has protested against the action of the Waco folk.”20
On the national level this event sparked significant debate and backlash. It was one of the few lynchings documented while it occurred, and graphic images of the execution emerged and spread across America. 21 The NAACP—which had already identified lynching as one of the most pressing barriers to racial advancement—saw this incident as a cause célèbre which could help galvanize their national anti-lynching efforts.22
Remembering (Forgetting?) the ‘Waco Horror’
Today no marker or monument exists in Waco to commemorate Washington or to remember the city’s history of such violence. Over time, the story of Washington’s lynching has been repressed or forgotten altogether in the city’s collective consciousness. Local history books did not even mention the event until the late 1960s.23
Wacoan public attention to the “Waco Horror” was renewed in 1998 when Councilman Lawrence Johnson—who heard about the lynching for the first time during a visit to the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis—chose to read the story aloud at the swearing-in for his next term. Johnson also called for a formal condemnation of the event by the City of Waco and for the erection of a monument or memorial to remember the event—neither occurred.24
In 2002, public attention was drawn yet again to Washington and the city’s history of lynchings when an image of a hanging tree was discovered in a painting in the lobby of the McLennan County Courthouse, which is located in Waco, the county seat. The image—which shows a noose hanging over a tree between the courthouse and city hall—was discovered
20 SoRelle, 529.
21 Local photographer Fred A. Gildersleeve, who was given advance notice of the lynching, took pictures from a window inside city hall. Many of these pictures were later sold as postcards. (SoRelle, The ‘Waco Horror,’ 527).
22 SoRelle, 518.
23 J.B. Smith, ‘Waco Horror’ at 100: Why Jesse Washington’s Lynching Still Matters, Waco Tribune-Herald, May 15, 2016.
24 Smith, ‘Waco Horror’ at 100.
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