Lynching was supported by many Waco residents. It was, however, not supported by newspapers around the United States. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) hired Elisabeth Freeman to investigate. Freeman gathered many details, despite that many residents did not want to talk about what had happened. After receiving Freeman's report, NAACP co-founder and editor W. E. B. Du Bois published an in-depth report featuring photographs of Washington's burnt body in "The Crisis". The NAACP also featured his death in their anti-lynching campaign. Waco was known as a modern and a progressive city. However, the lynching demonstrated that the city did not mind racial violence. The event was nicknamed the "Waco horror". The city then gained a reputation for racism. City leaders tried to stop violence several times in the following decades.