Walter White Investigates Lynchings Undercover Using His Appearance

Walter White, NAACP assistant secretary, was a light-skinned Black man who could pass as white. Between 1918 and 1929, he investigated 41 lynchings and 8 race riots by going undercover, winning the confidence of white participants, and documenting facts for NAACP reports and congressional testimony. His 1929 book 'Rope and Faggot: A Biography of Judge Lynch' synthesized this research for a national audience. White's investigations were personally dangerous and produced some of the most detailed primary documentation of racial terror in the era.