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#OTD in 1884 the Chicago Tribune reported on Senate hearings regarding the Danville Massacre in Virginia. The massacre took place on November 3, 1883. The Chicago Tribune’s reporting highlights the tension between white Democrats, Black Republicans and voting at the time. 
The Danville Massacre (also referred to as the Danville Race Riot) was a violent white backlash to bi-racial democracy in Virginia during the Readjuster movement. The Readjuster Party supported legislation to help alleviate the state's debt incurred during the Civil War.
Danville had thriving majority Black population by the 1880s. Many whites in the area described Black political power as "Negro rule." The Tribune's report quoted a white witness who stated that the Readjusters imposed "the worst rule any people were ever cursed with."
