The industrial town of Danville, Virginia grew rapidly in the late 19th century, attracting many single workers, and associated gambling, drinking, and prostitution establishments.
The Richmond Dispatch ran a statement the day after the shootings that "These negroes had evidently come to regard themselves as in some sort the rightful rulers of the town.
"[7] A local commission found African Americans at fault for the violence on November 3, but a US Senate investigation decided that white residents were to blame.
[3][6] Businesses owned by African Americans closed, many moved outside of town, and Democrats retook control of local and state politics after the November 1883 elections (held three days after the event).
In 1902 the state legislature passed a new constitution that raised barriers to voter registration, effectively disenfranchising most blacks and many poor whites, who had been part of the Readjuster Party.