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The Danville Riot Of 1883 : Its Effect On Politics In Virginia, William Carrington Tate

Master's Theses

Dr. Richard L. Morton, a Virginia historian who lived in the early twentieth century, wrote, "the recrudescence of the race question has occurred in Virginia politics only in times of political stress, when the negro vote has been necessary to keep certain elements in power." Probably no more powerful example of Dr. Morton's words has occurred in the Old Dominion than that outbreak of passions between blacks and whites in the streets of Danville on November 3, 1883, only three days before the legislative election for the state was to take place.

In the pages of this thesis I will …