Danville Before and After Urban Renewal

Beginning in the mid-1960s, urban renewal demolished many homes in Danville's Black community, continuing into the mid-1970s with the demolition of the Second Street business district itself. Student research using local newspaper archives found the city wanted the Black business district removed so more white tourists would visit nearby Constitution Square. An oral history project later recorded interviews with 11 Black residents about growing up there and how renewal changed their lives. As one local Black historian put it, Danville, "like every city, has an urban renewal story," with historic Black neighborhoods often displaced for infrastructure