Viola Desmond, 1914-1965

Viola Desmond WWP

Desmond's portrait, Halifax, Nova Scotia. Photo credit - Wikipedia

A Canadian businesswoman and civil rights activist.



Viola Desmond was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, to a white mother and a black father. Although intermarriages were uncommon then, her parents were accepted into the Black community and were active in various communal organizations. After graduating high school, she worked as a teacher in segregated schools for Black students.

In those days, Black women were not allowed to go to beauty salons and beauty schools in Nova Scotia, so Desmond went to study the profession in Montreal and NYC at Madam C.J. Walker’s program. On her return to Halifax, she opened Vi’s Studio of Beauty Culture salon. Soon, she launched a line of skin and hair products for Black women called Vi’s Beauty Products and opened The Desmond School of Beauty Culture, in which she trained her students to open their own beauty salons.

On November 8th, 1946, while on her way to a business meeting, her car broke down, and she had to stay overnight in New Glasgow. To pass the time, she went to see a movie at the Roseland Theatre. When buying the ticket, she requested a seat on the main floor, though, without informing her, the cashier gave her a balcony ticket, the area of the non-white customers. When she sat on the main floor, she was asked to move to her signed seat upstairs. At first, she thought it was a mistake and requested to change her ticket, but the cashier refused, explaining that “people like her” could not buy the downstairs tickets. Realizing that this discrimination was because of her skin color, she decided to take a stand and remain on the main floor. Then she was confronted by the manager, to whom she tried to explain that she was willing to pay the difference in the cost of the seats, but refused to leave the main floor. At that point, a police officer arrived, dragging her out of the theater, injuring her knee and hip, keeping her in jail overnight. In the morning, she was brought to court and charged with a case of tax evasion on the false claim that she refused to pay the amusement tax for the floor ticket.

On her return to Halifax, Desmond decided to fight her conviction in court. With the financial help of the Nova Scotia Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NSAACP), she hired an attorney that filed a lawsuit against the Roseland Theatre. Her story got covered by the journalist and social activist Carrie Best, who published it on the first edition of The Clarion – the first black-owned newspaper in Nova Scotia.

Desmond’s case was brought before Nova Scotia’s Supreme Court, but she lost her appeal because she missed the deadline for filing it. Though she lost her appeal, Desmond’s case resonant within Nova Scotia’s Black community and inspired the civil rights movement in Canada.
The trial had a significant impact on her life. Not long after, she got divorced, closed her business in Halifax, and moved to Montreal. Eventually, she moved to NYC, where she died from gastrointestinal bleeding at the age of 50.

On April 15th, 2010, more than 60 years after her conviction, Desmond became the first person in Canada to be granted a free pardon by the Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia, Mayann Francis (the first woman and second black person to hold the position).

The story of Viola Desmond

In 1946, Viola Desmond was thrust into the public spotlight after refusing to leave the “whites-only” section of a movie theatre in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia. This is the story of how a single act of defiance would change the course of her life and inspire a movement for racial equality across the country. Read more at humanrights.ca/story/one-womans-resistance

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Fun Facts

  • She was one of ten children.
  • She is the first non-royal Canadian woman to appear on the Canadian $10 note.
  • In 2016, she became the first woman of color to be featured in an ‘Historica Canada Heritage Minute’ short film.
  • Her sister published a book titled Sister to Courage, writing about the activism in her family and her experiences with her sister.
  • The singer and social activist Faith Nolan wrote a song about her.
  • Her portrait is on display in the Ballroom at Nova Scotia's Government House.
  • Her story is detailed in the documentary Long Road to Justice: The Viola Desmond Story.’
  • She was named a National Historic Person by the Canadian government. (2018)
  • She has a star on the Canada Walk of Fame.
  • The contralto Portia White and Gwen Jenkins, the first black nurse in Nova Scotia, were among her clients in the beauty salon.
  • There are schools and parks named in her honor in several places in Canada.

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The story of Viola Desmond

In 1946, Viola Desmond was thrust into the public spotlight after refusing to leave the “whites-only” section of a movie theatre in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia. This is the story of how a single act of defiance would change the course of her life and inspire a movement for racial equality across the country. Read more at humanrights.ca/story/one-womans-resistance
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Category: Activism & Feminism and Business & Entrepreneurship
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