BIOGRAPHY OF

VIOLA DESMOND

Born and raised in Halifax, Viola Desmond trained as a teacher but soon joined her 

husband Jack Desmond in a combined barbershop and hairdressing salon, a beauty 

parlour on Gottingen Street. While expanding her business across the province, Viola 

went to New Glasgow in 1946.

In New Glasgow, Desmond developed car trouble and decided to go to the movies while 

repairs were made. She bought a ticket, entered the theatre and took a seat on the main 

floor, unaware that tickets sold to African Canadians in this town were for the balcony 

and the main floor was reserved solely for White patrons. Theatre staff demanded that 

she go to the balcony, but she refused, since she could see better from the main floor. 

The police were summoned immediately and she was dragged out, which injured her 

hip. She was charged and held overnight in jail; she was not advised of her rights. 

Maintaining her dignity, Desmond remained sitting upright, wearing her white gloves (a 

sign of sophistication and class at the time). The following morning, despite not having 

done anything wrong, she paid the imposed fine of $20. Besides being fined, she was 

charged with defrauding the Government of Nova Scotia of the difference in the tax 

between a ground floor and a balcony seat, which amounted to one cent. 

While discussing the incident with the doctor who tended to her, Desmond decided to 

fight the charges. Clearly, the issue was about her being African Canadian and there 

being a racist seating policy in place; it was not about tax evasion. In taking the matter to 

the courts, Viola Desmond’s experience helped to galvanize public opinion locally and 

internationally, and to raise awareness about the reality of Canadian segregation.

When she returned to Halifax, the newly formed Nova Scotia Association for the 

Advancement of Colored People encouraged her to fight to overturn that malicious 

conviction. Unfortunately, the appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada was unsuccessful. 

The 1946 conviction remained on her record.

Viola Desmond had been denied the protection that one expects from the police, the 

prosecutors, the judges and the courts.  Eventually, she left her business, left Nova 

Scotia and left Canada. Her 1965 death occurred in New York City.

In 2010, sixty-four years after the fact, the government of Nova Scotia apologized to Viola 

Desmond’s remaining family and acknowledged the integrity, strength and bravery of 

her action defending human rights. In 2012, Canada Post issued a Canadian postage 

stamp commemorating her stand for justice.

Black Canadian Curriculum – ETFO – 2014