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