Viola Desmond

Viola Desmond
Viola Desmond
Born	Viola Irene Davis (1914-07-06)July 6, 1914 Halifax, Nova Scotia
Died	February 7, 1965(1965-02-07) (aged 50) New York, New York, United States
Nationality	Canadian
Education	Bloomfield High School
Occupation(s)	Business owner and beautician
Spouse	Jack Desmond

Viola Irene Desmond (July 6, 1914 – February 7, 1965) was a Canadian Black Nova Scotian businesswoman who challenged racial segregation at a cinema in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia, in 1946. She refused to leave a whites-only area of the Roseland Theatre and was convicted of a minor tax violation for the one-cent tax difference between the seat she had paid for and the seat she used which was more expensive. Desmond's case is one of the most publicized incidents of racial discrimination in Canadian history and helped start the modern civil rights movement in Canada.

In 2010, Desmond was granted a posthumous pardon, the first to be granted in Canada. The government of Nova Scotia also apologized for prosecuting her for tax evasion and acknowledged she was rightfully resisting racial discrimination. In 2016, the Bank of Canada announced that Desmond would be the first Canadian woman to be featured on the front of a banknote, but that honour went to Agnes Macphail, who appeared along with three men on a 2017 commemorative note marking the 150th anniversary of Confederation.

In late 2018 Desmond will be the first Canadian-born woman to appear alone on a $10 bill which was unveiled by Finance Minister Bill Morneau and Bank of Canada governor Stephen Poloz during a ceremony at the Halifax Central Library on March 8, 2018. Desmond was also named a National Historic Person in 2018.

Biography

Viola Desmond (née Davis) was born on July 6, 1914, one of ten children of James Albert and Gwendolin Irene (née Johnson) Davis. Viola grew up with parents who were active in the black community in Halifax, Nova Scotia, despite the fact that her mother was white and her father black, unusual for the time.

Growing up, Desmond noted the absence of professional hair and skin-care products for black women and set her sights on addressing the need. Being of African descent, she was not allowed to train to become a beautician in Halifax, so she left and received beautician training in Montreal, Atlantic City and one of Madam C. J. Walker's beauty schools in New York. Upon finishing her training, Desmond returned to Halifax to start her own hair salon. Her clients included Portia White and a young Gwen Jenkins, later the first black nurse in Nova Scotia.

A tin of sepia face powder sold by Viola Desmond

In addition to the salon, Desmond opened The Desmond School of Beauty Culture so that black women would not have to travel as far as she did to receive proper training. Catering to women from Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Quebec, the school operated using a vertical integration framework. Students were provided with the skills required to open their own businesses and provide jobs for other black women within their communities. Each year as many as fifteen women graduated from the school, all of whom had been denied admission to whites-only training schools. Desmond also started her own line of beauty products, Vi's Beauty Products, which she marketed and sold herself.

Arrest

Viola Desmond joined her husband Jack Desmond in a combined barbershop and hairdressing salon on Gottingen Street. On November 8, 1946 while on a business trip on to New Glasgow to sell her beauty products, Viola Desmond's car broke down and she was told that she would have to wait a day before the parts to fix it became available. To pass the time while waiting, she went to see The Dark Mirror at the Roseland Film Theatre.

There were no formal laws enforcing segregation in movie theatres in New Glasgow, and the theatre had no sign telling its patrons about the policy but actually main floor seats were reserved for white patrons. Ms. Desmond was sold a ticket to the balcony unaware of the segregation and, being shortsighted, went to sit in the floor section to be close to the screen. When she was asked to move, she realized what was happening, and refused to move because she had a better view from the main floor. Then she was forcibly removed from the theater causing injury to her hip and was arrested for 12 hours in jail, and paid a $20 fine. The tax on the balcony price of 20 cents was two cents; the tax on the floor price of 40 cents was three cents. She was convicted of depriving the government of one cent in tax. Desmond was kept in jail overnight and was never informed about her right to legal advice, a lawyer, or bail.

Trials

Frederick William Bissett – Desmond's lawyer

Upon returning to Halifax, Desmond discussed the matter with her husband, and his advice was to let it go. However, she then sought advice from the leaders of the Cornwallis Street Baptist Church where the Minister William Pearly Oliver and his wife Pearline encouraged her to take action. With their support, Desmond decided to fight the charge in court.

Following the decision to fight the charge, Carrie Best broke the story of Desmond in the first edition of The Clarion, the first black-owned and published Nova Scotia newspaper. Best had herself previously confronted the racial segregation of the Roseland Theatre.

With the help of her church and the Nova Scotia Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NSAACP), Desmond hired a lawyer, Frederick William Bissett, who represented her in the criminal trials and attempted, unsuccessfully, to file a lawsuit against the Roseland Theatre.

During subsequent trials the government insisted on arguing that this was a case of tax evasion. A provincial act regulating cinemas and movie theatres required the payment of an amusement tax based on the price of the theatre ticket. Since the theatre would only agree to sell Desmond a cheaper balcony ticket, but she had insisted upon sitting in the more expensive main floor seat, she was one cent short on tax. The statute used to convict Desmond contained no explicitly racist or discriminatory language.

Bissett's decision to opt for a judicial review rather than appeal the original conviction proved disastrous. Desmond's lawyer tried to appeal the decision on the basis of her being wrongfully accused of tax evasion, not on the basis of racial discrimination. When dismissing the case, Justice William Lorimer Hall said:

Had the matter reached the court by some other method than certiorari there might have been an opportunity to right the wrong done this unfortunate woman. One wonders if the manager of the theatre who laid the complaint was so zealous because of a bona fide belief that there had been an attempt to defraud the province of Nova Scotia of the sum of one cent, or was it a surreptitious endeavour to enforce a Jim Crow rule by misuse of a public statute.

— Justice William Lorimer Hall, when dismissing Desmond's application.

Her lawyer, Bissett, refused to bill Desmond and the money was used to support Dr. William Pearly Oliver's newly established Nova Scotia Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NSAACP).

Later life

After the trial, Desmond closed her business and moved to Montreal where she could enroll in a business college. She eventually settled in New York, US, where she died from a gastrointestinal hemorrhage on February 7, 1965, at the age of 50. She is buried at Camp Hill Cemetery in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Legacy and honours

The gravesite of Viola Desmond at Camp Hill Cemetery, Halifax.

Dr. Oliver later reflected on Desmond's legacy:

... this meant something to our people. Neither before or since has there been such an aggressive effort to obtain rights. The people arose as one and with one voice. This positive stand enhanced the prestige of the Negro community throughout the Province. It is my conviction that much of the positive action that has since taken place stemmed from this ...

— Dr. William Pearly Oliver, reflecting on the case 15 years later.

Desmond is often compared to Rosa Parks, given they both challenged racism by taking seats in a Whites only section and contributed to the rise of the Civil Rights Movement. At the same time, there are significant differences between the two figures. Desmond lived in a different legislative context than Parks, given there were no Jim Crow laws in Canada. Parks' decision to sit at the front of the bus was an act of civil disobedience against Jim Crow laws that supported segregation on public transit. In contrast, Desmond was protesting a private theatre owner's efforts at segregation, which were not supported by provincial laws.

In 2000, Desmond and other Canadian civil rights activists were the subject of a National Film Board of Canada documentary Journey to Justice. A documentary film was made about her, entitled Long Road to Justice: The Viola Desmond Story.

Cape Breton University established a scholarship campaign in the names of Viola Desmond and Wanda Robson, and named a Chair in Social Justice after Desmond.

Her sister, Wanda Robson, wrote a book about activism in her family and her experiences with her sister, titled Sister to Courage. Desmond was also the subject of a children's book Viola Desmond Won't Be Budged by Jody Nyasha Warner.

Singer Faith Nolan wrote a song about her.

In 2012, Desmond was portrayed on a commemorative stamp issued by Canada Post.

On February 2, 2016, Historica Canada featured Desmond in a Heritage Minute, filmed on location in High River, Alberta, in June 2015. The video features Kandyse McClure as Viola Desmond. She became the first historical woman of colour to feature in a Heritage Minute.

Launch of the Viola Desmond, a ferry operating in Halifax harbour

On July 7, 2016, a Halifax harbour ferry was launched bearing her name, along with the Christopher Stannix and Craig Blake.

On December 8, 2016, she was chosen as the first Canadian woman to appear on the Canadian ten-dollar note after being on a shortlist of five. While Agnes Macphail appeared on a note in 2017 with three others, Desmond will be the first non-royal woman to appear alone on a regularly circulated note with the series to be issued in late 2018.

Desmond was named a National Historic Person on January 12, 2018.

Google's July 6, 2018 Doodle celebrates the life and legacy of Viola Desmond, and was distributed across Canada.

Apology and pardon

On April 14, 2010, the Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia, Mayann Francis, on the advice of her premier, invoked the Royal Prerogative and granted Desmond a posthumous free pardon, the first such to be granted in Canada. The free pardon, an extraordinary remedy granted under the Royal Prerogative of Mercy only in the rarest of circumstances and the first one granted posthumously, differs from a simple pardon in that it is based on innocence and recognizes that a conviction was in error. Francis, herself a Black Canadian, remarked: "Here I am, 64 years later – a black woman giving freedom to another black woman", about her signing of the pardon.

The government of Nova Scotia also apologized. Desmond's younger sister Wanda Robson and Dr. Graham Reynolds, a professor of Cape Breton University, worked with the Government of Nova Scotia to ensure that Desmond's name was cleared, there was a public acknowledgement of the injustice and Nova Scotia reaffirmed its commitment to Human Rights. The provincial government declared the first Nova Scotia Heritage Day in her honour in February 2015. Desmond's portrait also hangs in Government House in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

See also

• Cornwallis Street Baptist Church
• Black Nova Scotians

Bibliography

• Backhouse, Constance (1999). Colour-coded: A Legal History of Racism in Canada, 1900–1950. University of Toronto Press. ISBN 978-0-8020-8286-2. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Walker, Barrington (2012). The African Canadian Legal Odyssey: Historical Essays. University of Toronto Press. ISBN 978-1-4426-4689-6. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)

Further reading

• The King v Desmond (1947), 20 M.P.R. 297 (N.S.S.C.), at 299–301
• Obituary in the Halifax Chronicle-Herald, February 10, 1965, p. 26
• Constance Backhouse. Racial Segration in Canadian Legal History: Viola Desmond's challenge, Nova Scotia, 1946

External links

• Maritime Magazine's Tribute Viola Desmond Feb 2006 at the Wayback Machine (archived October 25, 2012)
• Viola Desmond, biography
• Viola Desmond is not Canada’s Rosa Parks
• Virtual Archives: Viola Irene Desmond — 2015 Honouree, Nova Scotia Heritage Day