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Viola Desmond
(1914-1965)
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Viola Desmond was a successful Halifax beautician and businesswoman, who was the focus of one of the most publicized incidents of racial discrimination in Nova Scotian and Canadian History.
On November 8, 1946, she attended a movie at the Roseland Theatre in New Glasgow.
Soon after, she was arrested for choosing to sit downstairs in the racially segregated theatre, rather than upstairs in the balcony (where Blacks were forced to sit). She was thrown in jail for 12 hours and then finally charged with "attempting to defraud the Federal Government." The charge was based on her refusal to pay the one cent amusement tax difference between the 3 cents charged to those sitting in the balcony and the 2 cents charged to those sitting downstairs. Viola would not agree to pay more than the white customers for the same show.
After a short trial she was sentenced to a fine of $ 20 and 30 days in prison. The recently formed NSAACP assisted in raising the money to pay the fine and bring to public attention the "Jim Crow"- like laws allowing the racism and bigotry, people of African descent were forced to live under.
