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Viola Irene Desmond (July 6, 1914 – February 7, 1965) was a Canadian civil and women's rights activist and businesswoman of Black Nova Scotian descent. In 1946, she challenged racial segregation at a cinema in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia, by refusing to leave a whites-only area of the Roseland Theatre.
Jan 27, 2013 · Viola Irene Desmond (née Davis), businesswoman, civil rights activist (born 6 July 1914 in Halifax, NS; died 7 February 1965 in New York, NY). Viola Desmond built a career and business as a beautician and was a mentor to young Black women in Nova Scotia through her Desmond School of Beauty Culture.
Jul 2, 2024 · Viola Desmond (born July 6, 1914, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada—died February 7, 1965, New York, New York, U.S.) was a Canadian businesswoman and civil libertarian who built a career as a beautician and was a mentor to young Black women in Nova Scotia through her Desmond School of Beauty Culture.
In mid-20th century Canada, Viola Desmond brought nationwide attention to the African-Nova Scotian community’s struggle for equal rights. An African-Canadian businesswoman, she confronted the anti-Black racism that African Nova Scotians routinely faced by refusing to move from her seat in the “whites-only” section of the Roseland Theatre ...
Dec 8, 2016 · Remembering Canadian civil rights icon Viola Desmond. The manager dragged her out of the theatre and she was arrested. She spent a night in jail and was released the next day, badly bruised,...
Her courageous act laid bare the realities of racism in Canada. Desmond devoted the rest of her life to fighting racism and injustice. She was issued a posthumous pardon by the Nova Scotia government in 2010 and in 2016 became the first Canadian woman to be depicted on a Canadian banknote.
Jan 29, 2018 · By refusing to change seats and by fighting her conviction in court, Viola Desmond directly challenged segregation in Canada. She was not the first Black woman in Canada to push back against racism.
Sep 14, 2021 · Viola Desmond ignited the Canadian civil rights movement after refusing to leave the whites-only section of a Nova Scotia theater in 1946. Nearly a decade before Rosa Parks, a Canadian small business owner named Viola Desmond fought against segregation – and ended up in jail for a single penny.
Viola Desmond was born in 1914 in Halifax, Nova Scotia. An entrepreneur at heart, upon noticing the lack of professional hair and skin-care products for black women, Viola was determined to meet those needs herself.
Feb 7, 2016 · Viola Desmond was a quiet revolutionary — a title also used to describe another civil rights icon in the United States, Rosa Parks. But Desmond's act of defiance happened nine years...
