Violet Pauline King Henry, a Canadian lawyer, made history as Canada’s first Black female lawyer. Her pioneering journey led to her being the first Black person admitted to the Alberta Bar. Her resilience in the face of societal barriers is a beacon of inspiration for many. Read her full story here:
Many women who have achieved the impossible have faced and conquered seemingly insurmountable challenges. Violet Pauline King Henry is one of these women. Born on October 18th 1929, in Calgary, she was the daughter of John and Stella King, who moved to Calgary in 1919 and lived in Hillhurst-Sunnyside. John worked as a car porter with the Canadian Pacific Railway, while Stella worked as a seamstress, and they had four children -Violet, Vern, Lucille and Ted.
Violet studied at Crescent Heights High School, and in grade 12, she had her yearbook captioned with her unusual intention to become a criminal lawyer. After high school, Violet gained admission into the University of Alberta in 1948. She was one of three women out of 142 students admitted into the Faculty of Law. As an undergraduate, King was nominated as a class historian and the Alberta representative at the International Student Services Conference which was held in Hamilton, Ontario, in 1952. That same year, she received an award at Colour Night, an annual event celebrating students’ contributions to the University of Alberta.
In 1952, Violet bagged her bachelor of arts degree, and in 1953, she received her LLB degree. She was the first Black person to graduate from law school in Alberta and the only woman in her graduating class. She was called to the Alberta Bar on June 2nd 1954 and became the first black female lawyer to practise law in Canada. Her extraordinary feat made headlines in several local newspapers and was described as a milestone in Canadian history.
In 1965, Violet got married to Godfrey C. Henry, who bagged a masters degree in Political Science from Columbia University and later on, a Law degree from Rutgers. The couple gave birth to their only child, Jo-Anne Henry in 1966.
In 1998, Violet was inducted into the National YMCA Hall of Fame. She is remembered for speaking up for people of color in society and the workplace. She also recorded several achievements that were deemed unattainable for women of color at that time. She was the first Canadian of African heritage to earn a law degree in Alberta, the first person of African heritage admitted to the Alberta Bar and the first woman of African heritage to become a lawyer in Canada. Violet was also the first woman appointed into an executive position with the YMCA in the United States.
In 2021, the Federal Building Plaza in Alberta was renamed the Violet King Henry Plaza to honour Violet’s legacy of dismantling systemic racism and deconstructing gender barriers. In 2022, Heritage Calgary and the UCalgary Black Law Students’ Association presented a plaque acknowledging the former residence of the King family to the residence’s owner.
To honour Violet’s contributions to Canadian law and Black education in Canada, the University of Alberta, in 2022, created a $20,000 scholarship named after her – the Violet King Henry Law School Award. This scholarship grant is available to Black students studying at the university’s law faculty. Also, on October 18th, 2023, Google released a Google Doodle to celebrate Violet’s 94th posthumous birthday.
Violet Pauline King is an example of resilience and tenacity in the time when women, especially women of color did not have a voice, a time when they were not reckoned with and seen. Now, today, women of color have stood on her shoulders to achieve extreme and laudable feats. Violet died in 1982 at the age of 52.
