In 2018, Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz and Finance Minister Bill Morneau revealed Canada’s newest $10 bill. The bill has the picture of Viola Desmond – the First Black Canadian on Canadian currency. In 1946, Viola Desmond was jailed, convicted and fined for refusing to vacate a whites-only area of a movie theatre. How did this brave woman become an iconic heroine in Canadian history? Please read her full story to find out.
Viola Desmond was the product of an intermarriage between James Albert Davis and Gwendolin Irene Davis (née Johnson), the daughter of a White minister. Although interracial relationships were common in the early part of the 20th century in Halifax, interracial marriages were rare. Despite this, Viola’s parents thrived and became prominent members of society.
Viola Desmond, a woman of remarkable focus, embarked on a journey to become an independent entrepreneur. She taught in two racially-segregated schools for Black students and pursued her studies at the Field Beauty Culture School in Montreal, one of the few beauty schools in Canada that accepted Black applicants at the time. Her training took her to Atlantic City and New York, where she honed her skills before opening Vi’s Studio of Beauty Culture in Halifax, catering primarily to the black community.
At this time, there was much emphasis on fashion trends and personal grooming, and beauty parlours offered opportunities for female entrepreneurs, especially black female entrepreneurs, to thrive. Beauty parlours became a point of social interaction within the Black community, allowing the saloon owner to climb the social circle, thus achieving status and authority. Viola’s enterprise achieved success quickly. She opened a beauty school – the Desmond School of Beauty Culture to train women, and she expanded her business across the province. She established the school to provide training to support young Black women, and enrolment grew rapidly to include students from New Brunswick and Quebec. Viola’s influence as a businesswoman grew, and she became more influential; little did she know that life planned to bring her greater prominence.
On November 8th 1946, Viola’s car broke down in New Glasgow on her way to a business meeting in Sydney, Nova Scotia. She was informed that the repair would take several hours, so she stayed at a hotel and decided to see a movie to pass the time. At the Roseland Theatre, Viola requested to buy a ticket for a seat on the main floor but was handed a ticket to the balcony instead because, at that time, the main floor was the exclusive reserve of white customers only. She walked into the main floor seating area and was stopped by the ticket-taker, who told her that her ticket was for an upstairs seat and that she would have to move. Thinking this was a mistake, Viola returned to the cashier and asked her to exchange the ticket for one downstairs, to which the cashier apologized and refused, saying she wasn’t permitted to sell downstairs tickets to people of colour. Realizing the discriminatory nature of this organization, Desmond still decided to take a seat on the main floor.
The manager then confronted Desmond, who argued that the theatre had the right to refuse admission to any objectionable person and asked her to leave the seat. When she declined, a police officer was called in, and Viola was dragged out of the theatre and injured her hip and knee in the process; she was then taken to jail, where she was held in a cell overnight.
Members of the Nova Scotia Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NSAACP), many of whom had experienced discrimination at the Roseland Theatre, rallied together to fight Viola’s conviction. Their collective action and the overwhelming community support she received demonstrated a powerful desire for change among Nova Scotia’s Black population. This unity and determination led to the legal end of segregation in Nova Scotia in 1954, a victory largely attributed to Viola and others like her who fought for equality.
On April 15th 2010, Viola Desmond was granted a free pardon by Nova Scotia Lieutenant-Governor Mayann Francis at a ceremony in Halifax. This was accompanied by a public declaration and apology from Premier Darrell Dexter, who recognized that Viola’s conviction was unjustified. In 2010, the Viola Desmond Chair in Social Justice was established at Cape Breton University, and in 2012, Canada Post issued a postage stamp bearing her image.
On March 8th 2016 – International Women’s Day, the Bank of Canada launched a public forum to choose the first Canadian woman to appear on a Canadian banknote, and on December 8th 2016, it was announced that Viola would appear on the face of the $10 note. In 2017, Viola was inducted into Canada’s Walk of Fame under the Philanthropy & Humanities category. In January 2018, the Canadian government named her a National Historic Person, and on July 6th 2018, a Google Doodle telling Desmond’s story was released in Canada to celebrate her 104th post-humous birthday. These recognitions underscore the enduring impact of Viola’s legacy.
Viola Desmond is remembered as a woman ahead of her time who was defiant in deconstructing the stereotype of racial discrimination of her day.
