Viola Desmond, born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, was a Canadian 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.
Viola was teaching school in the community of Preston when she read an article about Madam C.J. Walker who had developed a business empire of hair-dressing schools and salons in the United States. Inspired, Viola set out to fill a need for a black hairdressing facility in Halifax. Of African descent, Viola was not allowed to train to become a beautician in Halifax, so she studied in Montreal and also in the USA. Viola continued her studies in the USA in cosmetology and began making her beauty products under the trade name Sepia, she also made wigs for her customers.
After the end of WWII, she bought a car and learned to drive. On November 8, 1946, she decided to go to Sydney to deliver some orders and to conduct some business related to her products. Arriving in New Glasgow, she had a problem with her car. The garage mechanic advised he needed a part which would arrive the next morning. She decided to take in a movie to pass the time.
Viola purchased a ticket and proceeded to sit on the lower floor near the screen. The usher advised her she was in the wrong section. “Your ticket is for up in the balcony”. The theatre was segregated, Blacks were only allowed in the balcony.
Viola returned to the cashier and asked to exchange her ticket for the lower floor. She was told, “We don’t sell downstairs tickets to you people”. Viola understood fully at that point left the change on the counter and went back to her seat. The usher told her she must move or the manager would be called. Viola refused to move, protesting that she had done nothing wrong. Eventually, the manager called the police. The policeman and the manager man-handled Viola out of the theatre and she was taken to jail where she remained overnight.
The next morning Viola was taken to court and appeared before the judge with the theatre manager, the cashier and the usher as witnesses against her. No mention was made of colour and Viola was fined $20.00 and $6.00 costs OR to serve 30 days in jail. The charge was for not paying the one-cent difference in provincial amusement tax between the upstairs and downstairs tickets. Viola was not advised of her right to a lawyer, her right to question the witnesses, or that she could have a stay of trial. Viola returned home to Halifax with badly bruised arms and legs. Her doctor told her she should see a lawyer about the incident. An appeal of the case eventually reached the Nova Scotia Supreme Court and was dismissed on a technicality.
Viola continued with her hairdressing salon for a few more years and then left to study business in Montreal. She then moved to New York and started a business as an actor’s business agent. In 2010, the Province of Nova Scotia posthumously granted Viola a Royal Prerogative of Free Mercy Pardon and apologized to Viola’s family for her wrongful conviction.
