Viola Desmond
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Born in 1914, Viola Desmond was a Black woman from Nova Scotia. Growing up, and with her father eventually becoming a barber, Desmond noticed the lack of hair and beauty products for black women. Due to her race, however, she was not allowed to train as a beautician in Halifax – but this did not stop her from her dream of making a change. She continued to pursue beautician training and found it in Montreal, Atlantic City and New York. Upon returning to Halifax, she opened her own salon, named Vi’s Studio of Beauty Culture. In addition, she also opened her own beautician training school so that other Black women would not have to go to the lengths she did. This also allowed her to continue to lift her community up by giving black women the skills to open their own businesses and hire other black women.
Viola Desmond Powder Compact (courtesy Nova Scotia Archives/Flickr CC).Despite her many successes, Desmond still faced racial discrimination. During a business trip in 1946, Desmond found herself stuck in New Glasgow when her car broke down. To pass time until her vehicle was able to be repaired, she visited the Roseland Theatre. She was given a ticket for balcony but opted to sit on the main floor for a better view because she was nearsighted, not realizing the main floor was reserved for “whites only.” She was then asked to leave but refused and even offered to pay the price difference to remain in her seat. Desmond was forcibly removed from the theatre, which caused injury to her, kept overnight in jail and fined some $20 for tax evasion. There was a 10¢ difference between the balcony and main floor.
With support from her church and the Nova Scotia Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NSAACP), Desmond hired a lawyer and filed a lawsuit against the Roseland Theatre. The case failed. The government insisted that this was a case of tax evasion and refused to acknowledge the racial discrimination of the incident. While there was no law enforcing segregation, there was nothing preventing it from happening either. Desmond’s lawyer refused to bill her, and the funds raised were put back into the NSCAAP to continue the fight against segregation.
