Viola Desmond
Originally this episode aired February 12th 2017. Prior name of the Podcast was Tea with Puppets.
In Episode 12, we learn about Viola Desmond, iconic Canadian civil rights activist and successful Nova Scotian businesswoman.
Late last year it was announced Viola will appear on the Canadian 10 dollar bill starting in 2018. An honour that is well deserved for a woman who helped drive our society forward. In today’s episode we’ll learn more about Viola and the stamp created in 2012 to honour her.
So who is Viola Desmond?
Viola Irene Desmond (née Davis) was born on July 6, 1914, one of ten children of James Albert and Gwendolin Irene (née Johnson) Davis.
As grew up she noticed the absence of professional hair- and skin-care products for black women, and set her sights on addressing this need. The first hurdle was training. Beauty schools in Halifax restricted Black women from admission, so she travelled to Montreal, New York , and New Jersey to pursue various courses.
Violas also attended New York City’s Lalia College for beauticians, which had developed out of the legendary Madame C.J. Walker’s beauty culture business. Madame Walker was the first Black woman millionaire in the United States and had a very clear philosophy “Don’t just build a business, build an industry.“ Viola Desmond embodied this motto.
In 1937, Desmond set up Vi’s Studio of Beauty Culture in Halifax and within a few years, she established the Desmond School of Beauty Culture. This drew students from across Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Quebec. She also started another venture — manufacturing and marketing Vi’s Beauty Products.
As Viola’s students graduated and began their own careers they created an even larger the distribution network for Viola Desmond’s brand of beauty products
On 8 November 1946, Viola Desmond was driving to deliver her products to other beauty studios, when car trouble forced her to spend extra time in the town of New Glasgow, Nova Scotia. As she waited for her car to be repaired she decided to go see a movie at the Roseland theatre.
Unaware of the theatre’s policy of restricting Black people to the upper balcony, Desmond bought a ticket for a movie. When she entered the theatre, the usher told her that the ticket was for the balcony and that she would need to go upstairs.
Thinking there had been a mistake, Desmond returned to the cashier and asked to exchange her ticket for one downstairs as she was near-sighted, which required her to be closer to the movie screen. The cashier refused, stating “I’m not permitted to sell downstairs tickets to you people.”
Realizing she was being denied seating on the basis of race, she courageously walked back inside and took a seat downstairs. An usher and theatre manager confronted her. When she refused to move, the police were called.
Viola Desmond was forcibly ejected and arrested and jailed overnight. At court the next day, she was found guilty of defrauding the government of the one-cent difference between the three-cent sales tax levied on a downstairs ticket and the two-cent tax on a balcony ticket.
After paying the twenty-dollar fine plus costs (equivalent to $270 in 2017 dollars) , she returned to Halifax. As the story spread in the community, she was encouraged to appeal her unjust case.
The Nova Scotia Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NSAACP) raised money to fight her conviction, and Carrie Best, the founder of The Clarion, took a special interest in the case. With her lawyer Frederick William Bissett, Viola’s case tried to appeal her conviction.
The governments case was always presented as one of tax evasion. A provincial act regulating cinemas and movie theatres required the payment of an amusement tax based on the price of the theatre ticket. Therefore the real issue of racism was shrouded by procedural technicalities. Since Desmond bought a cheaper balcony ticket, but had insisted upon sitting in the more expensive main floor seat, she was one cent short on tax.
Viola’s lawyer Bissett, later applied to the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia. The case went before Justice Maynard Brown Archibald of the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia on January 20, 1947. He ruled against Desmond on the grounds that the decision of the original magistrate should have been appealed to the County Court. As the 10-day deadline for filing an appeal to the original conviction had passed, the conviction stood.
Subsequent to the Supreme Court decision, legal action on the matter ceased. Bissett did not bill his client, which allowed the Nova Scotia Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NSAACP) to use the funds raised for legal fees to continue their fight against segregation in Nova Scotia.
Although Viola was unsuccessful in her efforts to quash her criminal conviction in her lifetime, her case was part of a wider efforts toward racial equality across the country. In 1954, the laws that allowed segregation were repealed by the Nova Scotian government.
As for Viola Desmond, the incident and subsequent legal challenges had take a toll on her. After the trial she divorced her husband, closed her business, moved to Montreal and eventually settled in New York. She would pass away from a gastrointestinal hemorrhage on February 7, 1965, at the age of 50.
Decades later, Viola Desmond’s story began to receive public attention, primarily through the efforts of her sister Wanda Robson. In 2003, at the age of 73, Robson enrolled in a course on race relations in North America at Cape Breton University taught by Graham Reynolds.
In the course, Reynolds related the experiences of Viola Desmond, and it prompted Wanda to speak out. With the help of Reynolds, she began an effort to tell her sister’s story and correct her wrongful conviction.
In 2010, the government of Nova Scotia formally apologized to Viola Desmond’s remaining family by a Royal Prerogative of Mercy (“Free Pardon”). The pardon acknowledged that Desmond was innocent and that her conviction was wrong.
There is a great documentary on here whole ordeal, which is worth a watch to learn more:
Now let’s look at the stamp
During Black History Month in February 2012, Canada Post issued a commemorative Black Heritage postage stamp recognizing Viola Desmond’s stand for justice. It was unveiled in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia, the scene of her arrest all those years ago.
Lara Minja of Vancouver’s Lime Design, who designed several issues in the Black History series noted “I used a collage of elements in the stamps to give dimension to the story”
The stamp has a nice portrait of Viola Desmond, with the an image of the Roseland Theatre in background and a ticket to the theatre just below. I think it really hit’s Lara objective of making the stamp have a historical look and feel, while keeping a richness and human warmth to the subjects and the story.
Here are some other specs on the stamp:
- Product #: 413827111
- Layout: Booklet of 10 stamps
- Date of Issue: Feb. 1, 2012
- Price: $6.10
- OFDC Cancellation Location: Halifax, Nova Scotia
- Denomination: 2 x PERMANENT™ domestic rate
- Design: Lara Minja (Lime Design Inc.)
- Dimensions: 32 mm x 40 mm (vertical)
- Gum Type: Pressure sensitive
- Paper Type: Tullis Russell
- Perforations: Simulated perforation
- Photography: Viola Desmond: Davis Family; Government of Nova Scotia; Nova Scotia Museum of Industry, Stellarton, Nova Scotia; iStockphoto
- Printer: Lowe-Martin
- Printing Process: Lithography in 8 colours plus varnish
- Tagging: General, 4 sides
- Quantity: 2,650,000
