Viola Desmond
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Viola Davis Desmond (July 6, 1914–1965) was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. She was an African-Canadian who ran her own beauty parlor and beauty college in Halifax. She has been referred to as a Canadian version of Rosa Parks. Desmond's story was one of the most publicized incidents of racial discrimination in Nova Scotian and Canadian history.
On November 8, 1946, Viola Desmond refused to sit in the balcony designated exclusively for blacks in a New Glasgow theatre but, instead, she took her seat on the ground floor where only white people were allowed to sit. After being forcibly removed from the theatre and arrested, Desmond was eventually found guilty of not paying the one-cent difference in tax on the balcony ticket from the main floor theatre ticket. She was fined $20 and costs. She paid the fine but decided to fight the charge in court.
During subsequent trials the government insisted on arguing that this was a case of tax evasion. Retail sales tax was calculated based on the price of the theatre ticket. Since the theatre would only agree to sell the Black woman a cheaper balcony ticket, but she had insisted upon sitting in the more expensive main floor seat, she was one cent short on tax. For her crime of so-called tax evasion, she was removed from the theatre, thrown in jail overnight, tried without counsel, convicted and fined. During the trial, no one admitted that Viola Desmond was Black, and that the theatre maintained a racist seating policy. The trial proceeded as if it related to race-neutral tax evasion. All efforts to have the conviction overturned at higher levels of court failed. Her lawyer returned her fee which she used to setup a fund that was eventually used to support activities of the Nova Scotia Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NSAACP).
After the trial, Desmond closed her business and moved to Montreal where she enrolled in a business college. She eventually settled in New York where she died at the age of 50.
While the case received little attention outside of Nova Scotia, it has since gained notoriety as one of many cases fought for civil rights in the mid-20th century.
