For the first time in Canadian history, a Black person has been immortalized on a $10 bank note, or any other currency, for that matter.
It was 72-years ago when Viola Desmond, an entrepreneurial hair stylist turned civil rights activist, refused to give up her seat to someone else in a “whites only” section of the Roseland Theatre, in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia.
Desmond, then 32, had purchased a ticket to watch a movie to pass some time as her car was getting repaired. All she wanted to do was return home and to her salon, which catered to Black women.
It only took minutes before she was dragged out of the theatre by police and jailed overnight for defiantly sitting in the “whites only” section of the Roseland. At that time, Blacks could only sit in the balcony of the theatre.
Desmond was convicted of defrauding the province of a one-penny tax, the difference in tax between a downstairs and upstairs ticket, even though she had asked to pay the difference.
She was released after paying a $20 fine and $6 in court costs. She appealed her conviction but lost.
Desmond is often described as Canada’s Rosa Parks, even though her act of defiance happened nine years before Parks refused to give up her seat on an Alabama bus.
Desmond, who was quite business savvy, had her own thriving hair salon and The Desmond School of Beauty Culture, which offered Black women an opportunity to obtain training to start their own businesses.
The school graduated about 15 women yearly; all who had been denied admission to whites-only training schools. She also started her own line, called Vi’s Beauty Products, which she marketed herself. She was selling her goods in New Glasgow when her car broke down.
Her surviving sister, Wanda, took part in a bill unveiling ceremony in Halifax last week, along with Finance Minister Bill Morneau and Bank of Canada Governor, Stephen Poloz. The bill, which will be in circulation later this year, features a portrait of a well-coiffed Desmond that was taken in 1940.
She is the first Black person, and non-royal woman, to appear on a widely circulated Canadian bank note, according to Bank of Canada officials. Canada’s first female MP Agnes MacPhail was one of four people featured on a commemorative $10 bill created as part of Canada 150 activities.
Desmond’s court case was the first known legal challenge against racial segregation brought forward by a Black woman in Canada, Bank of Canada officials said.
“Her story serves as inspiration to all Canadians and acts as a powerful reminder of how one person’s actions can help trigger change across generations,” Morneau said. “We hope this constant reminder of Viola’s story will help inspire a new generation of women, men, girls and boys to fight for what they believe.”
Poloz said the new note is the first vertically-oriented bank note issued in Canada and will allow for a more prominent image of Desmond to be displayed
The back of the bill features the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, an eagle feather representing our journey to rights and freedom for Indigenous peoples and an excerpt from the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
“The launch of the bill sends people of African descent the message that Canada is finally accepting us,” said Russel Grosse, of the Black Cultural Centre for Nova Scotia. “It’s a long-awaited sense of belonging for the African-Canadian community.”
It would be 63 years after her conviction before Nova Scotia formally issued Desmond a posthumous apology and pardon. She passed away in 1965 at the age of 51.
Segregation was legally ended in Nova Scotia in 1954, three years after Desmond’s death. Many attributed the end of segregation in part due to the publicity generated by Desmond’s case.
Her name now graces a Halifax Transit harbour ferry, a Canada Post stamp, and there are plans for streets named in her honour in Montreal and Halifax and a park in Toronto.
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