Viola Desmond Research Paper

For my civics paper on one good Canadian citizen, I chose Viola Desmond. She is quite a remarkable individual, she continues to inspire thousands across Canada. She is a civil rights activist and businesswoman. Also, the first Canadian women to appear on a banknote when she graced the front of the $10-dollar bill in 2018. Desmond, who launched Nova Scotia’s civil rights movement in the 1940s after refusing to leave a whites-only section in a movie theatre, was chosen from more than 460 eligible candidates by the federal government and Bank of Canada. Here is some info on Viola's background -- She was born on July 6th, 1914 and was raised in Halifax and taught black students in the racially-segregated school system there before starting a hairdressing business called Vi’s Studio of Beauty Culture. She later launched an academy for black beauticians who were barred from whites-only beauty schools in Nova Scotia, before expanding her business to other parts of the province. Viola self-identified as “mixed race” and as …show more content…
The 32-year-old had been on her way to a business meeting in Sydney, N.S when her Dodge sedan broke down. While the garage repaired her car, Desmond decided to go watch psychological thriller The Dark Mirror to kill time. She refused to leave the whites-only section, so police dragged her four foot-11 less than 100-pound frame out of the theatre, injuring her hip while doing so. They held her in jail overnight but Desmond didn’t sleep. Instead, she sat upright, still wearing her white gloves, which were a sign of sophistication at the time. She was fined $20 and sentenced to 30 days in jail. She was also convicted of defrauding the Nova Scotia government for the difference in tax between what white patrons paid on the ground floor (with a better view) and the black patrons in the balcony. Now, what was the total tax disparity? ONE