Today is a big day in the province of Nova Scotia because a long time wrong has finally been righted.
In 1946, Viola Desmond was driving from the city of Halifax to the city of Sydney (about 5 hours away). Viola and her husband ran a combination barber shop/hair salon, in the Halifax area and were looking to expand their business. That day she was making a delivery to some salons in Sydney and in the towns she would pass along the way. Unfortunately, she ran into some car problems in the small town of New Glasgow, about 2 hours from Halifax. The mechanic that looked at the car told her he would need to order a part (don't they always??) and that it would arrive the next day. She would need to spend the night in the town.
She went looking for something to do and stumbled upon the local movie theatre. She purchased her ticket and took a seat. Soon the theatre usher quietly informed her she didn't have the proper ticket, that she had purchased a balcony seat. Understanding the mistake she went to exchange her ticket for a floor seat (a difference of 1 cent) but was told they couldn't sell her one. It didn't take her long to understand what was going on. She was black and her people were only allowed to sit in the balcony. Mrs. Desmond turned and returned to her seat on the main floor.
The Manager came to speak with her and she refused to move. The police were called and in an act of courage and defiance, she stood her ground. They were forced to carry her from the theatre.
She was only a little bit of a thing, not even 5 feet tall. Reports from the time say she sat up all night in the lockup, still wearing her long white gloves, and appeared the next morning before the judge. She was charged with tax evasion, for not paying the 1 penny. The fact that the theatre wouldn't sell her the ticket wasn't mentioned. Neither was the rule that whites sat on the first floor and blacks in the balcony. Segregation wasn't named. But everyone knew why she was arrested. It would a year before her appeal found her not guilty. Those segregation laws in the province of Nova Scotia were erased from the books. She died in 1965.
Years later her baby sister, who was in her 70's by then, heard about a university class on race relations being offered at Cape Breton University. She signed up to audit the class and Viola's story was one of the first lessons they covered. Soon her and her professor started to talk about having Viola recognized in some way. Today their work paid off.
The province of Nova Scotia has officially apologized to Viola Desmond for what happened to her all those years ago.
Video of the apology can be found at the
Toronto Sun website
She's often called Canada's Rosa Parks, but she took her seat years before Rosa Parks set foot on that bus. Her story needs to be told.
More information, and some video, can be found on the CBC website here.