Desmond, Viola National Historic Person

New Glasgow, Nova Scotia
Hand-painted portrait of Viola Desmond, ca. 1940. Wanda and Joe Robson Collection. 16-80-30220. Beaton Institute, Cape Breton University. (© Wanda and Joe Robson Collection. 16-80-30220. Beaton Institute, Cape Breton University. | Collection Wanda et Job Robson. 16-80-30220. Institut Beaton, Université du Cap Breton)
Hand-painted portrait of Viola Desmond, ca. 1940.
(© Wanda and Joe Robson Collection. 16-80-30220. Beaton Institute, Cape Breton University. | Collection Wanda et Job Robson. 16-80-30220. Institut Beaton, Université du Cap Breton)
Address : New Glasgow, Nova Scotia

Recognition Statute: Historic Sites and Monuments Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. H-4)
Designation Date: 2017-07-20
Life Date: 1914 to 1965

Other Name(s):
  • Viola Desmond (1914-1965)  (Designation Name)
  • Viola Desmond  (Historic Name)
  • Viola Davis Desmond  (Other Name)
Research Report Number: 2015-28

Importance: African-Canadian business woman, civil rights activist.

Plaque(s)


Existing plaque:  188 Provost Street, New Glasgow, Nova Scotia

In 1946, Halifax businesswoman Viola Desmond confronted the racism that African Nova Scotians routinely faced when she refused to move from her seat in the “whites-only” section of the Roseland Theatre, formerly located here. For this, she was arrested, jailed overnight, and fined. Her unsuccessful appeal to the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia attracted broad attention. It confirmed for African Canadians that the law did not protect them and sparked their activism. Desmond’s resistance to racial discrimination was an important milestone in Canada’s human rights history and an inspiration for the civil rights movement in this country.