The Case of Viola Desmond

November 8, 1946

On this day, Viola Desmond, a successful Halifax beautician and businesswoman, decided to catch a movie at the Roseland Theatre in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia.

Viola is black, and the segregated theatre doesn't allow Blacks to sit in the downstairs seats, only in the balcony. She will be given a balcony ticket but will sit downstairs in spite of the "no-Blacks" rule. She will be arrested for allegedly defrauding the government of the 1 percent amusement tax on the higher-priced downstairs seats.

She will be thrown in jail for 12 hours and eventually fined $20 and sentenced to 30 days in prison.

Her appeal will succeed on a technicality. The recently formed Nova Scotia Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NSAACP) will help raise the money to pay the fine and bring the "Jim Crow" law to public attention.

Viola's efforts will not be in vain. The publicity that her case brings will help put an end to this kind of discrimination.