A woman who stood up for the rights of black people in Nova Scotia, and went to jail for it, will be honoured today when the new $10 bill featuring her image is unveiled.
The event honouring Viola Desmond begins around 12:30 p.m. AT at the Halifax Central Library.
Her sister, Wanda Robson, was among those who attended a 2016 ceremony where it was announced Desmond was chosen from a short list of other noted Canadian women to be featured on the currency.
On Nov. 8, 1946, Desmond went to see a movie at the Roseland Theatre in New Glasgow while her car was getting fixed.
Desmond, 32, was dragged out of the theatre by police and jailed for defiantly sitting in the "whites only" section of a film house. Black people could only sit in the balcony of the theatre.
The civil rights activist was convicted of defrauding the province of a one-penny tax, the difference in tax between a downstairs and upstairs ticket, even though Desmond 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 Desmond's act of defiance happened nine years before Parks refused to give up her seat on an Alabama bus.
Wanda Robson, the sister of Viola Desmond, smiles as it is announced during a ceremony in 2016 that Desmond was chosen to be featured on Canadian currency. (Canadian Press)
Desmond is the first black person — and the first non-royal woman — on a regularly circulating Canadian bank note. (Agnes MacPhail, Canada's first female member of Parliament, is one of four people featured on a commemorative $10 bill created for Canada 150.)
"It's a long-awaited sense of belonging for the African-Canadian community," said Russell Grosse, executive director of the Black Cultural Centre for Nova Scotia.
"The launch of the bill sends people of African descent the message that Canada is finally accepting us. We belong."
According to the Bank of Canada, Desmond's court case was the first known legal challenge against racial segregation brought forward by a black woman in Canada.
It would take 63 years for Nova Scotia to issue Desmond, who died in 1965, a posthumous apology and pardon. (Wanda Robson)
Segregation was legally ended in Nova Scotia in 1954, in part because of the publicity generated by Desmond's case.
"Viola Desmond carried out a singular act of courage," said Isaac Saney, a senior instructor of black studies at Dalhousie University. "There was no movement behind her. She was ahead of the times."
It would take 63 years for Nova Scotia to issue Desmond, who died in 1965, a posthumous apology and pardon.
Despite this, Desmond's story received little attention until recent years.
Her legacy is being increasingly recognized. 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.
from CBC | Top Stories News http://ift.tt/2FCU9O4
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