Who is Viola Desmond?

Viola Desmond was a businesswoman and civil rights activist born July 6 1914 in Halifax. She was born into a family highly regarded withing the Nova Scotian black community for their activism. Later in her life, inspired by her parents dedication to their community, Viola Desmond opened a beauty culture school to sustain herself and teach black women a vital skill that would help them secure jobs.

Viola Desmond's school of beauty culture grew in popularity immensely and as many as 15 students graduated yearly. Viola Desmond faced her share of difficulty through the education system, having to travel as far as New York and Atlantic City to complete her education in facilities that would accept her.

The Roseland Theatre Incident

On November 8th, 1946 Desmond took an unplanned stop in New Glasgow as a result of car troubles. She was told the repair would take a while so she arranged a hotel and went to watch a movie at the Roseland Theatre to pass the time. When purchasing a ticket Desmond requested a main floor seat but was instead sold a balcony seat, which was typically reserved for people of color. She made her way to the main floor assuming she had been given a ticket for it.

She was soon after met by a ticket taker who told her to go to the upper floor, where her ticket was made out to. Thinking a mistake had been made she asked the ticket provider to exchange hers for a main floor seat, even offering to pay the price difference but was denied as he was not permitted to sell main floor tickets to people of color. Regardless Desmond took a seat on the main floor and the manager soon took notice and called the police, who forcible removed her, leaving her to remain in a cell overnight

Viola Desmond's legal battle

The morning following her night in a jail cell she was brought to court where she was charged for attempting to defraud the provincial government based on her alleged refusal to pay the price difference between main floor and balcony seat tickets (despite offering to do so). The judge chose to fine her for $26. 2 of those dollars were awarded to the theater's manager who was listed as the prosecutor in the court case. Additionally Viola Desmond was not given or told she was entitled to legal representation during the trial.

Despite it never being mentioned during the case, it was clear that it was based upon Desmonds failure to comply with the rule against colored people sitting in the seating area reserved for white people. The manager later mentioned in an interview that there was no official rule against colored people sitting in the main floor area but rather that it was "customary".