Finalist for the 2011 Norma Fleck Award for Canadian Children's
Non-Fiction
"On behalf of the Nova Scotia government, I sincerely apologize to Mrs.
Viola Desmond's family and to all African Nova Scotians for the racial
discrimination she was subjected to by the justice system ... We
recognize today that the act for which Viola Desmond was arrested, was
an act of courage, not an offence." -- Darrell Dexter, Premier of Nova
Scotia, April 15, 2010
In Nova Scotia, in 1946, an usher in a movie theatre told Viola Desmond
to move from her main floor seat up to the balcony. She refused to
budge. Viola knew she was being asked to move because she was black.
After all, she was the only black person downstairs. All the other black
people were up in the balcony. In no time at all, the police arrived and
took Viola to jail. The next day she was charged and fined, but she
vowed to continue her struggle against such unfair rules. She refused to
accept that being black meant she couldn't sit where she wanted.
Viola's determination gave strength and inspiration to her community at
the time. She is an unsung hero of the North American struggle against
injustice and racial discrimination whose story deserves to be widely
known.
The African Canadian community in Nova Scotia is one of Canada's oldest
and most established black communities. Despite their history and
contributions to the province the people in this community have a long
experience of racially based injustice.
Like Claudette Colvin and Rosa Parks, who many years later, in 1955,
refused to give up their bus seats in Alabama, Desmond's act of refusal
awakened people to the unacceptable nature of racism and began and
process of bringing an end to racial segregation in Canada.
An afterword provides a glimpse of African Canadian history.
