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    The Impact of Viola Desmond

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    kareene
    Viola Desmond was a Canadian black businesswoman and civil rights activist who challenged racial segregation in 1946 by refusing to leave the whites-only area of a cinema. She was charged with a minor tax violation but her case helped spark Canada's modern civil rights movement. Desmond's courageous act of defiance against racial discrimination shaped Canadian history and she has since been recognized on a Canadian banknote and postage stamp for her important legacy in fighting discrimination.

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    The Impact of Viola Desmond

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    kareene
    69 views9 pages
    Viola Desmond was a Canadian black businesswoman and civil rights activist who challenged racial segregation in 1946 by refusing to leave the whites-only area of a cinema. She was charged with a minor tax violation but her case helped spark Canada's modern civil rights movement. Desmond's courageous act of defiance against racial discrimination shaped Canadian history and she has since been recognized on a Canadian banknote and postage stamp for her important legacy in fighting discrimination.

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    Viola Desmond was a Canadian black businesswoman and civil rights activist who challenged racial segregation in 1946 by refusing to leave the whites-only area of a cinema. She was charged with a minor tax violation but her case helped spark Canada's modern civil rights movement. Desmond's courageous act of defiance against racial discrimination shaped Canadian history and she has since been recognized on a Canadian banknote and postage stamp for her important legacy in fighting discrimination.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    69 views9 pages

    The Impact of Viola Desmond

    Uploaded by

    kareene
    Viola Desmond was a Canadian black businesswoman and civil rights activist who challenged racial segregation in 1946 by refusing to leave the whites-only area of a cinema. She was charged with a minor tax violation but her case helped spark Canada's modern civil rights movement. Desmond's courageous act of defiance against racial discrimination shaped Canadian history and she has since been recognized on a Canadian banknote and postage stamp for her important legacy in fighting discrimination.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    Download as pdf or txt
    of 9

    VIOLA DESMOND

    Her Legacy must


    be remembered!

    Done by: Nahzeem Smith


    WHO IS SHE?
    ● Viola Ireane Desmond was a Canadian black civil and women’s rights activist.

    ● Born July 6, 1914 until her passing of February 7, 1965, leaving a powerful legacy.

    ● She was born of Black Nova Scotian Descent.

    ● She was a buisness woman and civil rights activist.


    WHAT IS SHE KNOWN FOR?
    ★ In 1946 she challenged racial segregation at a cinema in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia by refusing to leave the
    whites-only area Of the Roseland Theatre.

    ➔ For this she was charged a minor tax violation for the one cent tax difference for the seat she paid for
    and the one she used which was far more expensive. Refusing this charged brought her case to The
    Supreme Court, causing an intense park in the civil rights movement

    ➔ Desmonds case is one the most publicised racial discrimination in Canadian history and helped
    started the modern civil rights movement in Canada. Her courageous act of defiance of racial
    descrimination helped shape Canadian History.
    THE REACTION OF HER SPARK

    ● THE CANADIAN GOVERNMENT WAS APPAULED ALONG WITH


    WHITES THAT A BLACK WOMAN WOULD HAVE THE AUDACITY
    TO THINK SHE IS OF IMPORTANCE TO HAVE SUCH PRIVALLAGE.

    ● When charged for her action, she fortunately refused starting a


    spark for Black women around the world, now her voice was not
    the only one heard.

    ● Her actions after her case had been taken to the supreme court
    influend the movement of the first Modern civil rights movement
    for the Black community and equal rights.
    WHAT IS A CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

    A movement of Civil rights is one in which


    promotes modern rights among each other
    promoting equality and freedom for specific
    groups of people. In Viola Desmond’s case a
    spark for The Modern Civil Rights Movement
    was made by the refusal of racial injustice, her
    case was the beginning of a hard fight towards
    Black Rights and equality in Canada.
    SEGREGATION IN CANADA

    Segregation in Canada is the enforced sep[aration of racial groups in Canada


    there were no laws enforcing separation of Black and white Candaians.
    However, communities and businesses, theaters and restaurants made their
    open official rule. This gave White Canadians the audacity to make Black
    Candians unwelcomed or even banned from their places of work. Viola using
    this unfairness bringing her segregation issue to The Supreme Court was the
    beginning of a larger issue which proved how large of an issue this was.
    A PATTERN

    In 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a


    Montgomery bus for a white man. Parks's act of civil
    disobedience helped spark the civil rights movement in
    the U.S. But almost a decade earlier, Viola Desmond
    refused to be removed out of the whites only section of
    the Roseland theatre sparking the First Modern Civil
    Rights movement. These two women used their voices
    and actions to show they were more than how racially
    limited white men and women viewed them. They
    were strong and resiliant even in a time where it
    seemed most were against them.
    THE LEGACY OF VIOLA DESMOND
    ★ Desmond’s cause was officially recognized in 2010, when the Lieutenant Governor of Nova
    Scotia removed her conviction from the historical record. Desmond’s story. In 2018, she became
    the first Canadian woman featured on a regularly circulating Canadian $10 bill. Desmond has also
    appeared on a Canadian postage stamp. She’s had her own Heritage Minute and there is even a
    ferryboat in Halifax, Nova Scotia named in her honor.

    ★ Desmond’s sister Wanda Robson still residing in Nova Scotia, Like many Canadians, she has been
    inspired by her sister’s story. At 73, she went back to school, finished her Bachelor of Arts degree,
    and now speaks to youth about her sister’s story and combating racism. Robson knows if we are to
    end racism and discrimination, we all need to take a stand when we know we are wronged, just as
    Viola Desmond did.

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