A Fight for Civil Rights

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A Fight for Civil Rights
The section dedicated to the civil rights icon Viola Desmond in the Canadian Human Rights Museum is particularly interesting. Indeed, Viola is often labeled the “’Rosa Parks of Canada,” for the role she played in the fight against racial discrimination in Canada, a country that did not have an official structure of racial segregation (Canadian Human Rights Museum Website 1).
Besides, she was born to a white mother and a hard working black father who were active within their Halifax community. Hence, Desmond grew up with great ambition. In a period where opportunities for black people and women were extremely thin for, Desmond was determined to establish herself in business. She went to study in Montreal’s Field Beauty Culture School, a handful of which accepted few students of color. She opened Vi’s Studio of Culture and Beauty as well as a salon in Halifax after her studies. Next, she extended her business kingdom, by starting the Desmond School of Beauty Culture that enrolled black women and further introducing her line of beauty products. On 8th of November 1946, then 32, Desmond had some free time to spent while she relaxed and waited for her car to be fixed after malfunctioning while in New Glasgow (CBC News Website 1). In that case, she went to entertain herself at the local Roseland Theatre. Since she did not know that the theatre was segregated, Desmond decided to sit at the “whites only” main-floo…