# data[].attributes.body
An enslaved Black woman from New France, Marie-Joseph was accused of setting fire to the house of her “owner” in Montreal. Although to this day it is unclear whether Angelique actually set the fire, she was tortured, hanged, and burned for the “crime” solely based on hearsay.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Marie-Joseph Angélique | The Canadian Encyclopedia

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
History, politics, arts, science & more: the Canadian Encyclopedia is your reference on Canada. Articles, timelines & resources for teachers, students & public.

# data[].attributes.body
The constraint on black education has been present since the time of slavery, often used to remove their presence from the rest of society. Their fight for education would only be partially met but at the cost of higher quality resources and teachers, left to work with whatever they could scrounge up. While these black schools slowly started to come into the light, they were often shadowed by the white only institutions at the time. As time went on from the 1800s into the 1900s, these restrictions started to lessen, and black students eventually started turning attending the white schools, mainly due to their quality of resources. This however did not solve many of the previous issues as can be seen by future statistics.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Before the beginning of the large-scale entry of Black students into white universities in 1965-66, the academic world itself scarcely noticed Blacks. -Allen Ballard, The Education of Black Folk While some universities would require federal urging to open their enrollment to black students, these were primarily larger state universities.

# data[].attributes.body
Harriet Tubman was born into slavery therefore no records of her birth were kept and the exact date of her birth is unknown. She was a hero, icon for American women.  She is know to be the  five-foot-tall African American abolitionist who guided hundreds of slaves away from the bondage of slavery and  is the best known female abolitionist of antebellum American. Illiterate but profoundly religious,  into slavery between 1815 and 1825 on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. Tubman’s service in the Civil War was selfless. She worked as a cook and a nurse. Her knowledge of local curative plants made her popular among sick soldiers. She was also a spy and a scout. She became the first woman in the Civil War to lead an assault, the Combahee River Raid in which 700 slaves were set free.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Harriet Tubman is an American hero and an icon of freedom, a five-foot-tall African American abolitionist who guided hundreds of slaves away from the bondage of slavery. She is the best known female abolitionist of antebellum American. Illiterate but profoundly religious, into slavery between 1815 and 1825 on the Eastern Shore of Maryland.

# data[].attributes.body
Viola Desmond was born July 6th, 1914 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and died February 7th, 1965. Desmond is a significant Canadian figure due to her prolific role as both an efficient business woman, and civil rights activist. Her prowess in business and community leadership was shown through both her profitable career as a beautician (creating products herself) and her creation of the Desmond School of Beauty Culture to train other women. In 1946, Desmond was arrested, jailed, and convicted for her refusal to leave the "Whites Only" section of the Roseland Theatre in New Glasgow. Race was never mentioned but it was clear that her real offence was violating the rules of segregation (not the monetary issues she was arrested for). She was granted a free pardon in 2010 and is now honoured through her placement on the $10 Canadian bill.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Early Life and Family

Viola Desmond was brought up in a large family with 10 siblings. Her parents were highly regarded within the Black community in Halifax. Her father, James Albert Davis, was raised in a middle-class Black family, and had worked for several years as a stevedore before establishing himself as a barber. Her mother, Gwendolin Irene Davis (née Johnson), was the daughter of a White minister and his wife, who had moved to Halifax from New Haven, Connecticut. Although racial mixing was not uncommon in early 20th-century Halifax, intermarriage was rare. Nonetheless, her parents were accepted into the Black community and became active and prominent members of various community organizations.

Motivated by her parents' example of hard work and community involvement, Desmond aspired to success as an independent businesswoman. After a short period teaching in two racially-segregated schools for Black students, she began a program of study at the Field Beauty Culture School in Montreal, one of the few such institutions in Canada at the time that accepted Black applicants. She continued her training in Atlantic City and in New York. Desmond opened Vi's Studio of Beauty Culture in Halifax, catering to the Black community.

Entrepreneur and Community Leader

In the early part of the 20th century, with the advent of new hair styles that demanded special product and maintenance, and an emphasis on fashion trends and personal grooming, beauty parlours offered opportunities for female entrepreneurs. Black women in particular were able to discover opportunity not otherwise available. Beauty parlours became a centre of social contact within the Black community, allowing the shop owner to achieve a position of status and authority.

Viola Desmond quickly found success. She opened a beauty school, the Desmond School of Beauty Culture, to train women and expanded her business across the province. (Desmond created a line of beauty products, which were sold at venues owned by graduates of her beauty school.) Aware of her obligation to her community, Desmond created the school in order to provide training that would support the growth of employment for young Black women. Enrolment in Desmond's school grew rapidly, including students from New Brunswick and Quebec. As many as 15 students graduated from the program each year.

Although racism was not officially entrenched in Canadian society, Black persons in Canada, and certainly in Nova Scotia, were aware that an unwritten code constrained their lives. Sometimes the limits were difficult to foresee. In a way, the "unofficial" character of Canadian racism made it more difficult to navigate. ( See also Prejudice and Discrimination.)

Did you know?
In 1943, Hugh Burnett went to a restaurant in Dresden, Ontario, wearing his army uniform. To his dismay, the owner would not serve him. Burnett promptly wrote to the federal Minister of Justice, Louis St-Laurent, informing him that, "even in uniform a Black man could not be served in any Dresden restaurant." The Deputy Minister's reply simply stated that there was no law against racial discrimination in Canada.

Roseland Theatre

On the evening of 8 November 1946, Viola Desmond made an unplanned stop in the small community of New Glasgow after her car broke down on her way to a business meeting in Sydney, Nova Scotia. Told that the repair would take several hours, she arranged for a hotel room and then decided to see a movie to pass the time.

At the Roseland Theatre, Desmond requested a ticket for a seat on the main floor. The ticket seller handed Desmond a ticket to the balcony instead, the seating generally reserved for non-White customers. Walking into the main floor seating area, she was challenged by the ticket-taker, who told her that her ticket was for an upstairs seat, where she would have to move. Thinking that a mistake had been made, Desmond returned to the cashier and asked her to exchange the ticket for one downstairs. The cashier refused, saying, "I'm sorry but I'm not permitted to sell downstairs tickets to you people." Realizing that the cashier was referring to the colour of her skin, Desmond decided to take a seat on the main floor anyway.

Desmond was then confronted by the manager, Henry MacNeil, who argued that the theatre had the right to "refuse admission to any objectionable person." Desmond pointed out that she had not been refused admission and had in fact been sold the ticket, which she still held in her hand. She added that she had attempted to exchange it for a main floor ticket and was willing to pay the difference in cost but had been refused. When she declined to leave her seat, a police officer was called. Desmond was dragged out of the theatre, injuring her hip and knee in the process, and taken to jail. There she was met by the Elmo Langille, chief of police, and MacNeil - the pair left together, returning an hour later with a warrant for Desmond's arrest. She was then held in a cell overnight. Shocked and frightened, she maintained her composure and, as she later explained, sat bolt upright all night long.

Did you know?
The Fred Christie Case (1939) is a decision of the Supreme Court of Canada that allowed private businesses to discriminate on the basis of freedom of commerce. In July 1936, Fred Christie and two friends went to the York Tavern attached to the Montreal Forum to have a beer. The staff refused to serve them because Christie was Black. Christie sued, eventually bringing his case to the Supreme Court, which ruled that the York Tavern was within its rights to refuse to serve people on the basis of race. The case reveals an era of legalized racism, while its facts hide the subtle ways that racism operated in early 20th-century Canada.

Viola Desmond's Trial

In the morning, Viola Desmond was brought to court and charged with attempting to defraud the provincial government based on her alleged refusal to pay a one cent amusement tax (i.e., the difference in tax between upstairs and downstairs ticket prices). Even though she had indicated when she was confronted at the theatre that she was willing to pay the difference between the two ticket prices and that her offer had been refused, the judge chose to fine her $26. Six of those dollars were awarded to the manager of the Roseland Theatre, who was listed in the court proceedings as prosecutor. Throughout the trial, Desmond was not provided with legal representation or informed that she was entitled to any. Magistrate Roderick MacKay was the only legal official in the court; no crown attorney was present.

At no point in the proceedings was the issue of race mentioned. Still, it was clear that Desmond's real offence was to violate the implicit rule that Black persons were to sit in the balcony seats, segregated from White persons on the main floor. When asked about the incident by the Toronto Daily Star, MacNeil maintained that there was no official stipulation that Black persons could not sit on the main floor. It was "customary," he said, for Black persons to sit together on the balcony. Nonetheless, it was common knowledge among the Black community in New Glasgow that seating at the Roseland Theatre was racially segregated.

Desmond's husband, Jack, had grown up in New Glasgow and was not surprised when Viola told him about her treatment at the Roseland. Like many other Black Nova Scotians who had grown accustomed to the racist attitudes that prevailed in the province, he was inclined to let the issue rest. "Take it to the Lord with a prayer," was his suggestion. Others in the community were less accepting; the Nova Scotia Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NSAACP) raised money to fight Desmond's conviction, and Carrie Best, the founder of The Clarion, the province's second Black-owned and operated newspaper, took a special interest in the case. Best had had a similar experience at the Roseland Theatre five years earlier and had unsuccessfully filed a civil suit against the theatre's management. The Clarion closely covered Desmond's story - often on the front page.

Did you know?
In December 1941, Carrie Best heard that several high school girls had been removed by force from the Roseland Theatre. The Black teens had tried to sit in the Whites-only section. After she explained to the Roseland's owner, Norman Mason, that the theatre's policy was racist, she visited the theatre with her son, Calbert, and sat downstairs. Best and her son were arrested and charged with disturbing the peace. Afterwards, Best filed a civil lawsuit against the Roseland for racial discrimination; however, the owner's right to exclude anyone service won out over the bigger issue of racism in court.

On the advice of the doctor who examined the injuries that resulted from her arrest, Desmond contacted a lawyer in order to reverse her charge. Legal scholar and historian Constance Backhouse mentions that, at the time, the legal nature of racial discrimination had yet to be settled in Canada ( see Fred Christie Case). While judgements varied from case to case, two competing principles prevailed: freedom of commerce, and an individual's right to freedom from discrimination based on race, creed or colour. Neither principle took precedence over the other. In addition, no court in the province had ruled on the illegality of racial discrimination in hotels, theatres and restaurants.

Given the ambiguity of the situation, Frederick Bissett, Desmond's White lawyer, chose not to take on the violation of Desmond's rights: neither her basic civil rights, nor her rights to a fair trial with competent legal representation ( see also Civil Liberties). Instead, Bissett had the court issue a writ identifying Desmond as the plaintiff in a civil suit that named MacNeil and the Roseland Theatre Co. Ltd as defendants. It sought to establish that MacNeil had acted unlawfully when he forcibly ejected Desmond from the theatre, which would entitle her to compensation on the grounds of assault, malicious prosecution and false imprisonment.

The suit never made it to trial, and Bissett later applied to the Supreme Court to have the criminal conviction put aside. The case was considered by Nova Scotia Supreme Court Justice Maynard Brown Archibald, who, on 20 January 1947, ruled against Desmond on the grounds that the decision of the original magistrate should have been appealed to the County Court. As the 10-day deadline for filing an appeal to the original conviction had passed, the conviction stood.

After the Supreme Court decision, legal action on the matter stopped. Bissett did not bill his client, which allowed the NSAACP to use the funds raised for legal fees to continue their fight against segregation in Nova Scotia. Change didn't happen quickly, and it is difficult to say whether Desmond's experience had a direct effect on the quest for racial equality in the province. Nonetheless, her choice to resist the status quo, and the level of community support she received (e.g., from The Clarion and the NSAACP), reveals a mobilization for change among members of Nova Scotia's Black population who were no longer willing to endure life as second-class citizens. In 1954, segregation was legally ended in Nova Scotia thanks in large part to the courageous determination of Viola Desmond and others like her who fought to be treated as equal human beings.

It is difficult to know what Viola Desmond felt about her brave stand and its aftermath. Eventually, and perhaps due to her experience with the Nova Scotia legal system, her marriage fell apart. She decided to abandon her business and move to Montreal and then New York City. She died on 7 February 1965 in New York.

Significance and Legacy

Decades after her death, Viola Desmond's story began to receive public attention, primarily through the efforts of her sister Wanda Robson. In 2003, at the age of 73, Robson enrolled in a course on race relations in North America at University College of Cape Breton (now Cape Breton University) taught by Graham Reynolds. In the course, Reynolds related the experience of Viola Desmond, prompting Wanda to speak out. With the help of Reynolds, she began a prolonged effort to tell her sister's story, including the publication of a book about her sister's experience, Sister to Courage (2010).

On 15 April 2010, Viola Desmond was granted a free pardon by Nova Scotia Lieutenant-Governor Mayann Francis at a ceremony in Halifax. The pardon, accompanied by a public declaration and apology from Premier Darrell Dexter, recognized that Desmond's conviction was a miscarriage of justice and that charges should never have been laid. At the formal ceremony, Minister of African Nova Scotian Affairs and Economic and Rural Development Percy Paris said, "With this pardon, we are acknowledging the wrongdoing of the past," and "we are reinforcing our stance that discrimination and hate will not be tolerated."

In 2010, the Viola Desmond Chair in Social Justice was established at Cape Breton University, and in 2012, Canada Post issued a postage stamp bearing her image. A Heritage Minute relating Desmond's story was released during Black History Month, in February 2016.

On 8 March 2016, International Women's Day, the Bank of Canada launched a public consultation to choose the first Canadian woman to appear on the face of a Canadian banknote. On 8 December 2016, it was announced that Desmond would appear on the face of the $10 note ( see Women on Canadian Banknotes).

In 2017, Desmond was inducted to Canada's Walk of Fame under the Philanthropy & Humanities category. In January 2018, she was named a National Historic Person by the Canadian government. On 6 July 2018, a Google Doodle telling Desmond's story was released in Canada in celebration of her 104th birthday.

On 19 November 2018, the $10 bill featuring Viola Desmond was released. The bill was Canada's first vertical banknote ( see Money in Canada). It also features a map of the North End of Halifax, where Desmond lived and worked, and an excerpt from theCanadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms: "Every individual is equal before and under the law and has the right to the equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimination." The Canadian Museum of Human Rights is featured on the back of the bill.

In February 2019, the Royal Canadian Mint announced the release of its first Black History Month coin, a pure silver coin featuring an engraved portrait of Viola Desmond. In April 2019, the $10 bill featuring Desmond won the International Bank Note Society's Banknote of the Year Award for 2018.

The government of Nova Scotia repaid an adjusted amount of Viola's fine to her sister in February 2021. Wanda used the $1,000 to fund a scholarship at Cape Breton University.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Viola Irene Desmond (née Davis), businesswoman, civil rights activist (born 6 July 1914 in Halifax, NS; died 7 February 1965 in New York, NY). Viola Desmond bu...

# data[].attributes.body
In the year 1921, the KKK(K) was reported to be active in Montréal, Canada. By 1925, “Klans,” or local branches, had been established all across Canada. Although the group appealed to few Canadians, it was at the height of its popularity in Saskatchewan through the 1920s having about 40,000 members. In the decades that succeeded, the Klan in Saskatchewan followed a rapid decline, as did Klan’s in the rest of Canada. In the late 1970s, the Klan attempted once more to organize in Canada, notably in Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The Ku Klux Klan is an outlawed, racist, ultra-conservative, fraternal organization dedicated to the supremacy of an Anglo-Saxon, Protestant society.

Vancouver, 1925. The ultraconservative, secret fraternal organization dedicated to the supremacy of an Anglo-Saxon Protestant society was formed in Pulaski, Tenn (courtesy City of Vancouver Archives/CVA-99-1946).

The Ku Klux Klan is an outlawed, racist, ultra-conservative, fraternal organization dedicated to the supremacy of an Anglo-Saxon, Protestant society. Although never successful across Canada, the Klan was briefly popular in Saskatchewan in the 1920s.

Founding

The Ku Klux Klan (the name comes from the Greek word kyklos, or circle - "Kyklos Klan") was formed in Pulaski, Tennessee, in November 1865 by six ex-Confederate soldiers of the American Civil War. It was outlawed in the United States in 1871 because of violent and outrageous crimes against blacks and northerners, including murder and lynching.

Revived in November 1915 in Atlanta, Georgia, the "KKK" drew its support from middle- and lower-class Americans who feared the loss of conservative and rural values.

Klan members typically signalled their presence by burning a Christian cross. Their doctrines and violence were motivated by racial and religious hatred.

Klan in Canada

In 1921, the Klan was reported active in Montréal; by 1925, "klans," or local branches, had been established all across Canada.

Like their American counterparts, Canadian Klansmen had a fanatical hatred for all things Roman Catholic and feared that the purity of the Anglo-Saxon race was being jeopardized by new immigration. Moreover, they were not averse to committing crimes to achieve their goals.

The Klan appealed to few Canadians and remained relatively obscure, except in Saskatchewan. American organizers stole approximately $100,000 of Klan funds from the Saskatchewan branch in 1927. The Saskatchewan organization regrouped and, at its height in the late 1920s, boasted having 40,000 members.

In the 1929 provincial election, the Klan's influence helped end 24 years of Liberal rule in Saskatchewan, with the defeat of Liberal Premier J. G. Gardiner by Conservative leader J.T.M. Anderson.

Decline

In the decades that followed, the Saskatchewan Klan declined rapidly, as did the organization in the rest of Canada. In the late 1970s, the Klan attempted once more to organize in Canada, notably in Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia.

The organization's avowed white-supremacist stance, and further crimes committed by the American Klan during this period, have done little either to increase membership or to establish the Klan's credibility in the eyes of the Canadian public.

Today the Klan has a fringe, underground following by members of some white supremacist groups.

See also Prejudice and Discrimination.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Ku Klux Klan is an outlawed, racist, ultra-conservative, fraternal organization dedicated to the supremacy of an Anglo-Saxon, Protestant society. Vancouver, 1925. The ultraconservative, secret fraternal organization dedicated to the supremacy of an Anglo-Saxon Protestant society was formed in Pulaski, Tenn (courtesy City of Vancouver Archives/CVA-99-1946).

# data[].attributes.body
Black students are less likely to be able to access college/university level resources

Black students are less likely to be prepared well enough for college or university

Unrepresented in honor or advanced placement courses

Black students often attend schools with a lack of resources and poorer quality teachers or newer teachers

White teachers often had lower expectations for their black students when compared to black teachers

Black students are more likely to receive suspensions when compared to white students

Black students often attend schools with no school counselor but will still have law enforcement on the grounds

Assessments show that black students generally perform worse than white students, dropping even further as schooling progresses

Black teachers often represent a small number of school workers (teachers, principals)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
College degrees are regarded as a primary vehicle for reducing poverty and closing the wealth gaps between people of color and whites. Yet, the disparities that exist are alarming. But don't take our word for it. See for yourself by reading these statistics and the full reports from which they come.

Statistic #1:

African American students are less likely than white students to have access to college-ready courses. In fact, in 2011-12, only 57 percent of black students have access to a full range of math and science courses necessary for college readiness, compared to with 81 percent of Asian American students and 71 percent of white students.

Learn more in these sources:

Statistic #2:

Even when black students do have access to honors or advanced placement courses, they are vastly underrepresented in these courses. Black and Latino students represent 38 percent of students in schools that offer AP courses, but only 29 percent of students enrolled in at least one AP course. Black and Latino students also have less access to gifted and talented education programs than white students.

Learn more:

Statistic #3:

African American students are often located in schools with less qualified teachers, teachers with lower salaries and novice teachers.

Learn more:

Statistic #4:

Research has shown evidence of systematic bias in teacher expectations for African American students and non-black teachers were found to have lower expectations of black students than black teachers.

Learn more:

Statistic #5:

African American students are less likely to be college-ready. In fact, 61 percent of ACT-tested black students in the 2015 high school graduating class met none of the four ACT college readiness benchmarks, nearly twice the 31 percent rate for all students.

Learn more:

Statistic #6:

Black students spend less time in the classroom due to discipline, which further hinders their access to a quality education. Black students are nearly two times as likely to be suspended without educational services as white students. Black students are also 3.8 times as likely to receive one or more out-of-school suspensions as white students. In addition, black children represent 19 percent of the nation's pre-school population, yet 47 percent of those receiving more than one out-of-school suspension. In comparison, white students represent 41 percent of pre-school enrollment but only 28 percent of those receiving more than one out-of-school suspension. Even more troubling, black students are 2.3 times as likely to receive a referral to law enforcement or be subject to a school-related arrest as white students.

Learn more:

Statistic #7:

Students of color are often concentrated in schools with fewer resources. Schools with 90 percent or more students of color spend $733 less per student per year than schools with 90 percent or more white students.

Learn more:

Statistic #8:

According to the Office for Civil Rights, 1.6 million students attend a school with a sworn law enforcement officers (SLEO), but not a school counselor. In fact, the national student-to-counselor ratio is 491-to-1, however the American School Counselor Association recommends a ratio of 250-to-1.

Learn More:

Statistic #9:

In 2015, the average reading score for white students on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) 4th and 8th grade exam was 26 points higher than black students. Similar gaps are apparent in math. The 12th grade assessment also show alarming disparities as well, with only seven percent of black students performing at or above proficient on the math exam in 2015, compared to 32 percent white students.

Learn More:

{title_1_4510}

There is a clear lack of black representation in school personnel. According to a 2016 Department of Education report, in 2011-12, only 10 percent of public school principals were black, compared to 80 percent white. Eighty-two percent of public school educators are white, compared to 18 percent teachers of color. In addition, black male teachers only constitute two percent of the teaching workforce.

Learn More:

While these statistics are disheartening, UNCF and its partners have developed several recommendations and solutions to alleviate these achievement and opportunity gaps. Read more here:

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
K-12 Disparity Facts and Statistics - UNCF

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
College degrees are regarded as a primary vehicle for reducing poverty and closing the wealth gaps between people of color and whites. Yet, the disparities that exist are alarming. But don't take our word for it. See for yourself by reading these statistics and the full reports from which they come.