It started at the movies

As part of Ottawa's 2012 launch of Black History Month on Saturday, Jan. 28 at City Hall, Canada Post will unveil a new stamp commemorating Viola Desmond (1914-1965). Desmond was a Halifax business co-owner when she was arrested in nearby New Glasgow, Nova Scotia's Roseland Theatre in 1946 for not giving up her seat. By comparison, famed American "first lady of civil rights" Rosa Parks was arrested for not giving up her seat on a Mongomery, Alabama bus in 1955.

The Black History Canada website (http://blackhistorycanada.ca/profiles.php?themeid=20&id=13) recounts Viola Desmond's story, "In New Glasgow, Desmond developed car trouble and decided to go to the movies while repairs were made. She bought a ticket, entered the theatre and took a seat on the main floor, unaware that tickets sold to African Canadians in this town were for the balcony and the main floor was reserved solely for White patrons. Theatre staff demanded that she go to the balcony, but she refused, since she could see better from the main floor. The police were summoned immediately and she was dragged out, which injured her hip. She was charged and held overnight in jail; she was not advised of her rights."

Desmond fought against the charges against her, and would go on to fight Nova Scotia's segregation laws until they were finally repealed in 1954. However, in checking out Desmond's commemorative stamp and bio at the Canada Post site (http://www.canadapost.ca/cpo/mc/personal/collecting/stamps/2012/2012_feb_john_ware_viola_desmond.jsf), it was only in 2010 that "the Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia invoked the Royal Prerogative and granted Desmond a posthumous pardon, the first such to be granted in Canada, and the government of Nova Scotia formally apologized." 64 years later.

Find out more about this and other 2012 Black History Month events in Ottawa at http://www.blackhistoryottawa.org/welcome.php?pid=133&lang=en

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