Viola Desmond

June 2026

Mois 20xx

Hajir Butt

Charmaine Gooden

Jacob Marion

Highlights

In 1946, Desmond was forcibly removed from the Roseland Theatre for sitting on the main floor reserved for white people. She was fined for tax evasion and jailed overnight with no legal representation.
Desmond’s inspiration was Madam C.J. Walker, entrepreneur and philanthropist in the beauty world from the United States.
Her hair products included shampoos, press and curl hair styling products, straighteners, chignons, hair pieces and wigs, and ‘sepomade’, a styling product for men from her brand name “Sepia.
In the 1940s, Desmond opened The Desmond School of Beauty Culture in Halifax, the first institute that trained Black women in hair and skincare.

Beginning of article

On the night of November 8, 1946, Viola Desmond, a beautician and entrepreneur, was driving to deliver her beauty products to salons around New Glasgow, Nova Scotia. Made by Desmond, the products were her practical solution to a glaring gap in professional hair, skin and beauty care for Black women in Canada. On this fateful evening, her car broke down, and to pass the time, she visited the local theatre.

What we know from that same night is how Desmond refused to move from the designated “white–only” seat she had chosen on the main floor of the theatre, defying racist segregation policies and standing up against injustice. However, this wasn’t Desmond’s first stance or act of service towards her community. Long before her bravery that night, Desmond was already a face of change, pioneering and revolutionizing Black hair and beauty care in Canada.

Jeunesse et Carrière

Desmond was born in 1914 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, to a large, mixed-race family, one of 11 children. Her father, James Albert Davis, was a Canadian of African descent, and her mother, Gwendolin Irene Davis, was the daughter of a white Baptist minister.

In Cheryl Thompson’s book on Canada’s Black beauty history, Beauty in a Box: Detangling the Roots of Canada’s Black Beauty, Thompson establishes that Desmond was surrounded by the fundamentals of entrepreneurship. Her grandfather, a barber, founded the Davis Barber Shop in the North End of Halifax. “Desmond was destined to be an entrepreneur,” writes Thompson.

Desmond’s sister, Wanda Robson, writes in her memoir, Sister to Courage, that Desmond’s inspiration sparked when she read of Madam C.J. Walker, a philanthropist and beauty entrepreneur in the United States. Determined to follow a similar path, Desmond began her pursuit to become the next Walker.

This pursuit was not an easy one. Halifax was a highly segregated city built on institutionalized racism and discrimination. Segregation in schools, theatres and other public spaces was common, and employment for Black communities was restricted. According to the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, the beauty schools in Nova Scotia barred Desmond from attending because of her race.

This, however, did not stop her. She travelled to Montreal, Quebec, and attended the Field Beauty Culture School, a small institute located on Saint–Antoine Street. It was one of the few Canadian beauty schools that accepted Black applicants.

Around this time, Desmond met her husband, John “Jack” Gordon Desmond. Born in New Glasgow, he owned Jack’s Barber Shop, the first registered Black-owned barber shop located at 136 Gottingen Street. Jack was known as the “King of Gottingen Street,” where he ran his shop from 1932 through the late 1950s, according to The Signal, a student paper in Halifax.

Desmond furthered her studies by attending Madam Sara Spencer Washington’s Apex College of Beauty Culture in Atlantic City. In 1941, she received her certificate from the Advanced Hairstyling Studio in New York, officially establishing her studies and skills in the field.

In between her studies, in 1937, Desmond opened Vi’s Studio of Beauty Culture, located near her husband’s business. Her clients were women who would later become important figures in their communities. Among her customers were Portia White, the first Black Canadian concert opera singer and Gwen Jenkins, the first Black nurse in Nova Scotia. Desmond’s studio became a hub for women to be seen and taken care of.

“If racism had not stalled Viola Desmond’s beauty business, instead of drawing comparisons to Rosa Parks, we might be remembering her as a Canadian C.J. Walker,” writes Thompson.

She began crafting hair and makeup products catered to the care of Black women with her own beauty line, Vi’s Beauty. In an interview with the Canadian Museum of History, her sister Robson describes how Desmond would mix powders to match the perfect shade for various skin tones.

“She put her name on windows, and she would later put her name on her products–just like Madam C.J. Walker,” Thompson writes, quoting Robson. Desmond’s beauty line “Sepia Beauty Products” was marketed as “especially blended to enhance dark complexions.”

Desmond’s hair products included shampoos, press–et–curl hair styling products, straighteners, chignons, hair pieces and wigs, and ‘sepomade’, a men’s styling product from her brand name “Sepia.” Thompson writes that Desmond herself was described as “elegantly coiffed, fashionably dressed, her nails and hair always done with great care.”

She understood firsthand the lack of opportunities for Black women in Halifax, having had to travel far simply to earn her beauty accreditation. In the 1940s, she opened The Desmond School of Beauty Culture in Halifax, the first institute that trained Black women in hair and skincare.

In 1945, her first class of students graduated and went on to find employment in Quebec and New Brunswick. According to Britannica Encyclopedia, around 15 students graduated from the school each year, encouraging Black women to enter the beauty field, trained and inspired to start their own businesses.

Mode et Diversité

In 1946, with her deliveries of beauty products for local salons in tow, Desmond’s trip was interrupted when her car broke down. To pass the time while the vehicle was being repaired, she went to the Roseland Theatre in New Glasgow.

Unbeknownst to Desmond, the theatre enforced racial segregation where the main floor seats were reserved for white people while the balcony was “coloured only.” She was then forcibly removed, fined for tax evasion and jailed overnight with no legal representation.

Although Desmond stated she was willing to pay the one-cent tax difference between the balcony and main–floor seats, the court claimed she refused to pay it and fined her for “attempting to defraud the provincial government.” Ignoring advice from her husband to let it go, Desmond was encouraged by church leaders Reverend William Pearly Oliver, his wife Pearleen Oliver and the newly formed Nova Scotia Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NSAACP) to fight the fine.

It was a long legal battle, focused on the racially motivated charge of tax evasion. They lost the case on a technicality when Desmond’s lawyer failed to file the appeal on time. Desmond ended up paying the $26 fine, which, in the 1940s, was equivalent to paying $600 in 2026.

The financial stress from the legal battle took a toll on her business and personal life, which led Desmond to divorce her husband and close her beauty business and school. She moved to Montreal, where she attended business college, and later settled in New York.

Thompson writes, “Desmond had planned to open a business in New York when she fell ill.” She died at the age of 50 on February 7, 1965, reportedly of a gastrointestinal hemorrhage and is buried at Camp Hill Cemetery in Halifax.

Influence et Héritage

“If racism had not stalled Viola Desmond’s beauty business, instead of drawing comparisons to Rosa Parks, we might be remembering her as a Canadian C.J. Walker,” writes Thompson.

What can be discerned from Desmond’s short but powerful career in the beauty industry is that if it weren’t for the institutionalized segregation and racism prevalent in Canada at the time, she likely would have achieved even greater success. Her name would recall not only her stand at the theatre, but the businesswoman she was first. While her endeavours might have ended far too soon, the impact of her actions still rings strong today.

In 2010, Desmond was officially posthumously pardoned by the Government of Nova Scotia, recognizing the harm and injustice against her. Canadians began to give her the flowers she deserved in the years to follow. In 2012, Canada Post created a postal stamp featuring Desmond, further recognizing her as an important figure in Canadian history.

On November 19, 2018, Desmond became the face of the Canadian $10 bill, further honouring the impact her actions had on her community and the pathways she paved. Aside from the Queen, she was the first Canadian woman to appear alone on a banknote.

In 2021, the fine and court costs were paid to her sister Robson, who donated the money towards a scholarship at Cape Breton University, continuing Desmond’s belief in education for all.

Cette section spéciale crée un espace de deux photos qui débordent sur la marge latérale.

The financial stress from the legal battle took a toll on her business and personal life, which led Desmond to divorce her husband and close her beauty business and school.

The Viola Desmond Bursary at Saint Mary’s University was also established to support African-Nova Scotian students in need of financial aid, focusing on entrepreneurship to forever immortalize Desmond’s dedication à providing opportunities for Black beauticians and entrepreneurs.

Additionally, Toronto Metropolitan University established the Viola Desmond Bursary and Day Awards, presented to Black female-identifying students.

Despite the obstacles she faced, her work as an entrepreneur and activist in the 1940s helped shape a lasting legacy of Black hair and beauty care in Nova Scotia.