Racial Segregation in Canadian Legal History: Viola Desmond's Challenge, Nova Scotia, 1946
Dalhousie Law Journal 17:2 (Fall 1994) 299-362.
64 Pages Posted: 20 May 2013 Last revised: 28 May 2013
Date Written: 1994
Abstract
This article recounts the arrest and trial of Viola Desmond, who in 1946 violated a rule imposing racial segregation on Blacks. It goes on to describe Desmond's unsuccessful attempt to have that conviction overturned in the Supreme Court of Nova scotia, the first known challenge brought by a Black woman in Canada against a racial segregation law. Through the use interviews and analysis of archival material, the author situates this legal proceeding within the context both of the history of racism in Canada and of legal attempts to combat it.
Keywords: Viola, Desmond, 1946, racial, racist, race, racism, segregation, discrimination, African, Black, Nova Scotia, Canada, conviction, Canadian, law, legal, history, biography, historical, biographical, policy, discriminatory, archive, Backhouse
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