Viola knew that she was being discriminated against and attempted to return to the main floor of the theatre. The reason Viola was given, was that she was black. Viola returned to the cashier believing she had been given the wrong ticket and requested a ticket for the main floor of the theatre but cashier Peggy Melanson told her she could only sell her a ticket for the upstairs.
She tried to take a seat in the downstairs section reserved for whites, only to be prevented by a theatre employee. Viola requested a downstairs ticket but was given a ticket to the balcony. At this time theatres like many other venues were segregated, (although there were no segregation laws in effect in Halifax) with whites seated downstairs and black patrons seated in the upstairs balconies. While waiting for her car to be repaired, Viola decided to catch a movie, at the Roseland Theatre. On the evening of November 8, 1946, while travelling from Halifax to Sydney, Nova Scotia, Viola's car broke down in New Glasgow.
Viola once again experienced the racism that seemed so prevalent and tacitly accepted. The beauty school was dedicated to training other African Maritime women so they could open their own businesses in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Quebec. When she returned to Halifax she opened both her own beauty salon as well as a beauty school known as Desmond School of Beauty Culture. She wanted to train as a hairdresser (her father was a barber) but no beauty school in Halifax would accept her, so she had to attend school in Montreal as well as New York and New Jersey. Like many African Canadians, Viola was treated differently than people who were white. The Davis's had a large family of ten children and were active in their community.
Viola Irene Desmond was born on Jin Halifax, Nova Scotia to Gwendolin and James Davis, a biracial couple (Viola's mother was white). It was no surprise that few Canadians had ever heard of Viola Desmond which made her the perfect choice for the new bank note. After public consultation, it was decided that the new bank note would feature Viola Desmond, a black Canadian businesswoman and civil rights activist. For some time, the Royal Canadian Mint has faced pressure to put a Canadian woman on the country's currency instead of a Canadian man or British royalty. On Novema new ten dollar bill was released, featuring for the first time the image of a Canadian woman.
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