Nine years before Rosa Parks galvanised the American civil rights movement by refusing to sit at the back of a bus, Viola Desmond sparked the mobilisation of a Nova Scotian community when she refused to be moved from a 'whites only' section in the Roseland Theatre in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia. Her actions inspired generations of Black Canadians in not only Nova Scotia but across the entire country who fought and won the right to be seen as equals in an unequal Canadian society. While at the time Viola's struggles were nearly forgotten today she is considered a person of historical significance and is the first Canadian woman to ever appear on a Canadian dollar bill.

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