Little book that could
Book on Viola Desmond remains popular as new honours given to civil rights pioneer
When Ron Caplan first heard a radio report on Viola Desmond in 2009, little did he know how much the story of the pioneering Nova Scotia civil rights leader would eventually affect his own life.
“I thought it was a terrific story but my focus is almost entirely Cape Breton Island so I felt very bad that it wasn’t a Cape Breton story or I would have tried to do something about it right away,” recalled Caplan. “I think it was only a day or two later that I found out Viola Desmond’s sister, Wanda Robson, is a Cape Bretoner and has lived in Cape Breton for many years.
“And there you go — I had a Cape Breton story.”
Caplan contacted Robson, and learned that she wanted to write a book but was having difficulties with her eyes. Caplan, who had spent years publishing Cape Breton’s Magazine, was used to taping interviews. He had no problem stepping up to the challenge.
“My whole life is about listening,” said Caplan. “I did several visits with the tape recorder going and mostly I listened and I asked a few questions and Wanda, she spoke the book.”
Viola Desmond was arrested in 1946 for sitting in a whitesonly section of the Roseland Theatre in New Glasgow. The entrepreneur was making a business trip to Sydney when her car broke down in New Glasgow. While she was waiting for her vehicle to be repaired, she decided to see a movie. Unaware of the theatre’s policy of restricting black people to the upper balcony, she was made aware she had bought a ticket to the balcony, which she didn’t want.
When she realized she was being denied better seating due to her race, Desmond took a seat downstairs and was
promptly ejected, arrested and then charged and convicted for failure to pay an extra penny in theatre tax required for the downstairs seat. She tried to have the criminal conviction overturned but was refused.
Desmond died in 1965 and
was posthumously pardoned by the Nova Scotia government on April 15, 2010. The book was published shortly afterwards.
Robson’s book, “Sister to Courage: Stories from the World of Viola Desmond,” is a series of stories that Robson tells about her sister and what she went through. Since the book was published, it has gone on to be one of Caplan’s bestselling volumes and he fondly calls it “the little book that could.” After it was published, there has been an unending list of honours for Desmond.
The most recent will see Desmond on the new ten-dollar bill, which will be released on Thursday by the Bank of Canada. There has also been a stamp with her likeness and the Halifax/Dartmouth ferry has been named after her.
“There are schools now about to be named after Viola Desmond,” says Caplan. “Now her grave has been marked to give people guidance to her grave in Halifax. There’s quite a list of things and I think it’s only the beginning, from Newfoundland to British Columbia. The 10-dollar bill will have people asking who was Viola Desmond and out of that will come a very important story in Canadian social justice and the more people asked about it, I think the more people will want to do things, whether it’s scholarships or art projects to keep alive the story of Viola Desmond.
“I think we’ve only just begun to see the beginning of this. The book will live on.”
“The 10-dollar bill will have people asking who was Viola Desmond and out of that will come a very important story in Canadian social justice.’’ Ron Caplan