By Shaundra Selvaggi

In honour of the special Women’s Issue, hitting stands October 2, swaymag.ca takes a look at black women of influence – past and present.  Do you know your history?

• She was born and raised in Halifax, Nova Scotia
• A successful beautician and entrepreneur
• On November 8, 1946, she refused to sit in a balcony designated exclusively for blacks in a theatre in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia
• April 14th, 2010, the Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia, Mayann Francis, invoked the Royal Prerogative and granted her a posthumous pardon.
• She’s been called the “Canada’s Rosa Parks”

Who was she……?

Viola Desmond