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The E-Sylum: Volume 21, Number 10, March 11, 2018, Article 29

CANADA'S VIOLA DESMOND NOTE APPEARS

The Guardian published an article March 9th about the new Canadian banknote featuring Civil rights pioneer Viola Desmond. Be sure to read the complete article to learn more about her story. -Editor

Canada $10 Viola Desmond banknote A black woman who refused to leave the whites-only section of a Canadian movie theatre in 1946 "nearly a decade before Rosa Parks’s act of defiance" has been honoured on the country's newest $10 bill.

Civil rights pioneer Viola Desmond was selected from the more than 26,000 submissions that rolled in after the Bank of Canada announced plans to put a Canadian woman on the country's regularly circulating currency for the first time.

Looking to kill time while her car was being repaired, she stopped by a local movie theatre. It was a segregated space - floor seats were for white people while black people were relegated to the balcony.

Desmond, who was shortsighted, tried to buy a floor seat but was refused. So she bought a ticket for the balcony, where seats were one-cent cheaper, and sat in the floor area anyway.

She remained there until police arrived. Desmond was dragged out of the theatre and arrested, ultimately spending 12 hours in jail.

In 2010, more than six decades after she was arrested, Nova Scotia apologized to Desmond and pardoned her - a posthumous pardon signed into law by Mayann Francis, the province's first African Nova Scotian lieutenant-governor. "Here I am, 64 years later - a black woman giving freedom to another black woman,"

To read the complete article, see:
Civil rights pioneer Viola Desmond is first Canadian woman on currency (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/mar/09/civil-rights-pioneer-viola-desmond-is-first-woman-on-canadian-currency)

Viola's sister championed her story, and this video of her seeing the banknote for the first time is priceless. -Editor

Wanda Robson seeing Viola Desmond note for the first time

This is the touching moment Wanda Robson saw her sister on a bank note for the first time.

Robson was brought to tears after being handed Canada's new $10 note, featuring her sister Viola Desmond.

After a nation-wide vote, Desmond was selected to feature on the new note.

Video of her reaction is now spreading after it was posted to the Bank of Canada YouTube channel on Friday.

It comes after the note was unveiled on Thursday, coinciding with International Women's Day.

People were loving how proud Robson was of her sister.

At the age of 73, Robson enrolled in a race relations university course in which her sister's experience came up.

Inspired, Robson channelled her efforts into sharing Desmond's story, publishing a book called, Sister to Courage in 2010.

As a result of Robson's efforts, Nova Scotia Lieutenant-Governor Mayann Francis granted Desmond an official pardon in April, 2010.

To watch the complete video, see:
Sister of late civil rights icon sees her on a bank note for the first time (https://pickle.nine.com.au/2018/03/09/13/53/viola-desmond-sister-wanda-robson-sees-bank-note)

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Wayne Homren, Editor

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The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization promoting numismatic literature. See our web site at coinbooks.org.

To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, write to the Editor at this address: whomren@gmail.com

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