The Trailblazing Life of Viola Desmond

Key Selling Points

• This book celebrates Canada's civil-rights struggles, a chapter of history that often goes unmentioned.
• This book is co-authored by and uses rare firsthand interviews with Wanda Robson, Viola Desmond's youngest sister, as well as with civil-rights expert Dr. Graham Reynolds, professor of history and Viola Desmond Chair in Social Justice at Cape Breton University.
• This book goes beyond Viola's pivotal moment in the movie theater to tell the story of her childhood, her career as a teacher in a segregated school and her role as a pioneering entrepreneur in Black beauty culture.
• It will inspire readers aged 9 to 12 and show how one ordinary person can overcome obstacles and make a positive difference in the world.
• Viola's legacy is commemorated on the Canadian $10 bill. She's the first woman other than Queen Elizabeth II to appear alone on a bill in Canada.