More than 70 years after, Viola Desmond civil right activist becomes the first black person to appear on a Canadian banknote

The bill will be in circulation by the end of the year, the CNN reports.

On November 8, 1946, a then 32-year-old Viola Desmond had refused to give up a seat meant for white people at the cinema and was prosecuted for trying to defraud the provincial government of 1 cent, ostensibly the difference in price between the cost of the balcony reserved for blacks and the main hall for the whites. She, therefore, got slapped with a tax evasion charge.

Desmond was convicted and fined $26.00 but later appealed the decision. The case got to the Nova Scotia Supreme Court – and failed. However, it proved a catalyst for civil right movement among the blacks in Canada and led to desegregation of workplaces in the Nova Scotia province, according to the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. Desmond died in 1965 in New York at the age of 50.

Fast forward to today’s Canada, specifically to  the unveiling of the currency on International Women’s Day, Canadian finance minister, Bill Morneau says the event “paved the way for a broader understanding of human rights across our country.”

It is truly a historic moment, a unique move as this makes it the first time a black person will be seen on a Canada’s currency note and definitely, the first black woman, and the first woman other than a royal, to appear alone on a Canadian currency.

For more on the report, visit the CNN website