Finding Viola: the untrue, true story of a groundbreaking female African Nova Scotian entrepreneur

Abstract

Viola Desmond is now considered a forerunner in the civil rights movement in Canada. Lesser known is her role as a groundbreaking and successful African Nova Scotian entrepreneur. In this paper, the author pursues two objectives: (1) elevate the entrepreneurial accomplishments and lessons of Viola Desmond, and (2) explore a unique feminist approach to critical historiography, which fuses prowoman polemical writing, with fictocritical strategies and autoethnography. The research question guiding this study is: How can the application of a novel feminist approach help reveal an overlooked historical female figure who has been marginalized by a web of interlocking discourses? The paper makes three related contributions: (1) achieving recognition for Viola Desmond as an overlooked contributor to our understanding of female leadership in black entrepreneur; (2) promoting an understanding of her lost lessons and accomplishments; and (3) providing a plausible explanation for why Viola Desmond was omitted from the conceptualization of the field.