Women in Literature and Music

Carrie Best

Born Carrie Mae Prevoe on March 4, 1903, in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia. Her parents were James & Georgina Prevoe. Carrie and her brothers were encouraged by their parents to study the history of African-Canadians and have pride in their black heritage. The Prevoes lived in a time of great racial oppression and despite neither of her parents received a proper education, they instilled the importance of education in their children. Carrie was a bright child and began writing poetry at the age of 4 and sent opinionated letters to local newspapers when she was in her teens. She was deeply unsatisfied with the racial stereotypes in popular literature and culture and sought out the work of African-American poets and historians. Carrie looked up to her mother who had a "calm strength & dignity", who inspired her from an early age to not accept the restrictions on the black community. Career opportunities were limited for young women, especially non-white women. Carrie had considered going to nursing school but no Canadian school accepted black people and she wasn't interested in being a teacher at a segregated school in Nova Scotia

Carrie married railway porter, Albert Theophilius Best on June 24, 1925. Together they had 1 son, James Calbert. They later welcomed 4 foster children into their home: Berma, Emily, Sharon & Aubrey Marshall.

In December 1941, Carrie learned that several high school girls had been kicked out of the Roseland Theatre in New Glasgow. The black teens had tried to sit in a "whites only" section, Carrie was enraged to learn this. She argued adamantly against the theatre's racist policy, writing to the theatre manager, Norman Mason; Carrie also confronted Mason in person. Unfortunately, her demands fell on deaf ears, so she decided to take things up a notch. A few days later, the than 38 year old Carrie and her son, James, tried to buy tickets for the main floor of the theatre. The cashier gave them balcony tickets, which was reserved for black patrons. Carrie and her son left their tickets on the counter and walked into the auditorium. When the manager demanded for the pair to leave, they refused and the police were called. Wrenched away from her seat, Carrie and her son were charged with disturbing the peace and fined. This gave Carrie grounds to pursue legal action against the theatre.

Carrie filed a civil lawsuit that outlined racial discrimination, claiming damages for assault and breach of contract. The theatre manager, Norman Mason and the Roseland Theatre Ltd. claimed Carrie and her son were trespassers who hadn't bought tickets. The case which went to court on May 12, 1942 fell through; the theatre's right to exclude anyone won out over the glaring issue of racism. The judge ignored the bigamy and also ordered Carrie to pay the defendant's costs.

Despite losing her case, Carrie was not beat down. The persistence of racism and segregation motivated Carrie to start a newspaper, The Clarion with her son, James, in 1946. The Clarion was one of the first Nova Scotia newspapers owned and published by black Canadians. The newspaper reported on sports, news, social activities and other significant events; with a focus on improving race relations. In 1956, The Clarion was renamed The Negro Citizen and began circulation nationwide. The biggest story Carrie covered in The Clarion was the arrest and subsequent trial of Viola Desmond, who'd also been caught up in a similar dilemma at the Roseland Theatre, when she tried to buy a main floor ticket and been denied when she refused to leave the theatre, she was aggressively dragged out by police and imprisoned overnight. Viola chose to fight her conviction and found an ally in Carrie, who featured her story in The Clarion, asking for donations from readers to put towards Viola's court costs. Sadly, their efforts would be fruitless as all 5 Supreme Court judges turned down Viola's pleas.

While running her newspaper, Carrie took on another project. Dissatisified with radio programming she'd found, she wanted to create a program that was both relaxing and also motivating. So in 1952, she debuted the radio program, The Quiet Corner. On the program there was classical and Christian music segments, Carrie also did readings of American poets like Henry Wadsworth Longfellow & Paul Laurence Dunbar. The show continued broadcasting for the next 12 years.

In 1968, the Pictou Advocate hired Carrie to write a weekly column titled, Human Rights, which ran until 1975. She used her acute writing to advocate for Indigenous rights, improving living conditions on reserves and further civil rights for everyone. But the black community still faced tremendous inequality. For example, most black residents on Vale Road and it's side streets in New Glasgow, were overtaxed so they'd be forced to leave their properties, to make way for a new development project. Carrie launched a exhaustive investigation and published her findings in the Human Rights column; they also became the foundation of a report she submitted to the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission.

In 1975, Carrie founded the Kay Livingstone Visible Minority Women's Society, an organization that provides educational funding for black women. She published her autobiography, That Lonesome Road: The Autobiography of Carrie M. Best.

Her great contributions to human rights have been recognized all over Canada. On December 18, 1974, the governor general named her a Member of the Order of Canada. In 1976, she was promoted as Officer of the Order of Canada, in honor of her dedication to the, "underprivileged, regardless of race, colour, creed or sex, and particularly her own people of the black community." She was awarded 2 honorary doctor of laws from St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, Nova Scotia (1975) & University of King's College in Halifax (1992). The latter has a scholarship awarded to Indigenous & black students called, the Dr. Carrie Best Scholarship, named in her honor. Carrie Best received many other awards in her lifetime including: Queen Elizabeth Medal (1977), Black Professional Women's Group Award (1989) & Award of Excellence in Race Relations (1990). Carrie was also inducted into the Nova Scotia Black Wall of Fame, in 1980.

Carrie Best passed away in her sleep on July 24, 2001. In 2002, she was posthumously awarded the Order of Nova Scotia. Canada Post issued a stamp featuring her image in February 2011.

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