Published May 05, 2025 • Last updated 1 hour ago • 4 minute readWanda Robson with writer Paul MacDougall in November 2018 celebrating Viola Desmond $10 bill at Cape Breton University. Photo by CAPE BRETON POST FILEThere’s a plaque and brass bust of woman in a sitting area on the first floor of Cape Breton University’s library. It was dedicated in November 2024 to Wanda Robson, who died in 2022, a woman who literally lived four lives in one, making it to the age of 95.In due course, Robson will be recognized as one of the most influential women in the Canadian civil rights movements for championing the story of her sister, Viola Desmond, who in recent years has got her recognition.THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY.Subscribe now to access this story and more:Unlimited access to the website and appExclusive access to premium content, newsletters and podcastsFull access to the e-Edition app, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment onEnjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalistsSupport local journalists and the next generation of journalistsSUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES.Subscribe or sign in to your account to continue your reading experience.Unlimited access to the website and appExclusive access to premium content, newsletters and podcastsFull access to the e-Edition app, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment onEnjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalistsSupport local journalists and the next generation of journalistsRegister to unlock more articles.Create an account or sign in to continue your reading experience.Access additional stories every monthShare your thoughts and join the conversation in our commenting communityGet email updates from your favourite authorsSign In or Create an AccountorArticle contentRead More ‘A national treasure’: Human rights advocate, community educator Wanda Robson dies at age 95 Sculpture of late civil rights activist Wanda Robson unveiled at Cape Breton University, student lounge named in her honour The story of Desmond, near legendary now, began in 1946 in the Roseland Theatre in New Glasgow, where she was removed by the police for sitting downstairs with the white audience instead of taking the balcony, where the theatre owner deemed Blacks should sit.Many years later, Desmond’s younger sister, Robson, lead the campaign to recognize how important her big sister’s stance was that night.STORY TOO IMPORTANTCBU professor emeritus Graham Reynolds, co-author of two books with Robson about her sister’s story, had no real intention of writing her biography, until her son, Gordon Neal, and husband of 51 years, Joe Robson, helped him realize her story was too important not to be shared.Wanda Robson had already told some of her story in her book, “Sister to Courage”, but much more could be told. It wasn’t a hard sell to convince Breton Books publisher Ron Caplan this was a book that needed making.Article contentReynolds has a very inviting style of writing. He doesn’t bog the reader down with minutiae; rather, he goes with the main themes and presents them in a manner any reader will feel comfortable with.WANDA’S EARLY LIFEThe story begins with Wanda’s parents in the early 1900s in Halifax.As a teenager, Gwendolyn Johnson met James Davis in Halifax. where she was visiting from her home in New Haven, Conn. After graduating from “finishing school” in Boston, she returned to Halifax and married Davis in 1908.They raised 11 children in what Reynolds calls a “conventional yet exceptional family.” Wanda was the youngest. Viola, 12 years older, would within a few years become a successful businesswoman with her own beauty salon on Gottingen Street in Halifax. The Life of Wanda Robson: Canada’s Advocate for Viola Desmond and Social Justice (Breton Books, 2025) by Graham Reynolds Photo by CONTRIBUTEDAfter graduating high school in 1943, Wanda found herself working in the Department of Fisheries Lab in Halifax. They advertised for a smart young man with an interest in science, but most young men were at war, and once interviewed, Wanda fit the bill.Article contentFIRST MARRIAGEIn 1947, Wanda met “a handsome and charismatic young Black baseball player” who played for a Brooklyn Dodgers farm team that trained in Halifax that summer.Milton (Bomber) Neal literally swept Wanda off her feet, marrying her and moving them Winthrop, Mass., to pursue baseball prospects. Three children later and living in near poverty conditions in the United States, the marriage was over.Reynolds sees Wanda’s marriage situation as one many families had.“The Black family in cities across America was in a state of crisis, and at the heart of this crisis was the uneasy relationship between Black men and women — a complex and controversial topic and one that, until recent years, was not openly discussed,” he wrote.RETURN TO NOVA SCOTIAThe return to Nova Scotia at the urging of family — including Viola, who was living in New York at the time — ended the second stage of Wanda Robson’s life.She quickly got rehired at the fisheries lab and eventually met a young man working there part time to help pay for his engineering degree studies.Article contentWanda was looking after her three boys, living in a house supplied by Dalhousie University on the stipulation she rent out rooms to a few students needing lodgings and working full-time.Wanda and Joe Robson eventually married and after working 23 years in the Fisheries lab, Wanda moved to North Sydney with Robson in 1973, when he was offered a teaching job at Memorial High School.Her third life chapter in Halifax, surrounded by family and friends in the Black community, was at a close and for approximately the next 50 years she was a Cape Bretoner.DESIRE TO GET A DEGREEIn the spring of 2000, with their five children educated and settled, and Joe and Wanda retired, she walked into Reynolds’ office at CBU asking about auditing a course of his on race relations in North America. She had a desire to get a bachelor of arts degree.That fall, she was in the classroom and in May 2004, at the age of 77, she walked across the stage with her degree and began relentlessly to champion Viola’s story.Article contentThe rest is literally history.Complete at 111 pages with 32 photographs covering all aspects of Wanda Robson’s remarkable life, Reynolds has written an excellent biography of a Canadian social justice champion. Available wherever Breton Books are sold locally or online.The book will officially be launched during a ceremony on Tuesday in the library at Cape Breton University.Paul MacDougall is a Cape Breton writer and lucky to have meet Wanda Robson on many occasions.——————————————————————————————————————BOOK INFORMATION:“The Life of Wanda Robson: Canada’s Advocate for Viola Desmond and Social Justice” (Breton Books, 2025) by Graham ReynoldsArticle content
PAUL MACDOUGALL: Wanda Robson, sister of Viola Desmond, lived four lives in one
