The Nova Scotia into which Carrie Best (née Prevoe) and Viola Desmond (née Davis) were born was a society with engrained prejudices about people of colour. There were restrictions on where Blacks could live or work and where they could get their…

The building currently home to the Truro branch of the Colchester East Hants Public Library was originally a teacher training school – the Provincial Normal School, which later changed its name to the Provincial Normal College (1909) and then the…

In September of 1940, Anne-Marie Belliveau, a young woman from Belliveau's Cove, Digby County, was attending the convent school in Meteghan. One night on her way to bed, she began to cough up blood. "I went and told the nun right away," she…

Florence (Flora) Henry (1853-1918) came to Oyster Pond in the early 1870s to teach school. She married John Duncan Mitchell in 1875, had two children, Roxanna and William, and was widowed in 1885 at the age of 32. In 1891, Flora started a general…

Maud Lewis (1903-1970) is surely one of the only Nova Scotia folk artists who has been the subject of a Hollywood movie (Maudie, the 2016 film starring Sally Hawkins and Ethan Hawke). In recent years, Maud's life and art have also been explored…

Comfort and care. Those are the words linked to the thousands of quilts made by women volunteers during the Second World War. Of all the services that women provided for wartime relief, perhaps the making of quilts represented the most intimate…

There are more than a few Nova Scotians who do not make headlines, yet still make important contributions. (Mary) Ellen Robinson (1927-2012) is a wonderful example. In countless, unpublicized ways, this Mi'kmaw Elder lived a life filled with…

Rita Joe's childhood was about as hard as it could be, and her life as an adult was rarely easy. Yet hardships and suffering never broke her spirit. Rita always sought to overcome what stood in her way by living with kindness, strength and…

The Second World War was a terrifying time for Jews throughout the world. It would take the end of the war and liberating death camps for people to realize the full extent to which Jews were persecuted under the Nazi regime. Canada was not immune to…

Aileen Aletha Meagher (1910-1987) exemplifies versatility. She ventured down various paths in her life and stood out in each one. Aileen first came to prominence at track and field. At the time, especially at the Halifax convent school she…