Media & Journalism
Landmark
Carrie Best
1903 – 2001
Founded Nova Scotia's first Black-owned newspaper, and broke the Viola Desmond story
Landmark is level 2 of 4 in the Canada Hall of Fame: a first that opened a door, or the pre-eminent figure of their generation in this country. See how the levels work.
Why they are here
She started The Clarion in 1946 as a single sheet. It was the first Black-owned newspaper in Nova Scotia, and it was where the arrest of Viola Desmond — now on the ten-dollar note — was first reported.
Carrie Mae Best, née Prevoe, was born in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia, on 4 March 1903.
In 1946 she founded The Clarion, beginning as a single sheet covering her local community, and built it into the first Black-owned newspaper in the province. She used it to campaign against racial discrimination and for the rights of Black and Indigenous people — and it was in The Clarion that the arrest of Viola Desmond, for sitting in the whites-only section of the Roseland Theatre in New Glasgow, was first reported. She was made a Member of the Order of Canada in 1974 and an Officer in 1979, and died in 2001.
In 1946 she founded The Clarion, beginning as a single sheet covering her local community, and built it into the first Black-owned newspaper in the province. She used it to campaign against racial discrimination and for the rights of Black and Indigenous people — and it was in The Clarion that the arrest of Viola Desmond, for sitting in the whites-only section of the Roseland Theatre in New Glasgow, was first reported. She was made a Member of the Order of Canada in 1974 and an Officer in 1979, and died in 2001.
- Wikipedia — Carrie Best
- Wikipedia — The Clarion (Canadian newspaper)
- CBC News — Nova Scotia Archives wants you to search your attic for a historic Black newspaper
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