February marks Black History Month in Canada, when we acknowledge and pay tribute to the complex history of struggle and perseverance that has marked the black Canadian experience.
One such story is of Calgarian Violet King. Born on October 18, 1929, to a father who worked on the railways and a seamstress mother, Ms. King grew up in the Hillhurst neighbourhood and graduated from Crescent Heights High.
When she was eighteen years old, Ms. King attended the University of Alberta obtaining a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1952 and Bachelor of Law degree in 1953. She commenced articles in Calgary with Edward J. McCormick, Q.C. She was the first black female lawyer to practice law in Canada after she was admitted to the Alberta Bar in 1954.
She practiced law in Calgary for a number of years before heading to Ottawa where she worked for the federal citizenship board for seven years. She moved to the United States and lived in New Jersey and Chicago where she worked on urban social planning programs for inner-city youths. After working for the YM/YWCA in Chicago for seven years, she became the first woman named to a management position with the US national executive of the organization.
Violet King was only fifty one when she passed away of cancer in 1982.
