N.S. civil rights icon Carrie Best speaks about racism at the Marshall Inquiry in 1988 - Action News
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Nova Scotia

N.S. civil rights icon Carrie Best speaks about racism at the Marshall Inquiry in 1988

Civil rights activist, author and broadcaster Carrie Best appeared before the Royal Commission on the Donald Marshall, Jr., Prosecution in 1988 and spoke about racism in the Nova Scotia justice system.

Best told the commission "I will die fighting injustice"

Carrie Best told the Marshall Inquiry that the system of racial injustice in Nova Scotia had to end (CBC Archive)

Civil rights activist Carrie Best was born in New Glasgow, N.S., in 1903, and died in 2001.

In 1946, she founded the Clarion, a newspaper designed to reach the black citizens of New Glasgow. It was also the first newspaper in Nova Scotia to be published by a black owner.

Best was also an author and broadcaster. In 1954 she began her own radio show,The Quiet Corner, which aired on CBC Radio out of Halifax. It was a program of poetry and music and lasted for 12 years.She was also awarded the Order of Canada for her lifelong work on civil rights and an honorary doctorate Halifax'sUniversity of Kings College in 1992.

On Nov. 25, 1988, she appearedbefore theRoyal Commission on the Donald Marshall, Jr., Prosecution and spoke of her mistrust of the justice system, callingfor"bringing this awful system of racism in Nova Scotia to an end."

Carrie Best speaks at the Marshall Inquiry

4 years ago
Duration 2:21
Civil rights activist, author, publisher and broadcaster, Carrie Best told the Marshall Inquiry that racial injustice in Nova Scotia had to end.

For suggestions on content to feature in CBC's online collection of African Nova Scotia archival material, please email ansarchives@cbc.ca

For more stories about the experiences of Black Canadians from anti-Black racism to success stories within the Black community check out Being Black in Canada, a CBC project Black Canadians can be proud of.You can read more stories here.

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