Heritage Calgary Plaque Recognizes Residence of Violet King
Violet King was the First Black Woman to Become a Lawyer in Canada
On February 25, 2022, Heritage Calgary with the UCalgary Black Law Students’ Association presented a heritage plaque recognizing the King Residence to homeowner Dr. Angela Pucci. The residence is nationally significant as the home of the King family, including siblings Violet King and Theodore King, who are recognized for their work to advance racial equality in Alberta and are a significant part of Alberta’s civil rights history.
The King family were early Black settlers in central Alberta. John & Stella King immigrated to Keystone, Alberta in the early 1910s, and moved to Calgary in the 1920s. They purchased the property at 518 7 AV NW in 1939 and raised 4 children there.
Violet King (b. 1929) grew up in this home in the working-class community of Sunnyside. She attended Crescent Heights High School and went on to become the first Black Canadian to obtain a law degree in Alberta, the first Black person admitted to the Alberta Bar, as well as the first Black woman to become a lawyer in Canada in 1954.
Graduation photo of Violet King. Credit: Dolly Johnson. Used with permission of the Breton and District Historical Museum, Breton AB.
“I learned of the remarkable Violet King during last year’s Black History month and quickly became enthralled with her story,” said Senait Yohannes, Vice President of Administration with the Black Law Students’ Association. “People balked at the idea that Violet wanted to pursue a career in law, and despite blatant racial and gender discrimination of the time, she went on to do just that.”
Violet King’s accomplishment made headlines as “a milestone in Canadian history.” In 1963 she moved to New Jersey where she became the first woman appointed to an executive position within the YMCA in the US. Throughout her life, Violet King was an advocate and inspiration, particularly for women and racialized people.
Violet’s older brother Theodore ‘Ted’ Stanley King, born in 1925, was also an accomplished civil rights activist. In 1961, as the President of the Alberta Association for the Advancement of Colored People (AAACP), Ted launched a legal challenge against a Calgary motel whose owner utilized a loophole in the Innkeeper’s Act to deny accommodations to Black patrons. The case made it to the Alberta Supreme Court and though unsuccessful, Ted’s tenacity and the publicity of his case ensured Black people could no longer be refused lodging due to the colour of their skin in Alberta.
Originally built in 1912, the King Residence also has symbolic heritage value as an early and typical Edwardian-era residence, which was representative of the historic working-class demographic of the community of Sunnyside. “From the beginning, Sunnyside was a family-oriented neighborhood with a small-town atmosphere,” said Josh Traptow, CEO of Heritage Calgary. “In those days, most of Sunnyside’s population was employed by the CPR. John King worked as a Sleeping Car Porter with the CPR for 35 years, one of the few occupations available to Black Canadian men during that time.”
The Sunnyside home was owned by the King family until a year after Stella’s death in 1974 and was purchased by Dr. Angela Pucci in 2009. “As a mother raising two daughters in this home, the history and accomplishments of Violet King create both teachable moments and perspective, and give us a feeling of overall gratitude,” she said. The home was added to the Inventory of Evaluated Historic Resources by Heritage Calgary in April of 2021.
The Sunnyside home of Violet King with Josh Traptow, CEO of Heritage Calgary; Councillor Terry Wong; homeowner Dr. Angela Pucci and her two daughters; Dr. Malinda Smith, Vice Provost of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion at the University of Calgary; Lorna Cordeiro with Hillhurst Sunnyside Community Association; and Black Law Students’ Association members Chyna Brown, Keshia Holloman-Dawson, David Isilebo, and Mirabelle Harris-Eze.