{{Short description|Canadian journalist, social activist (1903–2001)}} {{Use Canadian English|date=December 2021}} {{Use mdy dates|date=February 2022}} {{Infobox person | name = Carrie Best Prevoe | honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=CAN|OC|ONS|size=100%}} | image = | alt = | caption = | birth_name = Carrie Mae Prevoe | birth_date = {{Birth date|1903|03|04}} | birth_place = New Glasgow, Nova Scotia, Canada | death_date = {{Death date and age|2001|07|24|1903|03|04}} | death_place = New Glasgow, Nova Scotia, Canada | other_names = | known_for = First black owner and publisher of a Nova Scotia newspaper | occupation = {{hlist|Journalist|social activist}} | awards = {{plainlist| * Order of Canada * Order of Nova Scotia }} | spouse = {{marriage|Albert T. Best|1925}} | children = James Calbert Best }}
'''Carrie Mae Best''' {{post-nominals|country=CAN|OC|ONS}} (nee '''Prevoe'''; March 4, 1903 – July 24, 2001) was a Canadian journalist and social activist.
== Biography == Carrie was born in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia. She was the daughter of James Prevoe and Georgina Prevoe. In 1925, she married Albert T. Best. They had one son, named James Calbert Best in 1926. They later adopted four foster children: Berma, Emily, Sharon and Aubery Marshall .<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/carrie-best|title=Carrie Best {{!}} The Canadian Encyclopedia|website=www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca|access-date=February 14, 2020}}</ref>
In 1943, she confronted the racial segregation of the Roseland Theatre in New Glasgow. She purchased two tickets for the downstairs seating of the theatre and attempted to watch a film with her son James Calbert Best. Both were arrested and fought the charges in an attempt to challenge the legal justification of the theatre's segregation. Their case was unsuccessful and they had to pay damages to Roseland's owners. However, the experience helped motivate Carrie Best to found ''The Clarion'' in 1946, the first black-owned and published Nova Scotia newspaper. It became an important voice in exposing racism and exploring the lives of Black Nova Scotians.<ref>''Mainstreet'', CBC Radio Halifax, January 19, 2015</ref> In the first edition of ''The Clarion'', she broke the story of Viola Desmond who also challenged racial segregation at the Roseland Theatre and whose story became a milestone human rights case in Canada.<ref>{{Cite web|title=carrie best {{!}} pictou regional library {{!}} clarion years|url=http://www.parl.ns.ca/carriebest/clarionyears.html|access-date=May 27, 2021|website=www.parl.ns.ca}}</ref> In 1952, Carrie Best started a radio show, ''The Quiet Corner'', which was aired for 12 years. From 1968 to 1975, she was a columnist for ''The Pictou Advocate'', a newspaper based in Pictou, Nova Scotia.
Her son James Calbert Best, who helped found ''The Clarion'', became a union activist, senior public servant and high commissioner to Trinidad and Tobago.
In 1977, she published the autobiography ''That Lonesome Road''.
In 1974, she was made a Member of the Order of Canada, "in recognition of her zealous work as writer and broadcaster."<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Mrs. Carrie Best |url=https://www.gg.ca/en/honours/recipients/146-14952 |access-date=2025-02-06 |website=The Governor General of Canada |language=en}}</ref> She was then promoted to Officer on December 18, 1979.<ref name=":0" /> She posthumously was awarded the Order of Nova Scotia in 2002.<ref>{{cite web|title=Order of Nova Scotia Recipients—2002 |url=http://www.gov.ns.ca/prot/2002recipients.htm |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080720163426/http://www.gov.ns.ca/prot/2002recipients.htm |archivedate=July 20, 2008 }}</ref> She is commemorated on a postage stamp issued by Canada Post on February 1, 2011. Best died at the age of 98 of natural causes in New Glasgow.<ref>{{cite web |title=Carrie Best and Fergie Jenkins |url=http://www.canadapost.ca/cpo/mc/personal/collecting/stamps/2011/2011_jan_carrie_fergie.jsf |publisher=Canada Post |accessdate=January 30, 2011 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110205042537/http://www.canadapost.ca/cpo/mc/personal/collecting/stamps/2011/2011_jan_carrie_fergie.jsf |archivedate=February 5, 2011 }}</ref> She was featured in a Google Doodle on December 17, 2021.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/carrie-best-google-doodle-1.6289479|title=N.S. journalist, activist Carrie Best honoured in Google Doodle|publisher=CBC News|date=December 17, 2021|access-date=December 22, 2021}}</ref>
== See also == * Nova Scotia Heritage Day * Black Nova Scotians
== References == {{Reflist}}
== External links == * [https://archive.today/20070930055645/http://www.gg.ca/honours/search-recherche/honours-desc.asp?lang=e&TypeID=orc&id=138 Order of Canada Citation] * [http://www.parl.ns.ca/carriebest/index.htm Carrie Best - A Digital Archive]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Best, Carrie}} Category:1903 births Category:2001 deaths Category:Black Canadian non-fiction writers Category:Black Nova Scotians Category:Canadian women journalists Category:Journalists from Nova Scotia Category:Members of the Order of Nova Scotia Category:Officers of the Order of Canada Category:People from New Glasgow, Nova Scotia Category:Canadian women non-fiction writers Category:Canadian autobiographers Category:Black Canadian women writers Category:Writers from Nova Scotia Category:Canadian women autobiographers Category:Black Canadian journalists