Betty Campbell - Wales’ First Black Headteacher and Champion of Multiculturalism.

“She was a pioneer and a rule-breaker, an educator, community leader and race relations campaigner who met Nelson Mandela and rubbed shoulders with royalty – but always had time to call out the bingo numbers at a local event or sign a passport photo.”

Sources: BBC

Betty Campbell was told a working-class black girl could never succeed but she proved her doubters wrong in the most inspirational way. She became Wales' first black head-teacher and championed her nation's multicultural heritage throughout her life. No wonder Nelson Mandela sought her out on his only visit to Wales.

Born in Butetown, Betty was raised in the poverty of Tiger Bay. Her mother struggled to make ends meet after her father was killed in the Second World War.

Betty loved the escapism of reading – particularly the Enid Blyton tales of girls’ boarding schools. Winning a scholarship to Lady Margaret High School for Girls in Cardiff brought her dreams of an idyllic academic environment within reach. Here, she studied alongside mostly white, middle-class girls. But when Betty expressed the same ambitions as her classmates held, she was crushed.

Always near the top of the class, Betty told her head-teacher she too would like to teach but the response was: "Oh my dear, the problems would be insurmountable." Those words devastated her - but they also made her even more resilient and focused.

“I went back to my desk and I cried,” Campbell once recalled. “That was the first time I ever cried in school. But it made me more determined; I was going to be a teacher by hook or by crook.”

The statue is believed to be the first of a named, non-fictional woman in an outdoor public space in Wales

She overcame setbacks and racism to pursue her goal. In 1960 she was one of six female students at Cardiff Teacher Training College which was admitting women for the first time. Juggling a young family, she qualified as a teacher.

When a teaching job became available in Butetown, Betty felt it was made for her - but she still faced hostility from some parents. “They hadn’t seen a black teacher before,” she said. “It was as if you could do a job, but if you’re black you’re weren’t quite as good.”

Yet again she defied her detractors by becoming the first black head teacher in Wales.

She had made history. And now she wanted her pupils to know their history.

Inspired by a trip to America, where she learned the story of former slave and abolitionist Harriet Tubman and other civil rights activists, Betty put black culture on her Cardiff curriculum.

In a speech she later made at the National Assembly, she explained: “I was determined that I was going to become one of those people and enhance the black spirit, black culture as much as I could.”

Her pupils learned about the positive contribution to British society by people of colour. She also helped create Black History Month.

As she once explained: “I looked at black history, the Caribbean, Africa and slavery and the effects. There were people that said: ‘You should not be teaching that.’ Why not? It happened. Children should be made aware.”

Betty’s fame spread beyond Wales as her school became a template for multicultural education. And her influence on public life grew when she became a member of the Home Office’s race advisory committee and a member of the Commission for Racial Equality.

Betty Campbell, who was an only child, with parents Simon and Nora Johnson

Timeline

• 1934: Betty Campbell was born Rachel Elizabeth Johnson in Butetown, Cardiff.#
• 1960: When Campbell already had three children, she discovered that Cardiff Teacher Training College had started to enrol female students.
• 1998: As a member of the Commission for Racial Equality, she was invited to meet Nelson Mandela on his only visit to Wales.
• 2003: She was awarded an MBE for services to education and community life.
• 2015: She received a lifetime achievement award from Unison Cymru's Black Members' group, for her contribution to black history and Welsh education.
• 2017: Campbell died at the age of 82 on 13 October 2017, having been ill for several months.

Video - Betty Campbell - Bing video