Wales Raises Statue To Pioneering Black School Leader Betty Campbell

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.

- Steven Morris

In bright sunshine yesterday, a choir from the school Betty Campbell led with distinction sang her favourite song, Something Inside So Strong , as a huge bronze monument to her was unveiled in a Cardiffcity centre square.

Campbell was the first black woman to become a headteacher in Wales . Under her leadership, Mount Stuart primary in Butetown, Cardiff, became a model for best practice in equality and multicultural education throughout the UK.

But the joyful unveiling was also important because the monument is the first statue of a real, named woman set up in an open-air public space in Wales.