betty campbell became the first black headteacher at a welsh school in the 1970s. as a schoolgirl in cardiff she was told that being black and working class would prevent her from achieiving her ambition. today a monument honouring her was unveiled in cardiff. hywel griffith reports. two, one. go! history uncovered. betty campbell s life was, in itself, a lesson in how the power of education and determination can combine. as wales s first ever black head teacher, she worked in cardiff s deprived docklands, refusing to accept that race or gender should define a child s life. i went out to the headmistress and told her that i wanted to be a teacher. and she said, oh, get the idea out of your head right away. you d have insurmountable problems. and even if that tender age of 15, i knew that she meant if you re black, that s your lot. she was the first to make black
her ambition from a young age had been to take charge of a school, but she was told that being black and working class would prevent her from achieving her goal. 0ur correspondent hywell griffith reports. two, one. go! history uncovered. betty campbell s life was in itself a lesson in how the power of education and determination can combine. as wales s first ever black head teacher, she worked in cardiff s deprived docklands, refusing to accept that race or gender should define a child s life. i went out to the headmistress and told her that i wanted to be a teacher. and she said, oh, get the idea out of your head right away. you d have insurmountable problems. and even at that tender age of 15, i knew that she meant if you re black, that s your lot. she was the first to make black history part of the curriculum. the community looked to her to lead. if nan said she was going to do something, she absolutely was going to do it.
didn t want to have the conversation and didn t want to listen. they wanted gross and gonzalez to shut up and go away but they wouldn t. when you make a mother mad about her children it s hard to shut maker set up. so last month instead of punishing them to school decided to punish their children. columbus academy kicked their three daughters out of school, expelled them for what their mothers did. so challenge the regime and we will hurt your children. the school s headmistress, called melissa soderberg sent a letter to every parent in the school explaining why she was punishing the children for the sins of the parent. but she didn t write it alone. that letter was signed by the head of the board, someone you think might know better, a local developer and called jonathan capps. by daring to complain about racism in the columbus academy curriculum which is real, these
our daughter next year, i said i have to send this letter. it was not to change anybody s mind or education anyone on anti-racism training. it was to give people ammunition and cover to say, we need to speak up on this issue. tucker: what you did is reveal the administration of that school is so stupid. the headmistress could not respond to you. were you surprised how dumb they are? i was. well, no this is the way they played this. they doubled down on this. i am exco moon icated from the school. these private schools are there for the institution. they are not here for education