Rachel Elizabeth Johnson
A Welsh community activist, who was Wales’ first Black head teacher. Campbell later trained as a teacher, eventually becoming head teacher at Mount Stuart Primary School in Butetown, Cardiff. She put into practice innovative ideas on the education of children and was actively involved in the community.
6 November 1934
13 October 2017
Betty died at the age of 82, having been ill for several months
Her funeral service was held in St Mary’s Church in Bute Street on 26 October 2017
Her statue was erected in the plaza of Central Square, Cardiff on 29 September 2021
Tiger Bay (Butetown), Cardiff, Wales
Her mother was Welsh Barbadian and father from Jamaica.
1942 – Betty’s father is killed in World War II
1952 – her first child is born
1953 – marriage to Rupert Campbell
1960 – enrolled in Cardiff Teacher Training College
196 – First teaching job
197 – Becomes first Black Head Teacher in Wales and the UK
1980s – Board member of BBC Wales in the 1980s, and made an honorary fellow of Cardiff Metropolitan University
1991 – 1995 – Betty becomes a Butetown councillor on Cardiff City Council
1993 – the Paul Hamlyn Foundation Commission on Education publishes Learning to Succeed
1994 – Prince Charles attended the school’s annual St David’s Day eisteddfod.
1999 to 2004 – independent councillor for Butetown on Cardiff Council
1998 – as a member of the Commission for Racial Equality, invited to meet Nelson Mandela on his only visit to Wales
2003 – 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.
Her mother struggled financially after the death of Betty’s father, who died in military service during the Second World War in 1942. At school, Betty was top of her class. Born into a poor household in Butetown, she won a scholarship to the Lady Margaret High School for Girls in Cardiff and wanted to be a teacher from a young age. Betty attended a local school and loved reading Enid Blyton books about girls at boarding schools. She faced discouragement from one of her teachers who told her the problems for a working class Black girl would be insurmountable. This reduced her to tears, but it made her more determined to achieve her goals.
In 1960, when Campbell already had three children, she discovered that Cardiff Teacher Training College had started to enrol female students. Campbell applied and was one of only six female students to be admitted.
Campbell’s first teaching post was in Llanrumney. She soon returned to Butetown, getting a job at Mount Stuart Primary School, where she taught for 28 years. As a Black teacher, she experienced hostility from some parents. She said “They hadn’t seen a Black teacher before. It was as if you could do a job, but if you’re Black you weren’t quite as good.”
Campbell was inspired by a trip to the USA where she learned about anti-slavery activists like Harriet Tubman and the Civil Rights movement. When she became Wales’ first Black headteacher at Mount Stuart in the 1970s, she began teaching children about slavery, Black history and the system of apartheid which operated at the time in South Africa.
Speaking later in the Senedd, Campbell 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.” Campbell helped to create Black History Month and taught a series of workshops on the role of Butetown’s citizens and their countries of origin in the Second World War.
She served as an independent councillor for Butetown on Cardiff Council from 1999 to 2004. Prior to that, she had been a Butetown councillor on Cardiff City Council, from 1991 to 1995.
Under Campbell’s leadership, Mount Stuart School raised its profile across the United Kingdom, and became a template for multicultural education. Campbell became a member of the Home Office’s Race Advisory Committee and a member of the Commission for Racial Equality.
In 1994, Prince Charles attended the school’s annual St David’s Day eisteddfod. In 1998, as a member of the Commission for Racial Equality, she was invited to meet Nelson Mandela on his only visit to Wales.
She was invited to be part of the Paul Hamlyn Foundation Commission on Education, which published a number of research papers on education. In 1993, it published the book Learning to Succeed where practice examples from Mount Stuart Primary School were cited.
She was a board member of BBC Wales in the 1980s and was made an honorary fellow of Cardiff Metropolitan University. In 2003, she was awarded an MBE for services to education and community life. In 2015 she received a lifetime achievement award from Unison Cymru’s Black Members’ group, for her contribution to Black history and Welsh
Betty Johnson became pregnant at the age of 17, while she was doing her A levels. She left school in 1953 when she married Rupert Campbell, a fitter’s mate. Betty Campbell had four children, one of whom had special needs. She had 14 grandchildren and 17 great-grandchildren.
They hadn’t seen a Black teacher before. It was as if you could do a job, but if you’re Black you weren’t quite as good.
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.
Betty Campbell Makes History Again After Achievements Honoured With Statue – Penarth View
Betty Campbell 1934 – 2017 (amey.co.uk)
Who was Betty Campbell? – Interesting Facts
BBC Wales – Hidden Heroines – Betty Campbell
Wales honours Betty Campbell, country’s first Black headteacher | Wales | The Guardian
