Statue of Wales' first black headteacher erected in Cardiff
Betty Campbell MBE was chosen for the memorial after votes from the Welsh public
A statue of Wales' first black headteacher, Betty Campbell MBE, has been built in Cardiff's Central Square.
Mrs Campbell, who passed in 2017 aged 82, is thought to be the first non-fictionalized woman to receive an outdoor statute in the country.
She helped create Black History Month, taught her students about slavery and black history and was a pioneer in championing equality.
Campbell was chosen to receive the bronze statue memorial after getting the most votes from the Welsh public out of five shortlisted names in the country's Monumental Welsh Women campaign.
Born in Butetown in 1934, one of Cardiff's most multi-cultural areas, she was told that as a working-class black girl she would never achieve her dream of becoming a teacher.
Her work teaching about black history during her time as headteacher of Mount Stuart Primary School came to the attention of Nelson Mandela, who went to visit her in Wales in 1998.
in 2003, Campbell was given an MBE for her service to education and community, while her statue marks the first of five sculptures honouring monumental Welsh Women.
Over the next five years, statues commemorating suffragette Margaret Haig Thomas, known as Lady Rhondda, TV writer Elaine Morgan, Elizabeth Andrews, the first woman organiser of the Labour Party in Wales and poet Sarah Jane Rees, known as Cranogwen, will be unveiled.
Betty Campbell's daughter, Elaine Clarke, expressed her pride: "I feel very emotional, but really proud that it's my mum who is going to be the first statue in Wales of a woman.
If my mum, bless her, was here she'd be delighted. It's an unusual sculpture, and my mum was a very unusual woman so I think it's very fitting."
Helen Molyneux, founder of Monumental Welsh Women said: "Betty's impact during her life was incredible, but, as with so many women throughout history, likely to be forgotten or overlooked by future generations unless something was done to bring her to people's attention.
The monument created by Eve Shepherd will certainly achieve that. It is a truly iconic, beautiful piece that will attract the world's attention to Cardiff."