Barbara Ball

Barbara Ball
Born
Barbara Bertha Ball

(1924-06-13)13 June 1924
Died13 March 2011(2011-03-13) (aged 86)
St. George's, Bermuda
NationalityBritish
Occupation(s)physician, trade union administrator, civil rights activist
Years active1949–2005
Known forchampioning self-determination and voting rights for black Bermudians

Barbara Ball MRCS, LRCP, OBE (13 June 1924 – 13 March 2011) was a Bermudian physician, politician and social activist. She was the first woman physician to practice in Bermuda and took both black and white patients, an unusual event in the 1950s. During the time that segregation was rigidly enforced, Ball actively ignored the social norms, actively fighting for the civil rights of black Bermudians. She served as a member of the Parliament of Bermuda and represented black workers through her work with the Bermuda Industrial Union. In 1963, at a United Nations meeting regarding colonialism, Ball brought the situation of black workers on the island to the table. In 2000, she was honoured as an officer of the Order of the British Empire.