The Loss of Dr Barbara Ball
Bermuda has lost a legendary figure with the passing of Dr Barbara Ball last night [Mar.13] at age 86.
The pioneering trailblazer was the first female doctor to practice medicine in Bermuda, and was integral in the trade union and civil rights movements in the 1950s and 60s.
Dr. Ball was born in Bermuda on 13 June 1924. She was educated at the then all-white and for girls only Bermuda High School for Girls.
From there, she went on to Liverpool University in the UK and then Georgetown University in the USA where she earned her medical degree, qualifying as an Medical Practitioner in 1949.
Originally she practiced in the UK, later returning to her native Bermuda to open her medical practice in 1954.
In the then still heavily racially segregated Bermuda of that era, she quickly acquired a personal and medical reputation as a good doctor who delivered good medical treatment and who also, as a white doctor, took black patients and treated them with a care and respect that was uncommon for that time.
She became highly respected and popular in the black community of Bermuda as a liberal, and an anomaly in the 50’s and 60’s, as a white, female doctor who strongly and publically supported black Bermudians and their civil rights movement.
Speaking about Dr. Ball, the late Minister Nelson Bascome once said, “At a time when there was virtually no integration or recognition of black medical professionals, Dr. Ball was highly respected and became increasingly popular in the black community as word got around about this liberal, white, female doctor who portrayed none of the racist trappings that were evident amongst others in her privileged environment.”
“Dr. Ball withstood growing opposition from her own race who expressed displeasure with her association and work with black people and the Bermuda Industrial Union,” continued Minister Bascome.
“Her alignment with the proponents of universal adult suffrage resulted in Dr. Ball being asked to discontinue her partnership with the Bermuda Medical Associates. As a result, the Bishop at St. Theresa’s Catholic Cathedral on Cedar Avenue rented her a little apartment on Laffan Street where she continued her practice. It was there that her medical practice thrived.”
In the aftermath of the 1959 Theatre Boycott, she became even more publicly active in support of black Bermudians and their struggles. In 1962, Dr. Ball became the General Secretary of the Bermuda Industrial Union and despite the pressures of her labour career, she maintained a thriving medical practice, continuing to treat all races and ethnicities.
During the 1965 BIU/Belco Union recognition dispute, Dr Ball, a diminutive woman but an expert in Judo, gained underground renown for having ‘flipped’ police officers who had tried to arrest her.
Ex-MP Ottiwell Simmons, in the history of the BIU, recounts this anecdote of that time: “Doc was down on the green and as the cops came to arrest her, they were all laid out flat on their backs. With a twist of the body and the stamp of a foot, they demonstrated how she performed the feat, throwing at least six six-foot cops in the air.”
People saw an irony in this tale because Dr Ball had been contracted by the Bermuda Police Force to teach Bermuda policemen Judo and self-defense skills.
Dr. Ball and Mr. Simmons, former president of the Bermuda Industrial Union, worked closely together for more than thirty years, beginning in the late 1950s, when he was a young black militant and idealist, and she a young, white, medical school graduate and idealist.
Mr Simmons recently authored “Our Lady of Labour”, a book on Dr Ball. “I hope that the book will also serve as encouragment to Bermuda’s young people – particularly young trade unionists – to never give up the struggle,” said Mr Simmons. I’m looking forward to the book being read everyone: former and current union members, former and current government members of both sides, and also those in management that were engaged in the conflicts that Dr. Ball and others struggled so hard to achieve.”
In another story, Dr Ball served as the regular Sunday organist during church services. One Sunday, in the pre-1959 era, the all-white choir members refused to sing if she remained as organist, and Dr Ball stepped down as organist.
Dr. Ball served as a Progressive Labour Party [PLP] Opposition Member of Parliament for two successive terms in 1968 and 1972. She was also the first Member of Parliament to hold the position of Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee.
Dr Ball’s accomplishments spanned many genres.She was the first female doctor to practice medicine in Bermuda; the first Bermudian female black-belt judo expert; the first medical practitioner to be suspended from the publicly funded KEMH hospital; the first white person to hold an official post with the Bermuda Industrial Union; the first female to represent Bermuda’s workers before the United Nations; the first female official of the Bermuda Industrial Union to be elected to the House of Assembly and to date, the only female to appear before the Supreme Court on two occasions to answer charges relating to political and social activism.
Dr Ball is an iconic figure in Bermuda’s history. She was a woman before her times.
