Wales’ 12th Purple Plaque was unveiled in March 2023 to mark the remarkable life of Butetown, Cardiff singer and black rights activist, Patti Flynn. She is the first black woman to receive one of our prestigious Purple Plaques.
Alongside her work as a well-known Jazz Singer and entertainer (she was a contemporary of Shirley Bassey and also from ‘Tiger Bay’), Patti also campaigned for 26 years to secure a memorial for black soldiers in Cardiff (here’s a link to her 26-year campaign).
The plaque for Patti was unveiled inside the Wales Millennium Centre on March 24 with family and friends present, along with political supporters including the Welsh Government’s Social Justice Minister, Jane Hutt, and the First Minister – both paid tribute to her musicality, personality and tireless campaigning.
In 2017, Patti was honoured as one of the founding members of the Black History Month movement in Wales and in 2019 was given an Ethnic Minority Welsh Women’s Lifetime Achievement Award.
Cafodd 12fed Plac Porffor Cymru ei ddadorchuddio ym mis Mawrth 2023 i nodi bywyd nodedig Patti Flynn, y gantores a’r ymgyrchydd hawliau pobl ddu o Drebiwt, Caerdydd. Hi yw’r fenyw ddu gyntaf i dderbyn un o’n Placiau Porffor arbennig.
Ochr yn ochr â’i gwaith fel cantores Jazz a diddanydd adnabyddus (roedd hi’n cyfoesi gyda Shirley Bassey a oedd hefyd o ‘Tiger Bay’), bu Patti hefyd yn ymgyrchu am 26 mlynedd i sicrhau cofeb yng Nghaerdydd i filwyr du (dyma ddolen i gael gwybod mwy am ei hymgyrch o 26 mlynedd).
Dadorchuddiwyd y plac i Patti y tu mewn i Ganolfan Mileniwm Cymru ar 24 Mawrth gyda theulu a ffrindiau yn bresennol, ynghyd â chefnogwyr gwleidyddol gan gynnwys Gweinidog Cyfiawnder Cymdeithasol Llywodraeth Cymru, Jane Hutt, a Phrif Weinidog Cymru. Fe dalodd y ddau deyrnged i’w dawn gerddorol, ei phersonoliaeth a’i hymgyrchu diflino.
Yn 2017, cafodd Patti ei hanrhydeddu fel un o sefydlwyr mudiad Mis Hanes Pobl Ddu yng Nghymru ac yn 2019 derbyniodd wobr Llwyddiant Oes Merched Cymru o Leiafrifoedd Ethnig.