Growing up in rural South Wales, Mary Smith would often feel the glare of other children and wonder why they were shouting names at her.
Now a grandmother aged 77, she fights back tears as she recalls: “I’d go into the pantry at home and get some bleach then wipe my face with it to try to change the colour of my skin.”
Back in 1945, Mary was one of an estimated 2,000 UK babies born to African American GIs stationed here in the Second World War.
