Diane Dujon

      Long before I became a single parent, I was aware that I needed a college degree if I wanted to pay the rent. When I graduated from high school in 1964, a college degree was not an option for me. Martin Luther King was just opening the doors to college for Black youth. My friends and schoolmates, who went to college, were mostly athletes and male. My goal was to become a first-rate secretary.
      After several “steady” jobs at insurance, utility companies and schools, I learned that the labor market was changing. It became increasingly harder to earn a decent living as a secretary. At the same time, rents began a steady climb and I became unable to live within the budget of my income. I had learned in school that my living expenses (rent and utilities) should be a quarter of my monthly income, but for all my acquired skills, my income was not keeping up with the cost of living. I took several business and college courses in an effort to improve my chances of earning a decent living, but to no avail. As John Kenneth Galbraith said, “We need education, training and retraining.” I realized that nothing short of a college degree was going to improve my earning capacity.
      By the time I was a single parent, I was already enrolled at the University of Massachusetts/Boston and realized that I now needed to earn a “breadwinner’s wage.” I was responsible for taking care of my daughter Lisa as well as myself and this was difficult in an ever-changing labor market. I took my education very seriously because I knew it was my only hope for a bright future. I became politically active in college, using my experiences in life to keep my learning based on reality. I wanted to make a difference in the world. I knew that we could do more to eradicate poverty in the richest most powerful nation on earth. I studied the history of poverty issues in the United States and began to develop strategies to abolish poverty. I also researched the solutions that other societies used to address hunger and homelessness. I began organizing other welfare recipients on the campus to confront the state legislature’s policies as we advocated for better alternatives for survival. I became an ardent speaker on behalf of the poor, especially single mothers living on welfare benefits. Before I knew it, I had completed the requirements for my degree and was awarded the Dean’s Award for Distinguished Service.
      To my utter delight, a week before I graduated, I was offered a professional staff position at the college I attended. My job was to recruit, train and inspire students to use their learning to promote justice and develop strategies for fundamental social change to improve the world. The starting salary was more than twice as much as I had ever earned and I knew my future was finally financially secure.
      I continue to challenge the status quo as I fight for a more just society. As I often tell audiences, I am not protesting and fighting the system to raise hell; I am trying to lower heaven!

Photo Exhibit

A nationally touring exhibit of 50 framed, museum quality, color photographs coupled with narratives created by students who are welfare eligible, single parents changing their lives through the pathway of higher education.  The installation presents a unique view of poverty from insiders’ perspectives and reframes the cultural (de)valuations of poor single parents vis-à-vis family, work and higher education in the United States today. View the Gallery Guide.