Professor Spotlight: Jay Driskell

By Isabel Duarte

Dr. Jay Driskell has been teaching atHoodCollegefor two and a half years in the history department.

He is a historian who specializes in African American, Women’s, and labor history. Question: “What do you love about your job?”

Driskell: “There are these moments that I went through when I was an undergraduate when I put two and two together, these ‘aha’ moments… and I can see that happening. I think, for me,… there’s really nothing more thrilling in life than putting two and two together. Actually being able to figure something out using the powers of your brain, I think is really one of the most satisfying things you can do and I am really glad when I can see students do that, too”.

Question: How did you become a historian?

Driskell: “[It was an] incredibly roundabout route.” Due to various reasons, Driskell left home at fifteen and had to work all through high school. He graduated thirteenth in his class, and had a scholarship to write poetry at theUniversityofIllinoisinChicago.

Question: What did you take from your college experience?

Driskell: “I hated college with a passion when I got there. I could not see anything I had in common with any of these losers who grew up in the suburbs and had nice, little cozy lives. It was really unfair of me to judge them in that way, because they had not been through what I’d been through, and no one should actually go through all that if they can help it.”

Question: What is the demanding schedule of being a professor and a historian like?

Driskell: It’s worth it because [of] the ‘aha’ moments and [I] to use [my] brain for a living”.

Question: What advice do you have for your students?

Driskell: “If you’re not ready to be in college, take the time you need to get yourself ready… To be young and irresponsible is fine. Don’t pay twenty thousand dollars a year to do it. Come to college when you’re ready to work.”