August 26, 2025
The woman did not officially receive her art degree until decades later.
A Black woman from Georgia, who was denied her art degree decades ago, will finally get her story told on screen.
In the 1970s, Gwendolyn Payton had plans to graduate from Mercer University with a Bachelor of Arts degree. However, her dream did not come to fruition for decades, with Payton believing the initial denial stemmed from racial discrimination.
Despite the disheartening journey, Payton never gave up on her academic ambitions. Through the documentary “The Faith of the Dreamer,” Payton’s story of resilience and determination will hit the big screen in her actor son’s directorial debut.
The director, Payton’s son, and “The Walking Dead” actor Khary Payton will showcase the protagonist’s story of receiving her overdue achievement. According to The Telegraph, Payton began her first year of classes at the Macon-based institution in 1968.
The Black woman had an affinity for art, wanting to take her passion to the next academic level. However, her visit to the arts department chair left her feeling discouraged and experiencing blatant discrimination.
“He made it clear that he didn’t think I could finish the program,” Payton told the Macon news outlet. “I don’t think that he wanted the school to go into an era of desegregation, and he told me that he did not think that I could graduate from Mercer in his department with a degree.”
She says the faculty member also called her a slur while doubting she had the intellectual chops to make it through the program. However, his words did not deter her, while Payton continued her mission to complete all the required coursework.
Payton met another roadblock as her department chair refused to let her participate in a mandatory senior art exhibit. He deemed her conceptual artwork, which featured works such as “Rebirth of Colored Folks,” “too controversial.” The art pieces showed an unabashed portrait of the plight of Black America.
“There were so many things against them, and I felt like they were just a target,” said the 74-year-old. “There were several conceptual art paintings—meaning that they were about how I thought about things that were going on in society.”
While Payton thought she had moved on, she felt her degree denial severely stunted her artistic career.
‘What was, what had brought that big impact on my art career — having been denied my degree at Mercer, having been denied that my conceptual artwork was real and reality for me, even if it may not have been reality for him,” she said.
She left the university with just her biology degree, unable to get past the racist persistence of the chair. Despite a dream deferred, the desire never left her. A chance meeting in 2019 with a current Mercer professor led to progress.
With the support of another faculty member, Payton finally put up a fight to receive her degree. Now, the documentary will detail her journey of perseverance and healing to finally obtain what has always been hers.
“Opposition to the truth may derail the dream, but the faith of the dreamer prevails,” she added.
The film premiered Aug. 24 at Theatre Macon as part of the Macon Film Festival. Additional screenings will follow.
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