Angry eye (video):

In 1968 Martin Luther King Jr. was killed. The next day Jane Elliott decided to create a captivating teaching guide for her third grade students in order to better help them understand the intensity of racial prejudice. With the tragedy of Martin Luther King Jr. so fresh in everyone’s minds Elliott wanted to use a method that would resonate with all her students. Elliott created an experiment based on whether the children had blue eyes or brown eyes. The purpose for this method was to teach the children what it felt like to be discriminated against based solely on something they had no control over. Elliott knew this would give the children only a small taste of what it’s like for people to be discriminated against based on their race.

Creator of experiment:

Jane Elliott

Elliott started this project when she was a third grade teacher. Since then she is known for being a world renowned teacher, lecturer, diversity trainer, and recipient of the National Health Association Award for Excellence in Education. Elliott has travelled the world for over 30 years educating people with her wisdom of diversity. Spreading the knowledge and giving people the tools to fix prejudice is Elliott’s goal.

History leading to Experiment:

Martin Luther King Jr. was a strong activist in African American civil rights. “One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination” (America Rhetoric). This excerpt is from the famous Martin Luther King Jr. “I Have a Dream” speech. This famous speech was held during the largest civil rights demonstration in history.

Then In December of 1955 King became the president of the famous Montgomery bus boycott after Rosa Park was arrested for violating Montgomery civil code. As he started his journey of being the president for the boycott group he stated, “"We have no alternative but to protest. For many years we have shown an amazing patience. We have sometimes given our white brothers the feeling that we liked the way we were being treated. But we come here tonight to be saved from that patience that makes us patient with anything less than freedom and justice" (Martin Luther King Jr. biography, bio.com).

For the next thirteen years King worked tirelessly to create civil freedom for all races. On April 4th 1968 Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated while standing on his hotel balcony. The day after Martin Luther’s assassination, Jane Elliott knew she needed to have a discussion about, what Martin Luther King Jr. had been fighting so long for, and do it in a meaningful and memorable way.

“Now, the senselessness, the irrationality, the brutality of race hatred cried out to be explained, understood, and committed irrevocably to memory in a lesson that would become a part of the life of each child she could reach with it” (, PBS) .

As the school day began students started filing into the classroom asking questions about the assassination while Elliott waited patiently to start her lesson. She began the lesson by asking her third grade students what they knew about Negroes. The students gave their answers such as “Negroes weren't as smart as white people. They weren't as clean. They fought a lot. Sometimes they rioted. They weren't as civilized. They smelled bad” (A class divided, PBS). Elliott moved to the next task which was for her students to give definitions of "prejudice," "discrimination," "race," "inferior."

Elliott then wanted to discuss what African Americans were not allowed to do based on their race. At this point, Elliott started shifting the discussion towards what the children would feel like if they were discriminated against. After further discussion Elliott began to think "that there had to be a way to do more as a teacher than simply tell children that racial prejudice is irrational, that racial discrimination is wrong. We've all been told those things. We know them, at least in the sense that we mouth them at appropriate times” (A class divided, PBS). Just then Elliott began asking her students questions "I don't think we really know what it would be like to be a black child, do you?" she asked her class. "I mean it would be hard to know, really, unless we actually experienced discrimination ourselves, wouldn't it?" Without real interest, the class agreed. "Well, would you like to find out" (A class divided, PBS) ?

With the students agreeing, Elliott then proposed an experiment to the class that would be found to be a staple in antidiscrimination teaching lessons. “"Suppose we divided the class into blue-eyed and brown-eyed people," she said. "Suppose that for the rest of today the blue-eyed people became the inferior group. Then, on Monday, we could reverse it so that the brown-eyed children were inferior. Wouldn't that give us a better understanding of what discrimination means" (A class divided, PBS)?

Reason for video:

Elliott used the same technique for the college students in the video as she did for her elementary students. She found this method to have great success, being that it gave the students a first-hand experience of being discriminated against. Elliott wanted to spread awareness of diversity, prejudice and their lasting effects. Elliott wanted people all over the world to recognize that being ignorant of racism is just as much poison as being racist. “White people’s number one freedom in the of America is the freedom to be totally ignorant about those who are other than white. We don’t have to learn about those who are other than white. And our number two freedom is the freedom to deny that we’re ignorant” (The angry eye).

References:

^ "American Rhetoric: Martin Luther King, Jr. - I Have a Dream." American Rhetoric: Martin Luther King, Jr. - I Have a Dream. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Dec. 2012.

^ "The Angry Eye" | Part 1 | Brown Eye-Blue Eye Experiment. Perf. Jane Elliott. Youtube.com. N.p., 12 Mar. 2011. Web. 4 Dec. 2012.

^ "The Angry Eye with Jane Elliott." Training ABC. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 Dec. 2012.

^ A Class Divided. Dir. William Peters and Charlie Cobb. Perf. Jane Elliott. Frontline. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 Dec. 2012.

^ "A Class Divided." PBS. PBS, Jan. 2003. Web. 04 Dec. 2012.

^ "Martin Luther King Jr. Biography." Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, n.d. Web. 09 Dec. 2012.

^ "Martin Luther King Jr. - Biography". Nobelprize.org. 10 Dec 2012 http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1964/king-bio.html

^ Neish, Gillian. "Guide to the Angry Eye." N.p., n.d. Web. 4 Dec. 2012.