Jane Elliott - The Teacher Who Stood Against Racism
Born: November 30, 1933, Riceville, Iowa, U.S.A.
Jane Elliott is an educator and activist known for her “Brown Eyes, Blue Eyes” exercise that teaches about racism and discrimination.
Elliot was deeply impacted by the death of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee. At the time, she was a third-grade teacher in Riceville, Iowa, a mostly white town. The night Dr. King was killed she heard people around her say racist things while watching the news. This made her angry and upset. She believed it was everyone’s job to stand up against racism. The next day, she decided to do something about it starting in her own classroom.
Before moving to Riceville, Elliott had taught in a few different towns. In Riceville, she was given a third-grade class of students who were considered “slow learners.” The town was quiet and mostly unaffected by the Civil Rights Movement that was sweeping through big cities. But Elliott knew racism was still a big problem, even if it wasn’t talked about much in her community. After Dr. King’s death, she remembered a Native American prayer: “Oh great spirit, keep me from ever judging a man until I’ve walked a mile in his moccasins.” She decided it was time to teach her students what those words really meant.
Elliott created a lesson called “Brown Eyes, Blue Eyes.” In this activity, she divided her students by eye color. On the first day, the brown-eyed children were told they were smarter, cleaner, and better than the blue-eyed children. They got extra privileges, like longer recess and access to the water fountain. The next day, the roles were reversed. The blue-eyed children were now “better,” and the brown-eyed children were treated poorly. After the lesson, the students talked about how it felt to be treated unfairly. Elliott noticed something interesting. When the blue-eyed kids became the “better” group on the second day, they were kinder to the brown-eyed kids, because they remembered how awful it felt the day before. After the lesson, Elliott had the students write essays about how discrimination feels. The essays were printed in the local newspaper, The Riceville Recorder.
Soon, the story spread across the country. The Associated Press picked it up, and Jane Elliott became a national name. She appeared on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, and ABC made a documentary called “The Eye of the Storm” about her and her class. While the media praised her work, many people in her own town were angry. Her family faced harsh treatment. Some people stopped talking to her, and her son was even bullied and beaten. But Elliott never gave up.
Her students said the lesson changed their lives. One student later said:
“This exercise becomes part of who you are. Unlike math or history, you cannot unlearn it. You carry it with you forever.”
Elliott’s lesson helped shift how people in the U.S. think and talk about racism. It also helped her students, many of whom had been labeled as failures, realize their own potential and feel proud of who they were.
Jane Elliott didn’t stop with her classroom. She took her “Brown Eyes, Blue Eyes” lesson around the world. She has used it in schools, colleges, companies, and even government offices. The activity is now used in diversity training and anti-bullying programs to help people treat each other with respect. Even today, Elliott continues her work. She says her goal is to make people uncomfortable when they make racist, sexist, or hateful remarks. She stands by a quote from Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel: “You must not tolerate the intolerable.”
Jane Elliott showed great courage by standing up for what she believed in, even when her community turned against her. Her lesson teaches a powerful truth: we must treat everyone with kindness and stand up against hate.
References:
Jane Elliot, janeelliott.com.
Lesson of a Lifetime, www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/lesson-of-a-lifetime-72754306/.
Keywords:
Civil Rights, Innovation, Justice, Courage, Humility, Freedom, Responsibility, Challenge Injustices, Make a Difference
Explore ARTEFFECT projects about this Unsung Hero:
Jane Elliott Artworks