Jane Elliott's "Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes" Anti-Racism Exercise
Project LEARN Category
L- Listen
E- Educate
Intended Audience(s)
Theme/Focus
Racism
Activism
Video Details
Creator: OWN
Release Date: June 5, 2020
Running Time: 32:53
Video Synopsis
In this 1992 Oprah Show episode, award-winning anti-racism activist and educator Jane Elliott taught the audience a tough lesson about racism by demonstrating just how easy it is to learn prejudice. Watch as the audience, totally unaware that an exercise is underway, gets separated into two groups based on the color of their eyes. The blue-eyes group was discriminated against while the people with brown eyes were treated with respect. Jane says she first started this exercise in her third grade class back in 1968, the day after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.