Jane Elliott went from a 3rd grade school teacher in Riceville, Iowa to one of the world’s most recognized lecturers on race. The day after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. In April 1968, she changed her 3rd grade lesson plan to what she became known for - her ‘Blue eyes/Brown eyes” exercise. It exposes prejudice and bigotry for what it is - an irrational class system based upon purely arbitrary factors. She has since led this exercise in civic and corporate settings for many decades, highlighting the arbitrary and irrational basis of prejudice, an issue that Americans continue to grapple with more than five decades after she started. She’s a real firecracker with a huge heart and an unapologetic voice that’s on full display in this conversation!
Links to Jane’s work:
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Elliott
Original Blue-Eyed Brown-Eyed video: https://youtu.be/dLAi78hluFc
IG: https://www.instagram.com/janeelliottofficial
Twitter: https://twitter.com/blibrijane
To find more about Jeffrey’s work, go to: https://thecourageousmessenger.com/
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