Jane Elliott to discuss prejudice

Jane Elliott, the adaptor of the Blue Eyes, Brown Eyes discrimination experiment, will present her lecture, “The Anatomy of Prejudice” on Tuesday, March 4 at 7 p.m. in Todd Auditorium.
 
This event is part of the Student Entertainment Board’s 2007-2008 lecture series and is free for WSU students, faculty, and staff. For the public, tickets will be sold at the door for $7.00.
 
Elliott received her teaching degree from the University of Northern Iowa. Chosen as one of Peter Jennings’ ABC-TV’s “Person of the Week.”
 
Elliott is the adaptor of the “Blue Eyes, Brown Eyes” discrimination experiment. The sensitizing exercise, in which participants are labeled inferior or superior based on the color of their eyes, began in a third-grade classroom in all-white, all-Christian Riceville, Iowa, immediately after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

It has been repeated with dramatic results with children and adults throughout the country. Those who have been through this exercise have said it is an emotionally significant and life-changing experience. This ground breaking exercise is the pinnacle of all other diversity programming in the country today.

Several television documentaries have covered her work, including ABC’s “The Eye of the Storm,” which won the Peabody Award; “A Class Divided,” which dealt with the long-term impact of the exercise and Ms. Elliott’s work with adults and was broadcast nationally on PBS’s Frontline series; “The Eye of the Beholder,” which also dealt with adults and their reactions to discrimination and was produced by Florida Public Television. Both the latter films received an Emmy Award.

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