A Class Divided: the daring experiment of teacher Jane Elliot
Following the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., teacher Jane Elliot knew her all-white, all-Christian third grade class hungered to understand the significance of Dr. King’s mission. Living in the homogenous farming community of Riceville, Iowa, many of Ms. Elliott’s students harbored subtle and not-so-subtle prejudices despite the fact that many of them had never even seen a black man before. So where did these prejudices come from? And, more importantly, how could she make them understand how arbitrary and unfair they were? An Emmy Award-winning video, Eye of the Storm, chronicled her now famous exercise where she divides her class based upon the color of their eyes and bestows upon one group privileges and on the other group impediments.
Fifteen years later, the filmmakers of PBS, with producer William Peters, produced the follow-up video, A Class Divided, for Frontline. It brings together Elliot’s students, now adults, to talk at length about the impact the discrimination activity had on their thinking and lives.
Not In Our Town Campaign
The Working Group
P.O. Box 70232
Oakland, CA 94610-0326
phone: 510- 268-9675 fax 510-268-3606
e-mail: niot@theworkinggroup.org
website: http://www.pbs.org/niot
The Color of Fear
The Color of Fear is an insightful, groundbreaking film about the state of race relations in America as seen through the eyes of eight North American men of Asian, European, Latino and African descent. In a series of intelligent, emotional and dramatic confrontations the men reveal the pain and scars that racism has caused them. What emerges is a deeper sense of understanding and trust. This is the dialogue most of us fear, but hope will happen sometime in our lifetime. (running time: 90 minutes)
TRUE COLORS (cc)
In this startling expose, ABC News Prime Time Live anchor, Diane Sawyer explores skin color prejudice in America with the help of two friends virtually identical in all respects but one– John is white, Glen is black. Together they take part in a series of hidden camera experiments exploring people’s reactions to each in a variety of situations.Acting within the scenario of moving to a new town, Prime Time Live, undercover, follows John and Glen separately as they each try to rent an apartment, respond to job listings, purchase a car, and conduct everyday activities such as shopping. The responses in both the white and racially mixed communities are shocking and consistent. In every instance, John is welcomed into the community while Glen is discouraged by high prices, long waits, and unfriendly salespeople.Diane Sawyer concludes TRUE COLORS with a discussion with John and Glen about the outcome of these experiments and their experiences with discrimination in daily life.
CLOSED CAPTIONED
A corVISION Media Release Produced by ABC News
Length: 19 minutes