Why ‘Blue Eyes, Brown Eyes’ Matters

Part two of a two-part conversation with Jane Elliott, world-renowned educator, lecturer, and diversity trainer.

(iStock)

By Michael Judge

Last week, in part one of my conversation with Jane Elliott, I explained how my grandfather, Dinsmore Brandmill, was principal of Elliott’s school when she decided, after the 1968 assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., that she would teach her all-white, all-Christian third-grade students a lesson about bigotry and discrimination. My grandfather, a veteran of World War II, didn’t try to stop her. In fact, he defended her decision to create and continue the exercise.

Now known as “Blue Eyes, Brown Eyes,” the exercise has been conducted in countless classrooms and diversity-training programs around the globe. A few weeks ago, as the school year was just beginning, I called Elliott at her home in rural Iowa. As with every time we’ve spoken, I was bowled over by her intellect, humor, and charisma.

I’m certain you will be too.

MJ: What in your upbringing or early adulthood made you sensitive to the injustices in the world, and perhaps molded the educator who felt com…