Branford Celebrates MLK With Creator Of 'Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes'

BRANFORD, CT — Internationally known teacher, lecturer, and anti-racism activist and diversity trainer, Jane Elliot’s “legendary and controversial” lesson in discrimination, the 'Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes’ experiment, will surely be a topic during the Martin Luther King, Jr. Heritage Committee of Branford’s celebration of Dr. King’s legacy in a Zoom event featuring Elliott herself.

Slated for the morning of Jan. 18, proceeds from the virtual MLK event will benefit the Branford Food Pantry, Fuel Assistance programs, and more.

Sponsored by St. Stephens AME Zion Church of Branford and Branford Rotary, the virtual event celebrates the life of Dr. King, support families in need, and brings the community together., organizers say.

Elliott’s work “exposes prejudice and bigotry for what it is, an irrational class system based upon purely arbitrary factors. And if you think this does not apply to you. . . you are in for a rude awakening,” her website mission reads.

According to her website, Elliott's controversial and startling Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes exercise "labels participants as inferior or superior based solely upon the color of their eyes and exposes them to the experience of being a minority. Everyone who is exposed to Jane Elliott's work, be it through a lecture, workshop, or video, is dramatically affected by it."

Watch Elliott’s Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes experiment as featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show in 1992:

“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.”

Tickets available via this link.