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Brown Eyes / Blue Eyes

A Jane Elliott Experiment

The purpose of this paper is to show how diversity and discrimination among cultural classes is still prevalent in society today. During the 1960’s when racism, sexism, and social class threatened to keep America separated, based on how the wrong “type” of person can pervert what is determined to be the true and necessary relationship between state and cultural refinement and enlightenment. This exercise will prove how discrimination is a learned behavior that continues to cause divide among cultural classes to date. Inspired by the death of a renowned civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who had recently been murdered and named “Hero of the Month” by Ms. Jane Elliott, a third and fourth grade teacher in Riceville, Iowa faced the challenge of answering questions to a very impressionable class of curious youngsters regarding the meaning of racial equality.



Brown Eyes/Blue Eyes was an experiment orchestrated and preformed by Ms. Elliott on her class of third graders, well over 30 years ago, that would place them in different societal class and exposed them to the shocking variances of inferiority and superiority. The experiment was based solely upon the genetic make up of eye color and how it effects and influences our views of different cultural classes of which we have no control. The idea to perform this exercise was derived by Adolf Hitler during the time of Holocaust, which was used as a tool to for separatism.

Ms. Elliott struggled to explain to her group of third & fourth graders (most of whom had never really been exposed to a black person in real life before) the character of who Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was at that time, what he represented and why his death was an unfortunate lost to a community of a different cultural class. She came up with a test that would teach her students the meaning of racial equality. Although they were eager to learn they still struggled with understanding what it meant to be considered inferior and superior to one group of people. Her plan was to divide the students into social classes, based upon the genetic make of eye color, which is something no one has any control over, here-in lies the experiment brown-eyes verses blue-eyes.

Dividing the class into two groups, blue eyes where considered smarter than brown-eyes and more likely to succeed. They were treated better and given additional privileges that where certainly un-approving to the brown-eyed group. They were not to socialize with brown-eyed students, nor talk with them during class time or recess. She also made it a point to praise the blue-eyed children to ensure this would boost their self-esteem, confidence and learning ability. Brown-eyed children had been given collars to be worn around their necks, they where not allowed special privileges and told they weren’t as smart as the blue-eyed group. They were considered stupid, not allowed to play or speak unless spoken too, asked to separate from friends in the blue-eyed group and addressed in different voice tones. She also made it a point to speak negatively to the browns; this would most likely reduce subconsciously self-esteem and self-confidence.

Jane was amazed at how quickly the transformation had set in with her students. Although she did not instruct them to treat anyone differently, the superior group (blue-eyed) became almost immediately more aggressive, arrogant and bossy. They absorbed and learned better, they improved in their grades and where eager to assist and take part in classroom activities. Where the brown-eyed children stumbled over simple questions and began taking a back-seat in the area’s most of them were shining stars. Their grades began to decline and they shied away from classroom participation.

After a few days of observation, it was quite surprising to Ms. Elliott how quickly separatism and discrimination had set in amongst her classroom, she explained to her students that she has made a mistake; brown-eyed children where the more dominant class of people and in-fact they where smarter than blue eyes, so instantly the browns where on top and the blues where on bottom. The blue-eyed children where made to wear the identity collar. They now smiled and participated less in the classroom and the browns now shined. Their ability to learn and absorb daily lessons decreased. Children began to fight amongst one another, all because they were told the genetic make up of their eye color, which is something totally out of our control made them smarter than the another class of people.

In recent years, she conducted the same experiment on a group of adult volunteers and found that the results of feeling inferior to a different cultural class of people proved, that this modern day society is still practicing separatism, racism, and sexism on a different scale. Everyday people of various social classes and cultural backgrounds where asked to volunteer in the exercise and participate in the study of brown-eyes/blue eyes to show how discrimination is absorbed so easily by the oppressor and the oppressed. Blue-eyed persons, which where most likely to be white and least likely to be use to degrading behavior, where given collars to wear around their necks, this would quickly identify who they where and easily placed them in the stereotypical group of least likely to succeed, stupid and untrustworthy, just like the children in her classroom many years ago. However, her strategy was different. She didn’t inform them that they would be the inferior group. They immediately were introduced to a conforming state as they signed up for the exercise and were quickly directed to wait in a room no bigger than a large bathroom where the process of subconscious breakdown begins.

Their set of rules where harsher which produced the mind set of conforming to being the oppressed and their level of comfort was stripped away. As they gathered in the very small unaccommodating room (unbeknownst to them) kept at an uncomfortable temperature that offered only 3 sitting chairs for a group of 17 people. They were not allowed to sing, nor dismiss themselves from the room or talk loudly. It was clear restlessness and discomfort where beginning to kick in. Natural desire for relief was not granted. Orders where barked and the role of dominance and watch tower was played out by two African-American security personnel (brown-eyes) one woman, one male. This gave the illusion of one race cultural over another in a position of authority and superiority.

In most of her studies, superiority is given most likely to the brown-eyed attendees, as these groups are more likely to be of mixed race. This ensures that the people feeling the discrimination are more likely to be white, who are less likely to be use to it. Various language choices and tones and basic rights are removed from the blue-eyed group, i.e., speak when spoken too, constant changing of the rules, uncomfortable conditions, and sitting placement preferences. While the brown-eyed group was treated with respect and constant reinforcement of praise on their intellect and told they were better than blue-eyed people. Interestingly, both groups adapted well to the subconscious changes, one being the oppressed and the other the oppressor, all because they were told the genetic make of eye color ensures that one group is dominant and the other group is subordinate.

The blue-eyed group instantly reverted to a subconscious of child like behavior when asked questions in an aggressive tone. Their ability to respond to questions decreased to thoughts of confusion, their position of dominance had been lowered in their subconscious. Some stuttered to answer questions; while others offered aggressive and seemly angry responses to simple ones asked by Ms. Elliott like “do you have any medical or pre-existing condition that would affect you for sitting on the floor for long periods of time?” One gentleman was so anger and off kilter he believed that no matter how he answered, she didn’t care about his health condition anyway, when simply it was a question that needed to be addressed because she didn’t want to cause anyone to suffer medically during the exercise and run the risk of being sued later. Subconsciously, he was already defeated. He wanted empathy, which was clearly not what the exercise warranted. This is based solely upon his response and reaction to her question and the conditions in which he had volunteered to participate. The feeling inferiority or oppression had set in.

The brown-eyed group which was made of mix race where given the opportunity to speak and express how it felt to be questioned, tested and degraded based solely upon a genetic trait to which we have no control over, melanin. Of course, the determination of eye color has nothing to do with a person’s intelligence, honesty or worth. So, what makes another class of people feel dominant over another?

According to Jane Elliott, it is learned behavior that she believes starts at childhood and begins with parents and their social circles. However, looking at things from another angle, it also provides that racism can be unlearnt as quickly as it can be learnt.

How is this possible? Her exercise demonstrated very vivid pictures of the faces of her students and the body language of each when the roles of dominance were reversed. When the blue-eyed group was told they were smarter and more trustworthy, the photo’s reflected confidence and happiness; all the children were smiling and appeared camera ready. It was during this time of the exercise she realized the children developed characteristic responses of discrimination by how they treated the other group (brown-eyes). Fights, language tones and acting out on the feeling of being better than another class of people based solely upon the genetic make up of eye color, proved that this exercise revealed discrimination had been taught or seen somewhere outside of the classroom. Remember the children where not told to treat people differently. So, why would a child or adult with a genetic trait believe it’s okay to treat someone or some group of people with a different melanin make up unfairly simply because you were told you where smarter than another class of people? Does that give us the right to question others intelligence or integrity? Interestingly, when the dominance thought process was removed from the blue-eyed group their photo’s changed drastically. They were now considered to be on the bottom. Pictures of the same smiling and eager faces, where now faces of uncertainty, anger and fear. They thought of themselves as one child put it, stupid! The feeling of oppressor to oppression had quickly entered into the mind of the same child who still has the same intelligence and worth. This proved to be the same reaction even with the adults. Those who normally felt powerful and capable now felt slighted, weak and vulnerable. According to this exercise it is true that when we treat people differently based solely upon a genetic characteristic that is beyond human control, one class of people believe that they are the superior group of rule setters according to how they perceive themselves to be, while the inferior group is to conform to the rules that have been set, even though their intelligence level and integrity are the same. How much human interaction do we have in choosing which group of people is superior or inferior to another based solely upon genetic make up? Do we have any say so in what makes a person’s skin dark or light, white or black? What part do we play in making ones eye color blue, green or brown?

Jane had the opportunity to speak with some of original participants of the experiment in her third grade class and surprisingly, the children (now adults) remember the experience and where positively effected by it. One gentleman made the comment that he wishes every time he heard someone use a discriminating term or reference he could pull out a collar from his pocket and place it on there necks.

In conclusion the answer to these questions are quite simple…none. The point here is genetic make up does not got give us permission to set rules or discriminate against another race of people simply because their black or white, Asian or Irish. This behavior has been learned and filtered down for centuries. People who are the subjects of real discriminations cannot call a halt to the misery and frustration they experience at end of the day. The bigger question here is what can we do to bring about more diversity and awareness to other cultural groups? So, I suppose asking yourself the question is important, are you a part of the problem or the solution?

As for Ms. Elliott’s original class, they told their parents of the exercise and told them racism was wrong. And with little surprise most parents were not pleased. Some parents removed their children from her classroom others called her names and labeled her as the towns n***r lover. She and her family was ridiculed and outcast for years. Through all the adversity, she continues to use the exercise to teach people racial discrimination throughout the country and her students were forever impacted, feeling that the experience has made them more sensitive and empathic to discriminatory actions of others.