Ashley Morgan

The Angry Eye

Brown Eye – Blue Eye Experiment

In this experiment performed by Jane Elliot she shows a group of students the effect of

racism by separating them by the color of their eyes. This exercise shows blue eyed, white

students what African Americans go through on a daily basis. In this experiment Elliot places the

blue eye students in a holding room and explains to the other students how to treat them. She

states that they are going to act like the blue eyed students are incapable of learning and to refer

to them as boy, chick, babe and to degrade them. Elliot did not make the idea to exclude people

by the color of their eyes, she borrowed it from Adolf Hitler.

When the blue eyed students were allowed in the room they were forced to sit in the

middle of the classroom and not given a choice as to where they could sit. Phrases were written

on the wall that included “Only brown eyes need to apply,” “Why can’t a blue eye be more like a

brown,” and “I’m not prejudice some of my best friends are blue eyed.” Elliot also mentioned the

phrase “When I see you I don’t see you as black” meaning that people claim they don’t see color.

By placing these students in the middle of the room and treating them as unequal many of them

became upset. One girl cried when Elliot degraded her about not being prepared by not having a

notebook and continually talking to her in a stern voice. Another student became extremely upset

at the way Elliot was treating them, so she walked out and left the exercise.

This experiment made me realize that racism still does occur and even though blacks

have been considered equal for many years they are still not treated the same. Most people think

that racism has ended yet there are still stereotypes that are used against people of color. During

this experiment the one student walked out; however, African American students are not able to

walk away from their skin color. After that class ended, the blue eyed students can go back to

being treated fairly, but the African American students will not have the chance to be treated as

equal until racism completely stops.