Class Divided Documentary Source Apa Format

The Class Divided Documentary: A Landmark Experiment on Prejudice and Its Enduring Lessons

The 1985 PBS documentary Class Divided stands as one of the most powerful and controversial explorations of discrimination ever filmed. It chronicles Iowa schoolteacher Jane Elliott’s daring “Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes” exercise, first conducted in 1968 following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., and its profound, lasting impact on a group of third graders. More than a historical artifact, the film serves as a visceral lesson in the arbitrary nature of prejudice, the psychology of power, and the ethical tightrope of experiential learning. By separating children based on eye color and granting superiority to one group, Elliott created a controlled microcosm of racism, demonstrating how quickly discrimination is internalized and how deeply it wounds. This article delves into the documentary’s origins, methodology, seismic impact, and the critical ethical debates it continues to spark, providing a comprehensive resource for understanding this pivotal educational film.

Background: A Teacher’s Response to Tragedy

To understand Class Divided, one must first understand its creator and catalyst. Jane Elliott was a third-grade teacher in the all-white town of Riceville, Iowa. The assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4, 1968, left her feeling that traditional teaching methods were utterly inadequate to explain the systemic racism that led to his death (Elliott, 1971). She believed her students, who had little to no contact with Black people, could not comprehend the arbitrary, illogical foundation of racial prejudice. Her solution was radical: she would make discrimination tangible and personal by using an immutable, superficial characteristic she could control—eye color.

The exercise was first run on April 5, 1968. Elliott declared that blue-eyed children were superior—smarter, kinder, and better—than brown-eyed children, who were now inferior. She reinforced this with pseudoscientific claims and immediate,