Eye of the Storm, The & A Class Divided

Subgroup Size

Entire group

Duration

2 hours

External Cost

No

Source

Peters, W. (Producer). (1970). The eye of the storm [Television broadcast]. New York, NY: American Broadcasting Company. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gi2T0ZdKVc

 

Peters, W., Cobb, C. (Writers) & Peters, W. (Director). (1985, March 26). A class divided [Television series episode]. In Peters, W. (Producer), Frontline. Boston, MA: Public Broadcasting Service. Retrieved from https://www.pbs.org/video/frontline-class-divided/

Tags:

  1. bias
  2. bridging
  3. discrimination
  4. diversity
  5. emotional resilience
  6. empathy
  7. identity
  8. inclusion
  9. ingroup
  10. media
  11. other awareness
  12. outgroup
  13. privilege
  14. racial bias
  15. racism
  16. self-awareness
  17. stereotypes
  18. whiteness
  19. worldview frameworks

The Eye of the Storm and A Class Divided are documentaries on Jane Elliott's groundbreaking discrimination lesson, in which participants are divided into blue-eyed and brown-eyed groups and one group is privileged over the other. Elliott first performed the lesson in 1968 with her entirely white third grade class in Riceville, Iowa. The lesson was a response to the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.

The Eye of the Storm shows Elliott leading the lesson with her 1970 third grade class, and A Class Divided is a follow-up 15 years later. The facilitator may choose to show one or both of the documentaries, depending on time constraints. A Class Divided shows enough footage from the original documentary that participants would be able grasp the purpose and effects of the lesson.

The PBS, Facing History and Ourselves, and Concord Media links are three options to consider for debriefing after watching the video(s). You may choose to only use portions of these activities, or you may make up your own debriefing questions.