A Class Divided

Following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., a third-grade teacher in Riceville, Iowa, found that she was unable to properly explain the impact of racial prejudice to a mostly homogeneous class. In an effort to drive the point home, Jane Elliott divided her pupils by eye colour. The resulting social experiment gripped the nation when it aired on ABC a few years later.

A Class Divided follows Jane Elliott and members of that same third-grade class as they reunite nearly twenty years later. The former students discuss their memories of the experiment, their shame and confusion at being viewed as “lesser” for something as simple as eye colour, and the lessons they carried with them into adulthood. Elliott reflects on her motivation for conducting the experiment, learns how much her students retained, and explains how she continues to share her message nationwide.