Activist and educator Jane Elliott, asked the University of Illinois Springfield audience comprised of students, faculty, staff, and others, to repeat with her: “We are all members of the human race.”
If people can approach life remembering that and promoting the “oneness of humankind,” Elliott said, they’ll help empower others and end prejudices.
Elliott spoke on “Power, Perception and Prejudice” in the Studio Theatre in the Public Affairs Center today, Sept. 16.
A passionate speaker against discrimination, Elliott is considered to be a forerunner of diversity training and a tireless advocate for equality among all people. She discussed at UIS the “Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes” exercise she pioneered in which participants are temporarily labeled as inferior or superior based solely upon the color of their eyes.
The aim of the exercise, Elliott said, is to expose participants to what it feels like to be discriminated against.
Elliott gave three presentations, sponsored by the Division of Student Affairs, and part of a UIS Living, Learning Community Mini-Series involving the Pre-Nursing Program, Students Transitioning for Academic Retention and Success (STARS, Leadership for Life (L4L) Service Wing, Capital Scholars Honors Program (CSHP), and Necessary Steps Mentoring Program (NS).
Students attending the Friday event used adjectives such as “great” and “thought-provoking” to describe Elliott’s presentation.
Elliott taught third-grade and junior high in Iowa before becoming a full-time diversity trainer. She first created the Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes exercise, Elliott said, in 1968, when she introduced it to the third-grade students she taught. The children, she said, emerged with an understanding of what discrimination feels like and the importance of treating “others the same way you would want them to treat you.”