Jane Elliott ( Jennison ; born May 27 , 1933 ) is an American former third-grade schoolteacher , anti-racism activist , and educator . She is known for her " Blue eyes – Brown eyes " exercise . She first conducted her famous exercise for her class on April 5 , 1968 , the day after Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated . When her local newspaper published compositions that the children had written about the experience , the reactions ( both positive and negative ) formed the basis for her career as a public speaker against discrimination . Elliott 's classroom exercise was filmed the third time she held it with her 1970 third-graders to become '' The Eye of the Storm '' . This in turn inspired a retrospective that reunited the 1970 class members with their teacher fifteen years later in '' A Class Divided '' . After leaving her school , Elliott became a diversity educator full-time . She still holds the exercise and gives lectures about its effects all over the U.S. and in several locations overseas
was assassinated
Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
Jane Elliott