My project is based on Jane Elliott. Jane was a civil rights activist who taught children about segregation. Segregation in the 1960s was causing havoc in America, and African-Americans were being mistreated. Elliott’s story takes place two days after Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. King was an important voice for everyone who was being discriminated against. The white children in Elliott’s class didn't understand why King was important, because they did not have to worry about discrimination. He deserved to be remembered and praised for what he did. Elliott knew that she had to help them understand why civil rights were important. 

Elliott decided to treat the children with similar laws to the Jim Crow laws. She separated her students based on their eye color. On the first day, she praised the kids who had blue eyes and mistreated the kids who had brown eyes. The next day she switched and treated the children with brown eyes well and praised the blue-eyed children. This experiment gave the children perspective and helped them understand how it felt to be discriminated against. 

Jane Elliott possesses many heroic traits. She has compassion. She felt bad for people experiencing racism even though it didn't affect her. She also was courageous. A lot of people had a problem with her experiment, but she wanted to make a point. I like how she does what she wants to do, not what others want her to do. She breaks the status quo. I think a lot of teachers should be like her and try new ways to teach kids. 

In my project one of the main things I used to show Elliott's story was the colors blue and brown. They represent the eye colors of her students and the way she separated them. One half shows the civil rights movement, which she was a part of, and the other half shows segregation, which is what she was fighting against. I learned from this project that sometimes you need to take risks to prove a point. I hope all people will strive to be like Jane Elliott today.