Whisper House Press

Jane Elliott Against the World is a warning and an education. The 92-year-old lifelong educator remains an obstacle to pro-racist, anti-liberation movements across the United States. But who will press on in her stead when she can no longer carry the weight of America’s best intentions?

If you’ve studied the social sciences in general or racism in particular, you know her blue-eyes/brown-eyes experiment well. But for those of us who aren’t in the know, or lack the details, here they are: The day after Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated, Ms. Elliott (as depicted in this PBS Frontline documentary) grouped her third-grade students based on eye color to play out a scenario both analogous and demonstrative of the arbitrary wrongness of racism and racist systems. She became famous—infamous among anti-civil-liberties groups and individuals—for this work, appearing on Oprah and other television programs, at teachers’ workshops, and at community events for decades… and then she stepped offstage for a time. But she’s re-emerged as an agent of change, aiming to bring people out of the darkness of ignorance into the light of awareness; she continues to argue that racism is wrong, a message that is increasingly met with violent and aggressive reactions in the 2020s.

Jane Elliott Against the World follows some of this lifelong educator’s current travels. She’s now ninety-two years of age and continues giving all she has to the mission of guaranteeing respect and equal opportunity for and to all people. The filmmakers also offer Elliott’s superhero origin story, recognizing the mistakes she’s made (and that she admits), which humanizes her for an audience who might only see her as a political activist. The film’s emotional core weighs her activist and personal journeys against the costs to her children of that work—those who have responded and continue to respond violently have often targeted those close to Ms. Elliott along with the woman herself.

The issues Jane Elliott is currently fighting, who insists she will continue living until people are treated respectfully, are spiking under the Trump presidencies in a world with national political action committees supporting Christian nationalists and pro-racists at the local school board level. They’re winning elections and stopping kids from accessing books that accurately represent the truth of our country and its history. Things are worse now than they were in 1968 when she first did the classroom experiment, Elliott says; and she’s paid close attention and knows what she’s talking about.

The anti-freedom movement stand-ins are also, at times, being recalled. Hallelujah. This film is a call to action not only for educators but for all Americans. When the credits roll, we are left wondering if we can reverse course. We are led to wonder: What can be done? What can we do? What can—nay, will—I do?