---------- From: FRONTLINE bulletin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Tue, 25 Feb 2003 02:13:10 GMT To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: A Class Divided, (check local listings) on PBS
FRONTLINE http://www.pbs.org/frontline/ - This Week: "A Class Divided," (check local listings) on PBS - Wanted: A Few Good Words ... + This Week ... One Friday morning in April 1968, the day after Martin Luther King Jr. was shot and killed, a third-grade teacher in Iowa named Jane Elliott decided to change her lesson plan. "I knew the night before that it was time to deal with this in a concrete way, not just talking about it," Elliott explained to FRONTLINE 14 years later. "We had talked about racism since the first day of school, but the shooting of Martin Luther King ... could not just be talked about and explained away." So she did something she'd been considering for a long time but had never found the courage to try. She divided her all-white third-grade class into two groups -- one brown-eyed and one blue-eyed -- and taught them a hard lesson about discrimination that is still powerful after more than 30 years. "A Class Divided," originally broadcast in 1985 and re-airing this (check local listings) on PBS, is one of the most requested programs in FRONTLINE's history. Producer William Peters, who had made a documentary about Elliott's exercise in 1970 for ABC News, returned in 1984 to interview Elliott and film a reunion of her students, who by that time were young adults, as they watched themselves in the original documentary and talked about how the experience changed their lives. Peters then filmed Elliott conducting the exercise with employees of Iowa's correctional system, documenting the lesson's impact on adults. The results are strangely, unexpectedly riveting. In the years since, Elliott's lesson has been adopted around the world and has been the inspiration for a best-selling book, four more documentaries, and a made-for-TV movie (starring Susan Sarandon as Jane Elliott) that's now in development. On our website you'll find an interview with Elliott conducted this past December, in which she talks about her experiences in the years since the FRONTLINE film was made. The interview and more, including an opportunity to join the discussion, can all be found at: http://www.pbs.org/frontline/shows/divided/ Whether you've seen the film before, or whether it's your first time, we hope you'll join us this (check local listings). And if you miss the broadcast, don't forget that you can watch "A Class Divided" in its entirety on our website in streaming video. Wen Stephenson Website Managing Editor FRONTLINE ---------------------------- + Wanted: A Few Good Words ... PBS Advertising is planning to produce an on-air image spot for FRONTLINE in early March that includes comments from "ordinary viewers" who watch FRONTLINE somewhat regularly (once or more per month) and who are familiar with the series' website. The PBS creative team is looking for 15 viewers who have positive impressions of FRONTLINE and who can articulate why they watch. They're particularly interested in hearing about actions viewers may have taken after viewing FRONTLINE, like writing a letter to a government representative, sharing their impressions of the program with friends, etc. PBS producers will be in the Boston area in the coming weeks to conduct interviews and are looking for participants living within a reasonable proximity to Boston. (No travel compensation will be offered.) Participants will be pre-interviewed by phone, and if selected, will need to give the producers two hours of their time on a weekday. If you have any interest in being considered for this on-air campaign, kindly reply by email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] (with the subject heading "Campaign") by this Friday, February 28. ---------------------------- Funding for FRONTLINE is provided through the support of PBS viewers. ---------------------------- We're always happy to hear from our viewers. If you have a question or comment about a FRONTLINE program, about our website, or about this bulletin, you can write to us directly by going to: http://www.pbs.org/frontline/contact/ ---------------------------- You're subscribed to the FRONTLINE Bulletin as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] If you feel you've received this email in error or you wish to unsubscribe for any reason, please go to http://www.pbs.org/frontline/join/ and fill out the "unsubscribe" section. We cannot process requests to unsubscribe via email. --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
