More than 40 years ago, a famous battle was fought in this country. It was not waged over land or money but for equal rights -- the right to drink out of any water fountain, the right to vote.

This was the civil rights movement.

Last spring, a group of eighth-graders at Brownsburg Junior High School had an opportunity to rethink their opinions about society's acceptance of diversity today.

They chose between two proj ects.

Ashley Crane described the "orange" project, which lasted for three days.

"Basically, we got orange tags, and people could freely discriminate against us."

Other students participated in an experiment in which they went, in two groups, to a store.

"(We) had a control group and an experimental group, and you'd see how people treated the control group. And the experimental group would be dressed differently or act differently, and you'd see how people treated them," said Evan Mathews.

Elizabeth Heiser described discrimination as "being treated wrongly just because you might be different, or people can't accept who you are because of your differences."

Evan believes that sometimes it's something you can't see.

"You can discriminate by actions, by words, just by gestures, and sometimes simply by doing nothing," he said.

"I chose to be an orange because I thought that I could handle it," Ashley said.

But the experience was quite different than expected.

"(The non-oranges) eventually were just downright rude to me and made me feel bad about myself," Ashley said. "They went all out. They were throwing things at us and tripping us in the hall."

Another "orange," Kate Smith, recalled, "I was in class and I put my stuff on a table, and some kid walked by and knocked all of it on the floor, and everybody was laughing."

Andrea Williams said teachers did little to help the "oranges" and often contributed to the discrimination.

"The non-oranges were throwing paper, and we got in trouble for it," she said.

"I was surprised at how far some kids went with it and that they actually got physical with the oranges," said Dustin Rewerts, another "orange."

"And many of the teachers were a lot more forward with discriminating than I'd expect them ever to be."

Jacque Jelley agreed that sometimes the discrimination got out of hand.

"I think that they went overboard, with some people pushing their heads into the walls," she said. "They got into trouble for that."

Evan took part in a field experiment. His team traveled to a housewares store in Lafayette.

"I was dressed in these huge black baggy pants with chains on them, a T-shirt with a skull with a snake coming out of its eye socket, and a ripped-up jacket. I also had my hair spiked up," he explained. "The manager watched me pretty much the whole time, and so did all the other employees, especially when I went into the breakables department."

Elizabeth, who was part of a control group, commented on the attitude of store clerks toward the experimental group.

"I noticed that when someone's different, people just assume that they are worse than anybody else, and that they need to be followed around or they might steal something."

Matt Fields enjoyed being an "orange," despite the hardships.

"We were very isolated. We couldn't talk to anybody . . . but in the same respect it gives you the opportunity to expand your mind."

But Dustin was relieved when the project ended.

"I was sorry that I had done it because it drew so much attention to yourself."

"It made me realize that sometimes we discriminate against people and we don't even know it," said Elizabeth. "Now I realize what some people go through every day."

"Being a white, middle-class American that isn't particularly exposed to discrimination in his everyday life, I found this experiment to be very eye-opening. I liked it," Matt said.

"I've learned just to be kind to people when you first meet them, and to go to the source and learn what's really happening before you make a judgment," Ashley said.

Evan said he's "hoping that maybe (students) will get their teachers to start a program similar to this, and that way more people would be able to learn how it feels to really be discriminated against."

Will future generations be more accepting of diversity?

"I hope 50 years from now, (people) will realize that how it is now is terrible, and that they hope that it never goes back that way," Dustin said.

Evan is not optimistic.

"People making fun of each other to make themselves feel better -- it's been going on forever and it's just human nature."

ASSISTANT EDITOR: Katie Qualkinbush, 14.

REPORTER: Julie McDowell, 13.