''The Freedom Writers Diary: How a Teacher and 150 Teens Used Writing to Change Themselves and the World Around Them'' is a

non-fiction Nonfiction, or non-fiction, is any document or media content that attempts, in good faith, to provide information (and sometimes opinions) grounded only in facts and real life, rather than in imagination. Nonfiction is often associated with b ...

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...

book written by The Freedom Writers, a group of students from Woodrow Wilson High School in

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporate ...

, and their teacher Erin Gruwell. It is the basis of the 2007 movie ''

Freedom Writers ''Freedom Writers'' is a 2007 American drama film written and directed by Richard LaGravenese and starring Hilary Swank, Scott Glenn, Imelda Staunton, Patrick Dempsey and Mario. It is based on the 1999 book '' The Freedom Writers Diary'' by te ...

'', starring

Hilary Swank Hilary Ann Swank (born July 30, 1974) is an American actress and film producer. She first became known in 1992 for her role on the television series '' Camp Wilder'' and made her film debut with a minor role in ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' (1992 ...

. The Freedom Writers Diary was made up of journals that Erin Gruwell told her students to write in about the troubles of their past, present and future. The Freedom Writers name pays homage to the name of the 1960s civil rights group Freedom Riders. After intercepting a racist drawing from one of her students, Gruwell compared the drawings to Nazi

propaganda techniques A number of propaganda techniques based on social psychology, social psychological research are used to generate propaganda. Many of these same techniques can be classified as Informal fallacy, logical fallacies, since propagandists use arguments ...

. She drew blank stares; only one of them had heard of

the Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...

. As a result, she assigned them to read and write about the posthumously published 1947 book ''

The Diary of Anne Frank ''The Diary of a Young Girl'', also known as ''The Diary of Anne Frank'', is a book of the writings from the Dutch-language diary kept by Anne Frank while she was in hiding for two years with her family during the Nazi occupation of the Netherl ...

'' (written between 1942 and 1944) and the 1992–93 non-fiction book by

Zlata Filipović Zlata Filipović (born 3 December 1980) is a Bosnian-Irish diarist. She kept a diary from 1991 to 1993 when she was a child helping in Sarajevo during the Bosnian War. She and her family survived the war and moved to Paris where they lived for ...

, '' Zlata's Diary: A Child's Life in Sarajevo''. The Freedom Writers Foundation continued with exercises and philosophies similar to those used in the original class, and tracks the progress of the original and continuing classes.

Plot summary

As an idealistic 23-year-old English teacher at Wilson High School in Long Beach, California, Erin Gruwell confronted a room of "unteachable, at-risk" students. One day she intercepted a note with a racial caricature, and angrily declared that this was precisely the sort of thing that led to

– only to be met by uncomprehending looks. So she and her students, using the treasured books ''Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl'' and ''Zlata's Diary: A Child's Life in Sarajevo'' as their guides, undertook a life-changing, eye-opening, spirit-raising odyssey against intolerance and misunderstanding. They learned to see the parallels between these books and their own lives, recording their thoughts and feelings in diaries and dubbing themselves the "Freedom Writers" in homage to the civil rights activists "The Freedom Riders". With funds raised by a "Read-a-thon for Tolerance", they arranged for

Miep Gies Hermine "Miep" Gies (; ; 15 February 1909 – 11 January 2010) was one of the Dutch citizens who hid Anne Frank, her family (Otto Frank, Margot Frank, Edith Frank) and four other Dutch Jews (Fritz Pfeffer, Hermann van Pels, Auguste van Pels, ...

, the Dutch woman who sheltered the Frank family, to visit them in California during the 1994/1995 school year, where she declared that Erin Gruwell's students were "the real heroes." Their efforts have paid off spectacularly, both in terms of recognition – appearances on '' Primetime Live'' and ''

All Things Considered ''All Things Considered'' (''ATC'') is the flagship news program on the American network National Public Radio (NPR). It was the first news program on NPR, premiering on May 3, 1971. It is broadcast live on NPR affiliated stations in the United ...

'', coverage in ''People'' magazine, a meeting with

U.S. Secretary of Education The United States secretary of education is the head of the U.S. Department of Education. The secretary serves as the principal advisor to the president of the United States, and the federal government, on policies, programs, and activities rel ...

Richard Riley Richard Wilson Riley (born January 2, 1933) is an American politician, the United States Secretary of Education under President Bill Clinton and the 111th governor of South Carolina. He is a member of the Democratic Party. Riley is the only D ...

– and educational benefit. All 150 Freedom Writers graduated from high school and many went on to attend college.

Banning of the book in schools

On March 11, 2008, an English teacher at

Perry Meridian High School Perry Meridian High School is a high school in Indianapolis, Indiana. It is one of two public high schools serving grades nine through twelve in the Perry Township, along with Southport High School. Enrollment surpassed 2,350 students during the ...

Indianapolis, Indiana Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Mari ...

, Connie Heermann, was suspended for a year and a half without pay for using the ''Freedom Writers Diary'' in her classroom against the wishes of the school board.Teacher banned for using 'Freedom Writers' book
Administrators objected to racial slurs and sexual content in portions of the book.

References

External links

The Freedom Writers Foundation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Freedom Writers Diary Books about education American non-fiction books Non-fiction books adapted into films Diaries Random House books 1999 non-fiction books

Plot summary

Banning of the book in schools

Further reading

References

External links