The Freedom Writers Diary

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The Freedom Writers Diary: How a Teacher and 150 Teens Used
Writing to Change Themselves and the World Around Them is a non- The Freedom Writers Diary
fiction 1999 book written by The Freedom Writers, a group of students
from Woodrow Wilson High School in Long Beach, California, and
their teacher Erin Gruwell. It is the basis of the 2007 movie Freedom
Writers, starring Hilary Swank.

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. She drew blank
stares; only one of them had heard of the Holocaust. As a result, she
assigned them to read and write about The Diary of Anne Frank and
Zlata's Diary: A Child's Life in Sarajevo.[1]

The Freedom Writers Foundation continued with exercises and

philosophies similar to those used in the original class, and tracks the Author The Freedom Writers with
progress of the original and continuing classes. Erin Gruwell
Country United States
Language English
Contents Subject Diary

1 Plot summary Genre Non-fiction

2 Banning of the book in schools Publisher Random House
3 Further reading
4 References Publication 1999
date
5 External links
Pages 277 pp

Plot summary
As an idealistic twenty-three-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 an ugly
racial caricature, and angrily declared that this was precisely the sort of thing that led to the Jewish Holocaust—
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
in these books to 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, 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 “Prime Time Live” and “All Things Considered,” coverage in People magazine, a
meeting with U.S. Secretary of Education Richard Riley—and educationally. 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 in Indianapolis, Indiana, Connie
Heermian, 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.[2][3] Administrators objected to racial slurs and sexual content
in portions of the book.[4] Heerman had received permission the previous year to attend a workshop based on
the books and obtained permission slips from the parents involved. The school board contends that Heermen
did not properly follow the rules to receive permission to use the book.[5] Erin Gruwell commented on the
controversy, saying, "The best way to get a teenager to read a book is to ban it. When someone who is a
daunting authority figure says, 'Give us your book', I think these students [thought], 'There must be something
powerful in these words'. "[4]

Further reading
Diary of a Freedom Writer, Garrett, Darius, 2013, Tate Publishing, 978-1625635808

References
1. McGhee, Tom (2008-02-27). " ""Freedom Writers" tale inspires students" " (http://www.denverpost.com/
watercooler/ci_8382634). www.denverpost.com. Retrieved 2008-03-26.
2. "Teacher suspended over controversial book" (https://web.archive.org/web/20080330003824/http://www.
msnbc.msn.com/id/23785066/). www.msnbc.com. Archived from the original (http://www.msnbc.msn.co
m/id/23785066/) on 2008-03-30. Retrieved 2008-03-26.
3. Teacher banned for using 'Freedom Writers' book (http://detentionslip.org/2008/06/teacher-banned-for-us
ing-freedom.html) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20080926051011/http://detentionslip.org/2008/
06/teacher-banned-for-using-freedom.html) September 26, 2008, at the Wayback Machine.
4. " 'Freedom Writers' founder defends high school teacher" (http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?
AID=/20080313/LOCAL1801/303130015). www.indystar.com. Retrieved 2008-03-26.
5. "Teacher Suspended For Over A Year" (http://www.wibc.com/News/Story.aspx?ID=87478).
www.wibc.com. Retrieved 2008-03-26.

External links
The Freedom Writers Foundation
About The Freedom Writers Diary

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This page was last edited on 30 September 2017, at 09:38.

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