The Freedom Writers Diary

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The Freedom Writers Diary

• By
• The FreedomWriters
• with
• Erin Gruwell

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About Freedom Writers

• Following the Rodney King Riots and the O.J.
  Simpson trial, the mood in our city was
  unsettling, and on our first day of high school,
  we had only three things in common we hated
  school, we hated our teacher, and we hated each
  other.

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About Freedom Writers

• We began writing anonymous journal entries about
  the adversities that we faced in our every day
  lives. We wrote about gangs, immigration, drugs,
  violence, abuse, death, anorexia, dyslexia,
  teenage love, weight issues, divorce, suicide,
  and all the other issues we never had the chance
  to express before. We discovered that writing is
  a powerful form of self expression that could
  help us deal with our past and move forward.

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About Freedom Writers

• We decided to call ourselves the Freedom Writers
  after learning about the Freedom Riders who
  fought against segregation during the Civil
  Rights Movement. When we began writing these
  entries as a simple English assignment, we had no
  idea that they would one day be collected and
  published in a book, The Freedom Writers Diary.

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About Erin Gruwell

• After recently graduating from college, Erin got
  her first job in Wilson High School in Long
  Beach, California.
• Gruwell realized that her students had been
  written off by the education system, and deemed
  unteachable.

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About Erin Gruwell

• The students at Wilson HS and especially in
  Gruwells class were living in a racially divided
  community.
• As a result, Gruwell created an educational
  philosophy that valued and focused on diversity
  and included material that was relevant to the
  students, which transformed her students lives.
• On a daily basis, Gruwell asked her students to
  record their thoughts in a journal or diary.

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About Erin Gruwell and The Freedom Writers

• Inspired by Anne Frank and Zlata Filipovic (who
  lived through war-torn Sarajevo), Erin and her
  students captured their collective journey in The
  Freedom Writers Diary.
• Currently, Erin serves as president of the
  Freedom Writers Foundation. She raises awareness
  by traveling nationwide to speak inside large
  corporations, government institutions, and
  community associations.

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Mission Statement

• The Freedom Writers Foundation, a nonprofit
  organization founded in 1997,  positively impacts
  communities by decreasing high school drop out
  rates through the replication and enhancement of
  the Freedom Writers Method.

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Long Beach, California

• Although only 20 miles South of Los Angeles, 20
  of families and a quarter of the population
  living in Long Beach, are below the poverty
  line--including 33 of all children.
• USA Today named Long Beach the most ethnically
  diverse large city in the US in 2000.
• In a city of 500,000, 45 of the population is
  white, 15 African American, 12 Asian, and 36
  Hispanic.

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Long Beach, California

• Homeless Shelter Homeless Area in the
  city

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Wilson High School, Long Beach, California

• Even in a community and school so racially
  diverse, many of the students of Wilson HS
  experienced discrimination from others in the
  community because they were minorities.
• Many experienced poverty, homelessness, gangs,
  jail, crime, violence, lack of tolerance, and
  drug abuse.

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Wilson High School

• Through the use of her new philosphy and way of
  teaching, Gruwell was able to inspire her
  students, helping them to pave the way for a
  start at a new future.
• Since graduation, The Freedom Writers are
  pursuing undergraduate and graduate degrees,
  while continuing to share their stories and
  mentor students across the country about what
  it's like to receive a second chance.?

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Information found at www.freedomwritersfoundati
on.org