The Freedom Writers Diary

by THE FREEDOM WRITERSGRUWELL, ERIN

• ISBN13: 9780385494229
• ISBN10: 038549422X
• Format: Trade Paper
• Copyright: 1999-10-12
• Publisher: Broadway Books

Summary

Straight from the front line of urban America, the inspiring story of one fiercely determined teacher and her remarkable students. 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 Holocaustonly to be met by uncomprehending looks. So she and her students, using the treasured booksAnne Frank: The Diary of a Young GirlandZlata's Diary: A Child's Life in Sarajevoas 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 courageous Dutch woman who sheltered the Frank family, to visit them in California, where she declared that Erin Gruwell's students were "the real heroes." Their efforts have paid off spectacularly, both in terms of recognitionappearances on "Prime Time Live" and "All Things Considered," coverage inPeoplemagazine, a meeting with U.S. Secretary of Education Richard Rileyand educationally. All 150 Freedom Writers have graduated from high school and are now attending college. With powerful entries from the students' own diaries and a narrative text by Erin Gruwell,The Freedom Writers Diaryis an uplifting, unforgettable example of how hard work, courage, and the spirit of determination changed the lives of a teacher and her students. The authors' proceeds from this book will be donated to The Tolerance Education Foundation, an organization set up to pay for the Freedom Writers' college tuition. Erin Gruwell is now a visiting professor at California State University, Long Beach, where some of her students are Freedom Writers.

Author Biography

Erin Gruwell and the Freedom Writers continue to share their stories with students and teachers from around the globe through their nonprofit, the Freedom Writers Foundation. They are the subject of the 2019 public television documentary Freedom Writers: Stories from the Heart, and the 2007 feature film Freedom Writers, starring Hilary Swank. Gruwell lives in Long Beach.

Table of Contents

Foreword	xiii
Zlata Filipovic
FRESHMAN YEAR---FALL 1994
Ms. Gruwell's Diary Entry	1	(29)
First day of school	6	(2)
Racial segregation at school	8	(1)
Getting ``jumped''	9	(2)
Race riot on campus	11	(1)
Buying a gun	12	(2)
Death of a friend	14	(2)
Gang initiation	16	(1)
``Rushing'' a sorority	17	(3)
Tagging	20	(2)
Proposition 187: Discrimination	22	(1)
Dyslexia	23	(1)
Juvenile hall	24	(2)
The projects	26	(1)
Russian roulette	27	(3)
FRESHMAN YEAR---SPRING 1995
Ms. Gruwell's Diary Entry	30	(17)
Gang rivalry	33	(1)
Romeo
Juliet
Teenage love and running away	34	(2)
Coping with weight	36	(2)
Learning about diversity	38	(1)
Oklahoma bombing	39	(1)
Farewell to Manzanar: Japanese internment camps	40	(1)
Overcoming adversity panel	41	(2)
Father figure vs. absend father	43	(2)
John Tu
Freshman turnaround	45	(2)
SOPHOMORE YEAR---FALL 1995
Ms. Gruwell's Diary Entry	47	(32)
Homelessness	51	(3)
Cystic fibrosis	54	(1)
Shyness	55	(1)
Twelve Angry Men	55	(2)
Honors English	57	(1)
Medieval Times	58	(2)
Lesson on tolerance	60	(1)
Toast for change	61	(2)
Change for the better	63	(1)
Testifying in murder case	64	(3)
Teenage alcoholism	67	(1)
Shoplifting	68	(3)
Anne Frank's diary	71	(1)
Teen diarists	71	(2)
Zlata's Diary---Bosnia vs. L.A. riots	73	(1)
Article on Bosnia	74	(2)
Peter Maass
Zlata	76	(2)
SOPHOMORE YEAR---SPRING 1996
A Letter to Zlata	78	(1)
Ms. Gruwell's Diary Entry	79	(29)
Meeting a Holocaust survivor	84	(1)
The woman who sheltered Anne Frank's family	85	(2)
``Moment''	87	(2)
Zlata accepts our invitation	89	(1)
Dinner with Zlata	90	(1)
Diverse friendships	91	(1)
``I am a human being''	92	(2)
Terrorism	94	(2)
Day of tolerance: A field trip	96	(2)
Doing speed	98	(3)
Basketball for Bosnia: Weight	101	(2)
Zlata's Letter	103	(1)
Divorce	104	(2)
Friends join class	106	(1)
Letter from Miep	107	(1)
JUNIOR YEAR---FALL 1996
Ms. Gruwell's Diary Entry	108	(31)
Racist teacher	112	(2)
A grandmother's death	114	(3)
Race riot	117	(2)
Grade accountability	119	(1)
Suicide	120	(1)
Running away	121	(2)
Getting a job	123	(2)
Misogyny	125	(1)
Molestation	126	(3)
Boyfriend abuse	129	(2)
Domestic violence	131	(2)
Child abuse	133	(3)
Death of brother	136	(3)
JUNIOR YEAR---SPRING 1997
Ms. Gruwell's Diary Entry	139	(53)
Anne Frank's friends visit	142	(1)
Masking fears	143	(1)
Living in the projects	144	(3)
Dyslexia	147	(1)
Letter from Miep	148	(2)
Student editing	150	(1)
Abortion	151	(1)
Catalysts for change	152	(2)
Freedom Riders	154	(2)
An American Diary...Voices from an Undeclared War	156	(2)
Fund-raiser concert	158	(1)
Freedom Writer poem	159	(1)
Freedom Writers unite	160	(2)
Strict father	162	(2)
Arlington Cemetery	164	(1)
Lincoln Memorial: Freedom Writers have a dream	165	(1)
Covering up the swastika	166	(1)
Hate crimes	167	(2)
Holocaust Museum	169	(1)
Dr. Mengele's experiment with twins	170	(2)
Dinner with Secretary Riley	172	(1)
``Stand''	173	(2)
Secretary Riley receives Freedom Writers' diary	175	(2)
Candlelight vigil	177	(1)
Departing D.C.	178	(3)
Returning a family hero	181	(2)
Murder	183	(1)
Jeremy Strohmeyer
David Cash	184	(1)
Peace march for Sherrice Iverson	185	(2)
Senior Class President	187	(1)
Separation anxiety	188	(2)
Staying together	190	(2)
SENIOR YEAR---FALL 1997
Ms. Gruwell's Diary Entry	192	(29)
Cheryl Best: Inspiration	195	(2)
``Eviction Notice''	197	(1)
Financial problems	198	(2)
Illegal immigrant	200	(2)
The first Latina Secretary of Education	202	(2)
Pursuing filmaking	204	(1)
Road not taken: Contemplating college	205	(1)
Finding a mentor	206	(2)
Being a mentor	208	(2)
Los Angeles Times article	210	(1)
A letter from prison	211	(1)
Deadbeat dad	212	(2)
Sorority hazing	214	(2)
Fear of losing a father	216	(2)
Death of a mother	218	(3)
SENIOR YEAR---SPRING 1998
Ms. Gruwell's Diary Entry	221	(51)
GUESS? sponsorship	223	(2)
Spirit of Anne Frank Award	225	(2)
New York City roommates	227	(2)
Celebrating Anne Frank	229	(1)
Abuse of power	230	(2)
Peter Maass: The role of a journalist	232	(1)
Book agent	233	(1)
Getting published	234	(1)
Basketball playoffs: Teamwork	235	(2)
A lesson from Animal Farm	237	(1)
Attitude adjustment	238	(3)
Introducing Senator Barbara Boxer	241	(1)
Attention deficit disorder	242	(2)
Homosexuality	244	(1)
Prom queen	245	(2)
``Whoever saves one life saves the world entire''	247	(2)
Breaking the cycle	249	(2)
Football all-American	251	(2)
Baseball dilemma	253	(1)
A college acceptance	254	(1)
Fear of abandonment	255	(2)
Teenage pregnancy	257	(2)
Southwest Airlines	259	(1)
Computers for college!	260	(1)
The giving tree: Crackhead parents	261	(2)
Graduation Class Speaker	263	(1)
From drugs to honors	264	(3)
Overcoming the odds	267	(1)
Graduation!	268	(4)
Epilogue	272	(6)
Acknowledgments	278

Excerpts

Freshman Year

Fall 1994

Entry 1 -- Ms. Gruwell

Dear Diary, Tomorrow morning, my journey as an English teacher officially begins. Since first impressions are so important, I wonder what my students will think about me. Will they think I'm out of touch or too preppy? Or worse yet, that I'm too young to be taken seriously? Maybe I'll have them write a journal entry describing what their expectations are of me and the class.

Even though I spent last year as a student teacher at Wilson High School, I'm still learning my way around the city. Long Beach is so different than the gated community I grew up in. Thanks to MTV dubbing Long Beach as the "gangsta-rap capital" with its depiction of guns and graffiti, my friends have a warped perception of the city, or L B C as the rappers refer to it. They think I should wear a bulletproof vest rather than pearls. Where I live in Newport Beach is a utopia compared to some of neighborhoods seen in a Snoop Doggy Dogg video. Still, TV tends to blow things out of proportion.

The school is actually located in a safe neighborhood, just a few miles from the ocean. Its location and reputation make it desirable. So much so that a lot of the students that live in what they call the "'hood" take two or three buses just to get to school every day. Students come in from every corner of the city: Rich kids from the shore sit next to poor kids from the projects . . . there's every race, religion, and culture within the confines of the quad. But since the Rodney King riots, racial tension has spilled over into the school.

Due to busing and an outbreak in gang activity, Wilson's traditional white, upper-class demographics have changed radically. African Americans, Latinos, and Asians now make up the majority of the student body.

As a student teacher last year, I was pretty naive. I wanted to see past color and culture, but I was immediately confronted by it when the first bell rang and a student named Sharaud sauntered in bouncing a basketball. He was a junior, a disciplinary transfer from Wilson's crosstown rival, and his reputation preceded him. Word was that he had threatened his previous English teacher with a gun (which I later found out was only a plastic water gun, but it had all the makings of a dramatic showdown). In those first few minutes, he made it brutally clear that he hated Wilson, he hated English, and he hated me. His sole purpose was to make his "preppy" student teacher cry. Little did he know that within a month, he'd be the one crying.

Sharaud became the butt of a bad joke. A classmate got tired of Sharaud's antics and drew a racial caricature of him with huge, exaggerated lips. As the drawing made its way around the class, the other students laughed hysterically. When Sharaud saw it, he looked as if he was going to cry. For the first time, his tough facade began to crack.

When I got a hold of the picture, I went ballistic. "This is the type of propaganda that the Nazis used during the Holocaust," I yelled. When a student timidly asked me, "What's the Holocaust?" I was shocked.

I asked, "How many of you have heard of the Holocaust?" Not a single person raised his hand. Then I asked, "How many of you have been shot at?" Nearly every hand went up.

I immediately decided to throw out my meticulously planned lessons and make tolerance the core of my curriculum.

From that moment on, I would try to bring history to life by using new books, inviting guest speakers, and going on field trips. Since I was just a student teacher, I had no budget for my schemes. So, I moonlighted as a concierge at the Marriott Hotel and sold lingerie at Nordstrom. My dad even asked me, "Why can't you just be a normal teacher?"

Actually, normalcy didn't seem so bad after my first snafu. I took my students to see Schindler's List in Newport Beach, at a predominately white, upper-class theater. I was shocked to see women grab their pearls and clutch their purses in fear. A local paper ran a front-page article about the incident, describing how poorly my students were treated, after which I received death threats. One of my disgruntled neighbors had the audacity to say, "If you love black people so much, why don't you just marry a monkey?"

All this drama and I didn't even have my teaching credentials yet. Luckily, some of my professors from University of California-Irvine read the article and invited my class to a seminar by the author of Schindler's List, Thomas Keneally. Keneally was so impressed by my students that a few days later we got an invitation to meet Steven Spielberg at Universal Studios. I couldn't believe it! The famous director wanted to meet the class that I had dubbed "as colorful as a box of Crayola crayons" and their "rookie teacher who was causing waves." He marveled at how far these "unteachable" students had come as a junior class and what a close group they had become. He even asked Sharaud what "we" were planning to do next year as an encore. After all, if a film does well, you make a sequel--if a class surpasses everyone's expectations, you . . .

. . . dismantle it! Yep, that's exactly what happened. Upon my return from Universal, the head of the English department told me, "You're making us look bad." Talk about bursting my bubble! How was I making them look bad? After all, these were the same kids that "wouldn't last a month" or "were too stupid" to read advanced placement books.

She went on to say, "Things are based on seniority around here." So, in other words, I was lucky to have a job, and keeping Sharaud and his posse another year would be pushing the envelope. Instead, I'd be teaching freshmen--"at risk" freshmen. Hmm . . . not exactly the assignment I was hoping for.

So, starting tomorrow, it's back to the drawing board. But I'm convinced that if Sharaud could change, then anyone can. So basically, I should prepare myself for a roomful of Sharauds. If it took a month to win Sharaud over . . . I wonder how long it's gonna take a bunch of feisty fourteen-year-olds to come around?

---

Excerpted from The Freedom Writers Diary: How a Teacher and 150 Teens Used Writing to Change Themselves and the World Around Them by Freedom Writers Staff
All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.