For many of these students-whose ranks included substance abusers, gang members, the homeless, and victims of abuse-Gruwell was the first person to treat them with dignity, to believe in their potential and help them see it themselves. Shocked by the teenage violence she witnessed during the Rodney King riots in Los Angeles, Erin Gruwell became a teacher at a high school rampant with hostility and racial intolerance. 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 Diary is an uplifting, unforgettable example of how hard work, courage, and the spirit of determination changed the lives of a teacher and her students. Secretary of Education Richard Riley-and educationally. 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 recognition-appearances on 'Prime Time Live' and 'All Things Considered,' coverage in People magazine, a meeting with U.S. 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. 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 Holocaust-only to be met by uncomprehending looks. Set in Los Angeles during the years following the 1! 'odney #ing riots, F reedom W riters tells the true s tory of a young $nglish teacher and her in%uence in the classroom& $rin 'ruwell begins the school year as an $nglish teacher for the (at) risk* freshmen students at Wilson +igh School in Long each, -alifornia& She soon reali.es that her diverse group of students is embroiled in the racial gang war culture of the time& Without the positive support of fa mily members or teachers, these students have no e/pectations of academic success& $ach day is a struggle to survive on the streets& 0n a daring move that counters her superiors at Wilson +igh, s& 'ruwell sacri2ces her own time and money to inspire and educate her struggling students& 3sing books such as Anne Frank4 5he Diary of a 6oung 'irl and 7lata8s Diary4 A -hild8s Life in Sara9evo, 'ruwell leads her class in a life)changing 9ourney against intolerance& As the students read these books, they begin to recogni.'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.

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