The Freedom Writers Diary

Infobox Book
name = The Freedom Writers Diary
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption =
author = The Freedom Writers with Erin Gruwell
illustrator =
cover_artist =
country = United States
language = English
series =
subject = Diary
genre = Non-fiction
publisher = Random House
release_date = 1999
english_release_date =
media_type =
pages = 277 pp
isbn =
preceded_by =
followed_by =

"The Freedom Writers Diary: How a Teacher and 150 Teens Used Writing to Change Themselves and the World Around Them" is a nonfiction 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 is a pun on the name of the civil rights group The Freedom Riders.

Gruwell received the inspiration to teach them using the techniques described in the book after intercepting a racist drawing from one of her students. When she compared the drawings to Nazi propaganda techniques, she drew blank stares. 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". cite web|url=http://www.denverpost.com/watercooler/ci_8382634|title=""Freedom Writers" tale inspires students"|publisher=www.denverpost.com|accessdate=2008-03-26]

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.

Banning of the book in schools

On March 24, 2008, an English teacher at Perry Meridian High School in Indianapolis, Indiana, Connie Heerman, was suspended for a year and a half without pay for using the Freedom Writer's Diary in her classroom against the wishes of the school board.cite web|url=http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23785066/|title="Teacher suspended over controversial book"|publisher=www.msnbc.com|accessdate=2008-03-26] Administrators objected to racial slurs and sexual content in portions of the book.cite web|url=http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080313/LOCAL1801/303130015|title='Freedom Writers' founder defends high school teacher|publisher=www.indystar.com|accessdate=2008-03-26] 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.cite web|url=http://www.wibc.com/News/Story.aspx?ID=87478|title=Teacher Suspended For Over A Year|publisher=www.wibc.com|accessdate=2008-03-26] 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.' "

http://detentionslip.org/2008/06/teacher-banned-for-using-freedom.html

References

External links

* [http://www.freedomwritersfoundation.org/site/c.kqIXL2PFJtH/b.2259975/k.BF19/Home.htm The Freedom Writers Foundation Official Website]