The Freedom Writers Foundation is a non-profit organization created to "inspire young, underprivileged students to pick up pens instead of guns."
It was founded by
Erin Gruwell
Erin Gruwell (born August 15, 1969) is an American teacher known for her unique teaching method, which led to the publication of ''The Freedom Writers Diary: How a Teacher and 150 Teens Used Writing to Change Themselves and the World Around Them ...
, and
John Tu
John Tu (; born August 12, 1941) is a Chinese-American billionaire businessman and philanthropist. He is the co-founder of Kingston Technology.
Early life
John Tu was born in Chongqing, China. He was the son of an official in China's Nationalist ...
(cofounder of the
Kingston Technology Company) is a benefactor.
About
The Freedom Writers Foundation is a nonprofit organization which was founded in 1997. It positively affects communities by decreasing high school dropout rates through the replication and enhancement of the Freedom Writers Method.
"The organization's overall purpose is to:
* Create opportunities for students to reach their full academic potential and aspire to higher education.
* Publicly and systematically promote an educational philosophy that values, upholds, and honors diversity.
* Inspire students to realize their roles as vital members of their communities."
"Following the
Rodney King Riots and the
O.J. Simpson trial
''The People of the State of California v. Orenthal James Simpson'' was a criminal trial in Los Angeles County Superior Court starting in 1994, in which O. J. Simpson, a former National Football League (NFL) player, broadcaster and actor, was t ...
, 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."
This is a quote from the original Freedom Writers. Brought together in the classroom of
Erin Gruwell
Erin Gruwell (born August 15, 1969) is an American teacher known for her unique teaching method, which led to the publication of ''The Freedom Writers Diary: How a Teacher and 150 Teens Used Writing to Change Themselves and the World Around Them ...
, these students were taught to accept each other and accept themselves.
They all felt that they had been written off. "Low test scores, juvenile hall, alienation, and racial hostility helped us fit the labels the educational system placed on us: 'unteachable,' 'below average,' and 'delinquents.'"
Gruwell helped the students to overcome their disadvantages by having them read books by other teenagers so they would be able to relate to the stories.
Gruwell also invited guest speakers to talk to her students, including
Miep Gies
Hermine "Miep" Gies (; ; 15 February 1909 – 11 January 2010) was one of the Dutch citizens who hid Anne Frank, her family (Otto Frank, Margot Frank, Edith Frank) and four other Dutch Jews (Fritz Pfeffer, Hermann van Pels, Auguste van Pels, Pet ...
, a woman who helped Anne Frank's family hide during the Holocaust, and
Zlata Filipović
Zlata Filipović (born 3 December 1980) is a Bosnian-Irish diarist. She kept a diary from 1991 to 1993 when she was a child helping in Sarajevo during the Bosnian War.
She and her family survived the war and moved to Paris where they lived for a ...
, who wrote her own diary when she was only eleven years old. The students also went to a Holocaust museum in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
called the
Museum of Tolerance
The Museum of Tolerance-Beit HaShoah (MOT, House of the Holocaust), a multimedia museum in Los Angeles, California, United States, is designed to examine racism and prejudice around the world with a strong focus on the history of the Holocaust. Th ...
.
The visit from
Zlata Filipović
Zlata Filipović (born 3 December 1980) is a Bosnian-Irish diarist. She kept a diary from 1991 to 1993 when she was a child helping in Sarajevo during the Bosnian War.
She and her family survived the war and moved to Paris where they lived for a ...
was the inspiration for the students' own writing.
In the class they were able to write anonymous journal entries about what they faced in their everyday lives. They were able to write about things that they had never had the chance to express before. Through this, they discovered that "Writing is a powerful form of self expression that could help us deal with our past and move forward."
The class came up with the name "Freedom Writers" as a modification of "
Freedom Riders
Freedom Riders were civil rights activists who rode interstate buses into the segregated Southern United States in 1961 and subsequent years to challenge the non-enforcement of the United States Supreme Court decisions ''Morgan v. Virginia' ...
", a group of activists in the
Civil Rights Movement
The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional Racial segregation in the United States, racial segregation, Racial discrimination ...
.
Since graduating, they have kept their promise of trying to change education. They have pursued their undergraduate and graduate degrees, while continuing to share their story and mentor students across the country about what it's like to receive a second chance.
Erin Gruwell – Founder
Erin Gruwell is the woman who began the Freedom Writers and compiled her students' stories into The Freedom Writers Diary. She started teaching in the fall of 1994 at
Woodrow Wilson Classical High School in
Long Beach, California
Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California.
Incorporate ...
.
In interviews, she has said that she thinks she is the one who changed the most. "Everything I was told not to do, I did. They told me not to smile. I smiled. They told me never to show emotion. How could I not be a person, though? How could I not be compassionate and give a student a hug when they were hurting? I changed the most. I became the student."
She has said that she thinks teaching literature and writing is a great way to help people because there are so many ways to interpret any story. She would tell her students that she would teach them the rules so they could go out and break them.
Erin Gruwell first knew that she wanted to become a teacher through her father, who was a civil rights activist in the U.S. When she was young, they would talk about equality and fighting for the underdog. He was later affiliated with the
Anaheim Angels. He would always say that you should judge a batter by his swing and not by the color of his skin. So much of her sensibility came from her dad. After the
Los Angeles Riots in the early nineties, she changed what she wanted to do. Until then, she had wanted to be a lawyer and go to law school, but she decided that she could do more that was proactive in a classroom than reactionary in a courtroom.
Freedom Writers in other schools
Schools which employ Gruwell's teaching methods include Booker T. Washington High School in
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...
, De La Salle Education Center in
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City (abbreviated KC or KCMO) is the largest city in Missouri by population and area. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 508,090 in 2020, making it the 36th most-populous city in the United States. It is the central ...
, Dunbar Middle School in
Fort Worth, Texas
Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. According ...
, the Leadership Program at Crossroads Alternative High School in Coon Rapids, MN, and The Darkness to Light Education Project, which supports Crossroads Leadership. Groups inspired by the Freedom Writers include the Students of Unlimited Leadership
OULProgram in
Chico, California and the Waller Scholars in
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...
.
The group has also drawn some negative attention. Connie Heermann, a teacher in Perry Township, Indiana, used ''
The Freedom Writers Diary
''The Freedom Writers Diary: How a Teacher and 150 Teens Used Writing to Change Themselves and the World Around Them'' is a non-fiction 1999 book written by The Freedom Writers, a group of students from Woodrow Wilson High School in Long Beach, ...
'' as part of her curriculum and received a one and a half year suspension.
Objections to the language and sexual content in the book may have contributed to the controversy.
See also
*
Young Storytellers Foundation Young Storytellers, formerly widely known as the Young Storytellers Foundation, is an arts education non-profit operating primarily in Los Angeles.
Young Storytellers currently serves elementary, middle, and high school students in Southern Califor ...
References
{{reflist
External links
Official Foundation WebsiteLearning for a Cause a similar organization of Canadian origin.
Non-profit organizations based in California