Freedom Writers: The Rest of the Story

Several years ago, I read "The Freedom Writers Diary." I couldn't put it down. I read it all night long, laughing, crying, and rejoicing through the story. I felt like I knew the Freedom Writers. When I heard about the movie, I couldn't wait to see it. More than that, I couldn't wait for the world to see and hear the story that has inspired me so much.

I loved the movie, really. However, I couldn't believe how some of the most incredible things were left out. I suppose one can only put so much into a two-hour movie. So here is a short synopsis of the things I wished would have been told:

Not only did the Freedom Writers read The Diary of Anne Frank, which inspired the visit from Miep Gies, they also read Zlata's Diary (about a girl's struggles during the war in Bosnia). They figured, they invited Miep, why not invite Zlata, so they did. Zlata came and spent a week with the Freedom Writers, becoming a good friend of them all.

During their junior year, in 1997, the Freedom Writers all went to Washington, D.C., where they presented their diary to the United States Secretary of Education Richard Riley. During this trip they also honored the Freedom Riders by holding a peace march and prayer vigil at the Washington Monument for victims of intolerance. The Freedom Writers Diary has photos of this, and I can only imagine what a touching site this must have been.

In 1998, their senior year, Erin Gruwell and the Freedom Writers won the Spirit of Anne Frank Award. It was extremely special for the Freedom Writers to receive this award as a group, since the award is usually given to individuals. The Freedom Writers all traveled to New York for the acceptance ceremony. In New York, they also saw the play, "The Diary of Anne Frank," on Broadway.

At the end of that school year, all of the Freedom Writers graduated from high school AND went on to college. Although the visits, trips, and awards were great achievements, this was probably their greatest achievement of all. When Erin Gruwell started with these students as freshman, most of them were not expected to make it past their sophomore year. For some of these students, they were the first generation in their family to even graduate high school.

Since high school, the Freedom Writers have not let their dreams die. In 1999, they traveled to Europe and visited Anne Frank's house in Amsterdam, the concentration camps in Germany and Poland, and their friend, Zlata Filipovic in her native Sarajevo, Bosnia. Erin Gruwell continued on to teach at California State University Long Beach. She also founded the Erin Gruwell Education Project, which has evolved into "The Freedom Writers Foundation," a non-profit organization that funds scholarships for disadvantaged students and promotes innovative teaching methods.

Many of the original Freedom Writers work for The Freedom Writers Foundation, training teachers and developing resources to replicate the Freedom Writers success. They have developed a Freedom Writers Teachers Institute, which selects a group of teachers to be trained to use The Freedom Writers Diary as a curriculum and provides them with several resources to do so.

This is just a small synopsis of what the movie won't tell you. To get the whole story, including more about the touching stories of other Freedom Writer students (like one student's lifelong struggle with cystic fibrosis, another student's painful experience with abortion, and one student's decision to keep her baby), buy the Freedom Writer's Diary, and read it all for yourself!