Erin Gruwell

The Freedom Writers Diary is a 1999 book written by the Freedom Writers with intros by Erin Gruwell. It is the basis of the 2007 movie Freedom Writers, starring Hilary Swank, and Gruwell is the subject of the 2019 PBS Documentary, Freedom Writers: Stories from the Heart.

In 1998, after teaching for only four years, Gruwell left Wilson High School and became a Distinguished Teacher in Residence at California State University, Long Beach. Gruwell later went on to start the Freedom Writers Foundation, which aspires to spread the Freedom Writers method across the country.

In the fall of 1995, Gruwell gave each of her students a bag full of new books and had them make a toast for change. After that, she saw a turnaround in them. The students went on to surprise everyone. All 150 Freedom Writers graduated from high school and many went on to attend college.

Gruwell began student teaching in 1994 at Woodrow Wilson High School in Long Beach, California. She was assigned low-performing students in the school. One student, a boy named Sharaud, had recently transferred to Wilson from a rival high school where he had allegedly threatened his teacher with a gun. However, a few months into the school year one of her other students passed a note depicting Sharaud (an African American) with extremely large lips. Gruwell told her students that it was drawings like that which led to the Holocaust. When one of her students asked her what was the Holocaust, she was met by uncomprehending looks -- none of her students had heard of one of the defining moments of the 20th century. Gruwell took the students to see Schindler's List, bought new books out of her own pocket and invited guest speakers.

Between 1994 and 1998, the Freedom Writers garnered a great deal of media coverage, including appearances on Primetime Live, The View and Good Morning America.

Erin originally intended to go to law school to become a lawyer rather than a teacher. After watching the 1992 Los Angeles riots on news coverage, she decided to change her profession to a teacher because she believed educating students could make more of a difference. She reasoned "I thought, God, by the time you're defending a kid in the courtroom, the battle's already lost. I think that the real fighting should happen here, in the classroom."

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 (1999). The 2007 film Freedom Writers and 2019 PBS documentary, Freedom Writers: Stories from the Heart, are based on her story. She was an incredibly influential teacher that not only taught her students, but ensured their safety at home. She inspired her students to be successful by giving them guidance and being the role model they needed.