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46-586: It is based on the 1999 book The Freedom Writers Diary by teacher Erin Gruwell and students who compiled the book out of real diary entries about their lives that they wrote in their English class at Woodrow Wilson Classical High School in Long Beach, California . The movie is also based on the DC program called City at Peace. The title of the movie and book is a play on the term " Freedom Riders ," referring to

92-438: A weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, calculated an average score of 64/100 based on 29 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Cynthia Fuchs of Common Sense Media gave the film three out of five stars, writing in her review that "the plot is predictable, the actors too old to play high school students, and the pacing too slow. And really, the camera circles around deep-thinking faces

138-519: 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, 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

184-482: A close friend of the family, as did her fiancé, Jan Gies . After refusing to join a Nazi women's association, her passport was invalidated, and she was ordered to be deported back to Austria within 90 days (by then annexed by Germany, which classified her as a German citizen). The couple faced some difficulties, but they were married on 16 July 1941 so that she could obtain Dutch citizenship and thus evade deportation. "Anne

230-497: A curriculum of books for educators to serve as resources to implement the Freedom Writers Method of teaching in more classrooms. The books in the series include The Freedom Writers Diary , Teaching Hope (written by Gruwell and other Freedom Writers teachers), Teach with Your Heart (Gruwell's personal memoir), and The Freedom Writers Diary Teacher's Guide (a classroom resource for teachers looking to implement

276-456: A day. She never carried more than what one shopping bag could hold or what she could hide under her coat. To prevent the Opekta workers from becoming suspicious, Gies tried not to enter the hiding place during office hours. Her husband also helped by providing ration cards that he had obtained illegally. By visiting various grocery shops and markets on a regular basis, Gies developed a good sense of

322-416: A few too many times. But Freedom Writers also argues for listening to teenagers. That in itself makes it a rare and close-to-wonderful thing." The film received a positive rating from Fox Weekly , giving the film a 9 out of 10. Despite the tagline of the movie being "Their story. Their words. Their future", Hilary Swank was the central character and image of all promotions. Swank's face on the poster, which

368-410: A life-changing, eye-opening, spirit-raising odyssey against intolerance and misunderstanding. They learned to see the parallels between these books and 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 ,

414-465: A note that Erin successfully prepared numerous high school students to graduate and attend college – for many, the first in their families to do so. Freedom Writers had a domestic gross of $ 36,605,602 and had a foreign gross of $ 6,485,139 bringing the movie to a total gross of $ 43,090,741 worldwide. On the film's opening weekend it grossed a total of $ 9,405,582 ranking 4th behind Children of Men (3rd), The Pursuit of Happyness (2nd), and Night at

460-748: A racist drawing by her student Tito and utilizes it to teach the class about the Holocaust , which everyone, except for White student Ben Samuels, has no knowledge of. Erin has them play a game called "the line game," and by seeing that they have all been through traumatic experiences, the students start becoming closer to one another. Erin gradually begins to earn their trust and buys composition books for them to use as diaries, in which they write about their experiences of being evicted, being abused, and seeing their loved ones die. Determined to reform her students, Erin takes on two part-time jobs to pay for more books and activities and spends more time at school, much to

506-474: A reason to prohibit friendships between one another. Meanwhile, her unique training methods are scorned by her colleagues and department chair, Margaret Campbell. The following school year comes, and Erin teaches her class (now sophomores) again, making it the second year she is their teacher. On the first day, Erin makes her class propose a "Toast for Change," allowing everyone to open up about their struggles and what they wish to change about themselves. Later on,

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552-512: A refund from the store owner. The store owner becomes angry with Grant in return and orders him to leave the store. As Grant storms out, Paco (as retaliation for losing a fight against him during the school brawl earlier) attempts to kill him, but misses and accidentally kills Sindy's boyfriend, while Grant flees the scene and is later arrested for the homicide. As a witness, Eva must testify in court; she intends to guard "her own" in her testimony and protect Paco. The next day at school, Erin examines

598-512: A room of "unteachable, at-risk" students. One day she intercepted a note with a 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. 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

644-472: A secretary with the Dutch branch of the German spice firm Opekta . Gies wrote, "But the office was not the only thing in my life. My social life at this time was very lively. I loved to dance and belonged like many young Dutch girls, to a dance club." Otto Frank had just relocated from Germany and had been appointed managing director of Opekta's recently expanded Dutch operations. Gies, Frank's employee, became

690-475: A sound!" The families had been betrayed and the Grüne Polizei arrested the people hidden at 263 Prinsengracht, as well as Kugler and Kleiman. The next day, Gies went to the German police office to try to find the arrestees. She offered money to buy their freedom but did not succeed. Gies and the other helpers could have been executed if they had been caught hiding Jews; however, she was not arrested because

736-436: Is much larger and in-focus than the students on the poster, demonstrates how even if the words and stories of the students are central to the plot, the educator is being given credit for the overall success of their students, instead of on the students themselves. Since its release, Freedom Writers has become a topic of conversation in the reshaping of teaching styles, especially in classrooms with at-risk children. Following

782-484: The Los Angeles riots two years before. Erin struggles to form a connection with her students and observes numerous fights between some of them, who are in rival gangs . She attempts to instill respect, but they ignore her and continue to be disruptive in class. The second day of school, much of the student body is involved in a massive brawl when one of Erin's Hispanic students Eva Benitez lets her boyfriend Paco onto

828-513: The Nazis in an annex above Otto Frank's business premises during World War II . She was Austrian by birth, but in 1920, at the age of eleven, she was taken in as a foster child by a Dutch family in Leiden to whom she became very attached. Although she was only supposed to stay for six months, this stay was extended to one year because of frail health, after which Gies chose to remain with them, living

874-463: The 1992–93 non-fiction book by Zlata Filipović , Zlata's Diary: A Child's Life in Sarajevo . 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. As an idealistic 23-year-old English teacher at Wilson High School in Long Beach, California, Erin Gruwell confronted

920-867: The Dutch woman who sheltered the Frank family, to visit them in California during the 1994/1995 school year, 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 Primetime Live and All Things Considered , coverage in People magazine , a meeting with U.S. Secretary of Education Richard Riley – and educational benefit. All 150 Freedom Writers graduated from high school and many went on to attend college. On March 11, 2008, an English teacher at Perry Meridian High School in Indianapolis, Indiana , Connie Heermann,

966-473: The Frank family and was a great support to them during the twenty-five months they spent in hiding. Together with her colleague Bep Voskuijl , she retrieved Anne Frank's diary after the family was arrested, and kept the papers safe until Otto Frank returned from Auschwitz in June 1945 and learned of his younger daughter's death soon afterwards. Gies had stored Anne Frank's papers in the hopes of returning them to

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1012-576: The Frank family assimilate into Dutch society, and she and her husband became regular guests at the Franks' home. With her husband Jan and other Opekta employees ( Victor Kugler , Johannes Kleiman and Bep Voskuijl ), Miep Gies helped hide Otto and Edith Frank; their daughters Margot and Anne ; Hermann , Auguste and Peter van Pels; and Fritz Pfeffer in several upstairs rooms in the company's office building on Amsterdam's Prinsengracht from 6 July 1942 to 4 August 1944. In an interview, Gies said she

1058-587: The Freedom Writers Method in their classrooms). Common lent his talents to the soundtrack with " A Dream ", featuring and produced by The Black Eyed Peas member will.i.am . The soundtrack also includes the Tupac Shakur song " Keep Ya Head Up ". Instrumental sections of Sia 's " Breathe Me " accompany the film's television trailer. The Freedom Writers soundtrack contains the following songs: The Freedom Writers Diary The Freedom Writers Diary: How

1104-502: The Museum (1st). Freedom Writers has received mostly positive reviews from critics. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes provides links to 126 reviews, 70% of which are positive. The critical consensus is that " Freedom Writers is a frank, formulaic entry in the inspirational inner-city teacher genre, with an energetic Hilary Swank leading the appealing cast of unknowns." Another review aggregator, Metacritic , which assigns

1150-609: The Netherlands . The minor planet 99949 Miep Gies is named in her honor. She always maintained that while she appreciated the honors, they embarrassed her: "I am not a hero. I am not a special person. I don't want attention. I did what any decent person would have done." On 30 July 2009, the Austrian Ambassador to the Netherlands, Wolfgang Paul, presented the Grand Decoration of Honour for Services to

1196-480: The campus with their fellow gang members. Erin goes home upset and distraught as she had witnessed another one of her Hispanic students Alejandro Santiago bring a gun to school. One night, Eva goes into a convenience store while Paco and two other friends stay in the car. Her classmate and rival Sindy Ngor, who is a Cambodian refugee, her boyfriend, and another friend also enter the store. African American student Grant Rice, frustrated about losing an arcade game, demands

1242-587: The class makes enough money to have Miep Gies come to the United States and tell her story of her helping Anne Frank , her family, and the Van Pels hide from the Nazis ; she then also persuades the students that they are heroes and that they "within their own small ways, [can] turn on a small light in a dark room." These two events inspire Eva to tell the truth, breaking free of her father's demands of always protecting her own. At Grant's trial, she shocks

1288-440: The courtroom by revealing that Paco actually killed Sindy's boyfriend at the scene; Grant is spared while Paco is convicted, and Sindy later forgives Eva. Afterward, Eva is attacked and threatened by her fellow gang members, but is ultimately spared because of her father and they dissociate from her. She subsequently moves in with her aunt for safety. Meanwhile, Erin asks her students to write their diaries in book form. She compiles

1334-582: The diaries before turning them over to Otto and later remarked that if she had, she would have had to destroy them because the papers contained the names of all five of the helpers as well as of their black-market suppliers. She was persuaded by Otto Frank to read the diary in its second printing. In 1947, Miep and Jan Gies moved to Jekerstraat 65, by the Merwedeplein  [ nl ] , along with Otto Frank. Miep Gies had assured Anne Frank's biographer Melissa Müller repeatedly that she did not think

1380-544: The disappointment of her husband, Scott. He tells her he is unhappy because she didn't consult him about the new jobs. A transformation is specifically visible in one student, Marcus. He uses his library books to learn more about the Holocaust. Erin invites several Jewish Holocaust survivors to talk with her class about their experiences and requires the students to attend a field trip to the Museum of Tolerance . The students start to realize that being different races should not be

1426-511: The entries and names it The Freedom Writers Diary . Her husband divorces her since he feels like Erin is devoting too much of her time to her students and not enough time to their marriage. Margaret tells her she cannot teach her kids for their junior year. After being encouraged by her father, a former civil rights activist, Erin fights this decision, eventually convincing the superintendent to permit her to teach her kids during their junior and senior years, much to their elation. The film ends with

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1472-484: The felony of "accessory to the distribution of pornography to minors" if they have the book available to students. Miep Gies Hermine " Miep " Gies ( Dutch: [mip ˈxis] ; née   Santrouschitz ; 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 , Peter van Pels ) from

1518-603: The food shortages prevailing in Austria after World War I . The Nieuwenburgs, a working-class family who already had five children of their own, took her as their foster daughter, and called her by the diminutive "Miep" by which she became known. In 1922, she moved with her foster family to Gaaspstraat 25 in Amsterdam . Gies was an honors student , and described herself as "reserved and very independent"; after graduating high school, she worked as an accountant and then in 1933 as

1564-679: The girl, but gave them to Otto Frank, who compiled them into a diary first published in June 1947. In collaboration with Alison Leslie Gold , Gies wrote the book Anne Frank Remembered: The Story of the Woman Who Helped to Hide the Frank Family in 1987. She died in 2010 at age 100. Born in Vienna , Austria on 15 February 1909 to Karoline Maria Santrouschitz, She was sent to Leiden from Vienna in December 1920 to escape

1610-700: The main suspect, Willem van Maaren, was the culprit in the betrayal. Miep and Jan Gies were recognised as Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem on 8 March 1972. In 1994, Gies was awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany as well as the Wallenberg Medal by the University of Michigan . In 1997, she was knighted in the Order of Orange-Nassau by Queen Beatrix of

1656-465: The multiracial civil rights activists who tested the U.S. Supreme Court decision ordering the desegregation of interstate buses in 1961. The idea for the film came from journalist Tracey Durning, who made a documentary about Erin Gruwell for the ABC News program Primetime Live . Durning served as co-executive producer of the film. The film was dedicated to the memory of actor Armand Jones, who

1702-563: The police officer who came to interrogate her was from Vienna , her birth town. She recognized his accent and told him they had the same hometown. He was amazed, then started pacing and cursing at her, finally deciding to let her stay. Gies remained safe with her husband in Amsterdam throughout the rest of the war. Before the hiding place was emptied by the authorities, Gies and the younger secretary Bep Voskuijl retrieved parts of Anne Frank's diaries and saved them in their desk drawer. Gies

1748-471: The rest of her life in the Netherlands. She said, "Over two million Holand people had helped hid Jewish people in the Second World War, I am just doing what I can to help". In 1933, Gies began working for Otto Frank , a Jewish businessman who had moved with his family from Germany to the Netherlands in the hope of sparing his family from Nazi persecution. She became a close, trusted friend of

1794-601: The success of The Freedom Writers Diary , Erin Gruwell founded the Freedom Writers Foundation . The non-profit encourages a more diverse and inclusive classroom experience with the specific goal of providing further educational opportunities for minority and at-risk students. Gruwell, the original Freedom Writers featured in the book (many of whom are now educators), and other educators have crafted training programs for educators to help their students succeed and pursue higher education. Gruwell also developed

1840-512: The supply situation. At their apartment, close to the Merwedeplein where the Franks had lived before going into hiding, Gies and her husband Jan (who belonged to the Dutch resistance ) also hid an anti-Nazi university student. On the morning of 4 August 1944, sitting at her desk, Gies, along with Voskuijl and Kleiman, was confronted by a man with a gun commanding "Stay put! Don't move! Not

1886-499: The troubles of their past, present and future. The Freedom Writers name pays homage to the name of the 1960s civil rights group Freedom Riders . After intercepting a racist drawing from one of her students, Gruwell compared the drawings to Nazi propaganda techniques . She drew blank stares; only one of them had heard of the Holocaust . As a result, she assigned them to read and write about the posthumously published 1947 book The Diary of Anne Frank (written between 1942 and 1944) and

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1932-566: Was determined to give them back to Anne. After the war had ended and it was confirmed that Anne Frank had perished in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, Gies gave the collection of papers and notebooks to the sole survivor from the Secret Annex , Otto Frank. After transcribing sections for his family, Frank was persuaded of the value of Anne’s account of their ordeal and arranged for the book's publication in 1947. Gies did not read

1978-543: Was glad to help the families hide because she was extremely concerned after seeing what was happening to the Jews in Amsterdam. Every day, she saw trucks loaded with Jews heading to the railway station, en route to Nazi concentration camps . She did not tell anyone, including her foster parents, about the people in hiding whom she was assisting. When purchasing food for the people in hiding, Gies avoided suspicion in many ways: for example, by visiting several different suppliers in

2024-428: Was impressed with my gold ring. She looked at it dreamily. (...) Because times were hard, we had only one ring, although the custom was for a couple to have two. Henk [In her book, Miep called Jan by the name of Henk, because Anne Frank had used that pseudonym in her diary] and I had barely scraped together enough money for one gold ring. He had insisted that I should wear it." Gies's fluency in Dutch and German helped

2070-535: Was killed after filming Freedom Writers. He was fatally shot at age 18 in Anaheim, California , after a confrontation with a man who robbed Jones of a necklace in a Denny's restaurant. In 1994, in Long Beach, California , Erin Gruwell has been hired to teach Freshman English for at-risk students at Woodrow Wilson High School , a formerly prestigious school that has declined since voluntary integration had been enforced and where racial tension has increased since

2116-585: Was suspended for a year and a half without pay for using the Freedom Writers Diary in her classroom against the wishes of the school board. Administrators objected to racial slurs and sexual content in portions of the book. In March 2023, the book was removed from public school libraries in Martin County, Florida . In June 2023, Utah State Senator John D. Johnson called the book pornographic and said that high schools are committing

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