The Freedom Writers Diary: How a Teacher and 150 Teens Used Writing to Change Themselves and the World Around Them

As junior year begins, the students are studying American authors Ralph Waldo Emerson and David Thoreau and learning about self-reliance and the principles of nonconformism. One student reflects that she has often felt misunderstood, but now she thinks maybe that’s not so bad. She writes: “Now it’s time for me to learn to hold my ground and be self-reliant” (116). Another student reflects that he recently witnessed an innocent student get caught up in a fight. He wonders why he didn’t do anything to help that other student and now wishes he had. Another student gives himself an “F” when Ms. Gruwell asks them to grade themselves on an assignment. Ms. Gruwell confronts him and says she will not allow him to fail. From her, he learned “that a truly self-reliant person takes action, leaving nothing to chance and everything to themselves” (120).

As the year goes on, the students read Catcher in the Rye and The Color Purple. Some students write about how they relate to the Holden Caulfield’s contrarian personality, while others reflect on how they, like the characters in The Color Purple, have experienced domestic violence. One student recounts a story of being raped by her Uncle Joe and vows that, like the character Celie, she will survive. Another student recounts a relationship she had with an abusive boyfriend. Another recalls how his alcoholic stepfather who beat up his mother, and how after reading this book, he pulled his stepfather off his mom that night.

Ms. Gruwell has several of her students speak at a panel for her college class. She asks one student to tell the class about her experience with homelessness. The student instead recalls her father, who molested her sister and spent all their family’s money on beer and drugs. She felt nervous about sharing so much of her personal life, but afterward, felt relieved. 

Ms. Gruwell has decided that the students’ next project will be to turn their diaries into a collaborative book. She was inspired by Zlata, who “suggested that writing might be one of the best vehicles for some of my students to escape their horrific environments and personal demons” (139).

Ms. Gruwell reflects on the difficulty of her students’ lives and says that the classroom is one of the only places they feel safe. She feels responsible for their success with this project and solicits corporate support, including from John Tu, who donates 35 computers to the class. They decide to give the computers to the students who have the highest grade point average when they graduate.

They decide to make the entries anonymous so that students’ personal history will be protected, and they will be asked to sign an honor code certifying that they have not embellished their stories. A law firm agrees to help them pro bono with the honor code and computer contract. 

The students are initially very nervous about turning their diaries into a book. They worry that writing about the difficult things that happened to them will only make them feel worse. One student, whose brother died just nine months ago, worries about losing control of her emotions: “I just can’t do that. I don’t want to remember! Silence is my way of staying strong, for my brother and for me” (144). Another student says that he would rather write something fictional, because writing about where he comes from will “bring up a lot of things that I want to suppress” (145).

But once the students start editing other students’ diary entries, their feelings about the project change. One girl, editing a story about a girl who has been molested, feels relieved, because she thought she was alone in her own experience of abuse. Another student edits a story about abortion, which makes him reflect on his own recent experience with his girlfriend’s abortion. “When I finished reading the story, I didn’t feel so alone,” he writes. “Somebody in my class shares my secret” (152).

In class, the students learn about the Freedom Riders, who rode buses through the South in the 1960s and challenged segregation. The students decide to call themselves the “Freedom Writers.” They work hard on their diary project, staying so late one night that they have to sneak out the classroom window to avoid setting off the alarms. They plan to send the finished book to the U.S. Secretary of Education, Richard Riley. They hold a concert to raise money for a trip to D.C. to present the book to him in person. 

In D.C., they visit Arlington National Cemetery and the Lincoln Memorial, where they stand on the monument stairs and hold hands. When they see a swastika spray-painted on a wall, they cover it with the Freedom Writers logo. They visit the Holocaust Museum, where they reflect on how they can create change. The students eventually present the book to Secretary Riley and hold a candlelight vigil afterward.

Reporters and TV cameras are at the school when the students return from Washington, D.C. At first, they think the cameras are there for them, but quickly they learn that they are there because another student, Jeremy Strombocker, had raped and murdered a seven-year-old girl. The students find it “ironic” that while they were in D.C. standing against violence, “a murder was being carried out” (184).

At the end of the year, Ms. Gruwell encourages them to get more involved in extra-curricular activities, and one Freedom Writer wins the election for Senior Class President. The students continue to become closer and think of each other as family, and are worried that they might not be able to be together next year.