Erin Gruwell

Erin Gruwell is a graduate of the University of California at Irvine, where she received several awards as an undergraduate. She received her master’s at California State University, Long Beach, where she has been honored as a Distinguished Alumna by the School of Education. As a student teacher, Gruwell found herself questioning the status quo of the education system. She could not understand why her colleagues were not more supportive of her efforts to reach at-risk students. Fortunately, those outside of the system saw merit in what she was doing, and Gruwell found benefactors who were willing to not only support her efforts but also to fund them. Barely able to make ends meet on her own financially, in addition to the countless hours Gruwell spent at school and her tireless dedication to her students’ success, Gruwell took two part-time jobs: one as a concierge at a local Marriott and another as a salesperson at Nordstrom’s. Gruwell’s marriage also eventually succumbed to her busy schedule and dedication to teaching. Gruwell traveled with the Freedom Writers to Washington, DC; New York City; Auschwitz; the Anne Frank House; and many other significant places around the globe.

Today, Erin Gruwell is the president of the Freedom Writers Foundation. She travels nationwide to share her methodology with other teachers. She served as a professor at Cal State Long Beach and even ran for Congress in 2000. Gruwell is the recipient of many awards, including the What’s Right With Southern California Award, the American Jewish Committee Micah Award, the Justice Gene Lentzer Human Relations Award, and the Junior Chamber of Commerce Outstanding Educator Award for the State of California.

Zlata Filipovic

Zlata Filipovic started keeping a diary in the fall of 1991 at the age of eleven. Her diary reveals that she was concerned with many of the same things that preteens of her day were interested in: boys, fashion, and MTV. However, what made her diary notable was that she was living in war-torn Bosnia, where she and her family faced food shortages, bombings, and tremendous fear. Zlata lost friends and loved ones to the war and the violence that plagued her hometown of Sarajevo. Ultimately, Zlata and her family fled to Paris in 1993, which is also when she penned her final journal entry. Zlata’s Diary was published in 1994 just as Erin Gruwell began her teaching career. Gruwell’s class read Zlata’s Diary and was immediately struck by the similarities between Zlata and themselves. One student wrote, “I’m beginning to realize that Anne Frank, Zlata Filipovic, and I have a lot in common. We all seem to be trapped in some sort of a cage. Anne’s cage was the secret annex she and her family hid in, and the attic where she spent most of her time. Zlata’s cage was the basement she had to use for shelter, away from bombs. My cage is my own house.” Another student compares Zlata’s experience growing up in Sarajevo to their experience living through the LA riots. The student poignantly reflects, “Zlata and I lost our childhood innocence because we were denied the right to do childlike things, like go to school, talk on the phone, and just play outside. . . . Unfortunately, we both had to suffer because of other people’s ignorance and destruction.”

Moved by the similarities between their lives and Zlata’s, the class was determined to meet their hero in person. Gruwell suggested that the class write Zlata letters asking her to come to California to meet them. She reflects, “it was a ploy to get them to write letters, but I didn’t think they’d take me seriously.” Never ceasing to amaze her, Gruwell’s class wrote incredibly insightful and compelling letters. Gruwell had the letters bound into a book and then the work began; Zlata had fled Bosnia, and no one was really sure where she was. Gruwell sent the letters to both France and Ireland and waited for a response. In the meantime, the class began raising money to fly Zlata to the United States. In March 1996, Zlata, her parents, and her best friend made the trip to visit the Freedom Writers. This visit marked the start of a wonderful cross-cultural partnership.

Miep Gies

Miep Gies is another one of the Freedom Writers’ heroes. Responsible for hiding Anne Frank and her family, Gies was also the one who found Anne’s diary and gave it to her father after the war. Inspired by Gies’s courage in the face of adversity, the students decided to have a Read-a-Thon for Tolerance to raise funds to bring Miep Gies to California so that they could meet her in person. Indeed, the class was successful, and in the spring of 1996, Miep Gies visited the Freedom Writers. When one of the students informed Gies that she is a hero, Gies responded that the students are the real heroes. Miep cautioned the class, “do not let Anne’s death be in vain.” One student reflected, “That’s when it all became crystal clear. Anne’s message of tolerance was to become our message.” In the spring of 1998, Gruwell’s class was chosen as the recipient of the Spirit of Anne Frank Award.