Freedom Writers

Don’t Tread On Me – Divine Providence

Based upon an inspiring true story of High School students during the Rodney King Riots. A new teacher chooses to take on the challenge of changing these 150 students lives of gang violence and broken homes. She takes on the local Board of Education and teachers of seniority tenure to expand the students vision by personally financing the purchase of books such as the Holocaust victim’s “The Diary of Anne Frank” and being allowed against the Education Union & School Administration policy to advance in class in order to continue to teach her students.. She sponsors field trips to the Holocaust museum and introduces them to four survivors at a diner party at the Marriott. She does this by adding two more jobs to her married life. She inspires them to write their feelings to Miep Gies, the woman who hid Anne Frank. The students decide to raise the funds to fly Miep Gies from Austria to speak to the class. The teacher challenges the students to keep a personal diary. They learn about The Freedom Riders civil rights Greyhound bus ride that ends up torch bombed in Anniston, AL. The students publish their diaries in a book titled “Freedom Writers” & are amongst the first in their families to graduate from high school. Several go to college where their teacher becomes their college professor. They establish a fund to duplicate the classroom success footprint in other public high schools.