A civil rights activist in the 60’s stated this in the context of talking about the Freedom Riders, "Segregation was unfair. It was wrong, morally, religiously. As a Southerner – a white Southerner – I felt that we should do what we could to make the South better and to rid ourselves of this evil.” The Freedom Riders were a group of civil right activists who rode interstate buses into the segregated South in order to protest segregated bus terminals. Who knows if the Freedom Writers played their name off of them, but it would seem reasonable considering they came together, like the riders in order to challenge something, or multiple things, that they believe are unjust. The Freedom Writers movie was produced in a way that taught the viewer …show more content…
Along with Richard LaGravenese, many producers including Hilary Swank, who also played Mrs. Gruwell. The “real” Freedom Writers consisted of students that grew up in a society of racial and gang tension. The story takes place around 1992, in Long Beach, California just outside Los Angeles. In Los Angeles in 1992, there was a lot of riots and gang and race tension, due to the beating of Rodney King, so the classroom was especially divided at this point in time. When Mrs. Gruwell, first walked into the classroom to see such a hostile environment to teach in or just to be in, she felt discouraged, until a note similar to the Nazi propaganda was passed around the class. From that point on, Mrs. Gruwell was determined to put a stop to the reckless behavior, the hatred toward each other, and the lack of desire for a better life. She truly transformed a classroom of students, and not to mention multiple individuals work ethic to change the intense racist culture they are surrounded with. Gruwell’s main focus since she was an English teacher was to get across to the students that they had something to say and show the
There are eleven thousand children in public schools in Detroit. Out of those eleven thousand children, only twenty-six of them are white. Third graders wrote a paper to Kozel on what they think about their school day in and day out. The children wrote back how they have nothing. They don’t have a clean school or a clean place to study.
But unlike Gregory’s tale, Wilkins’s story lacks figurative language. Though he does use descriptive language, like when he described what his white neighbors thought about him and his African American family moving in: “The prevailing wisdom in the neighborhood was that we were spoiling it and that we ought to go back where we belonged (or, alternatively ought not intrude where we not wanted.)” (Wilkins). The main problem is that there are no metaphors, similes, symbols, alliterations, and so on. But a strong point of this piece is that it is to the point. All the details he put in his story made sense and helped make his point of equality clear. One such example of this is when he describes his teacher Dorothy Bean, “I later came to know that in Grand Rapids, she was viewed as a very liberal person who believed, among other things, that Negroes were equal.” (Wilkins). This detail helps to establish her as a guiding force to help the other students see Wilkins as an equal. Another great strength in this story was its clear organization of the events that took place. It began with an explanation of the setting, how he was treated, how the teacher treated him, and ended with him being accepted by the other students. Everything was chronologically ordered and easy to follow, which also made it a more enjoyable
The day after Martin Luther King Jr. was murdered (in April 1968,) Jane Elliott’s third grade students were confused and upset. Growing up in a small, all-white town, they were not exposed to racism, and did not understand the meaning of it. Therefore, Jane Elliot decided to show her class what discrimination feels like. She informed the class that they were going to change the way things were done. The students were then divided by eye colour-blue eyes and brown eyes. The blue-eyed children were praised, and told that they were smarter, nicer, and better than the brown-eyed children in every way. Throughout the day, they were given special privileges that the brown-eyed children did not receive. Those privileges included extra recess time, access to the jungle gym, a second helping of food at lunch, sitting at the front of the classroom, and being allowed to participate in class discussions. In contrast, the brown-eyed children were forced to wear brown collars around their necks. They sat at the back of the classroom, and their behaviour and classroom performance was constantly criticized by the teacher. The students from the superior group (even those who were usually sweet and tolerant) became mean, and began to discriminate against the inferior group. The students from the inferior group would struggle with class assignments, and perform poorly on tests. On the second day of the experiment, the roles were reversed, making the brown-eyed children superior to the blue-eyed children. The results were similar, but the brown-eyed students didn’t treat their blue-eyed classmates quite as bad as they had treated them. When the exercise ended, the students hugged and cried with each other. Jane Elliott once said: "After you do this exercise, when the debriefing starts, when the pain is over and they're all back together, you find out how society could be if we really believed all this stuff that we
Elliot mentioned how after Martin Luther King died she wanted to deal with racism in a concrete way and just not talk about it with her students. She heard white commentators say many arrogant things about the shooting of Martin Luther King and also asked who was going to control and hold African Americans. So she wondered how her third graders were going to react to this situation if these white commentators reacted negatively and ignorantly. When the class was studying about the Indians, the teacher realized the how there was no progression with the treatment towards Native Americans. With that in mind, Mrs. Elliot thought it was time to do her lesson on prejudices and stereotypes and have the children walk in the shoes of those who face
Erin Gruwell began her teaching career at Woodrow Wilson High School in Long Beach, California where the school is integrated but it’s not working. Mrs. Gruwell is teaching a class fill with at-risk teenagers that are not interested in learning. But she makes not give up, instead she inspires her students to take an interest in their education and planning for their future as she assigned materials that can relate to their lives. This film has observed many social issues and connected to one of the sociological perspective, conflict theory. Freedom Writers have been constructed in a way that it promotes an idea of how the community where the student lives, represented as a racially acceptable society. The film upholds strong stereotypes of
In public schools, students are subjected to acts of institutional racism that may change how they interact with other students. In the short story “Drinking Coffee Elsewhere” by Packer, readers are allowed to view firsthand how institutionalized racism affects Dina, who is the main character in the story. Packer states “As a person of color, you shouldn’t have to fit in any white, patriarchal system” (Drinking Coffee Elsewhere 117). The article “Disguised Racism in Public Schools” by Brodbelt states “first, the attitudes of teachers toward minority group pupils” (Brodbelt 699). Like the ideas in the article “Disguised Racism in Public Schools” Dina encounters institutionalized oppression on orientation day at Yale.
Bell hooks knows about the challenges of race and class, and why some people have a harder time than others in achieving the American Dream. It is normal to feel uncomfortable and awkward arriving at a new school for the first time, but this was something completely different. For bell hooks, walking through the halls with eyes staring at her as if she was an alien, she realized that schooling for her would never be the same. She describes her feelings of inequality a...
In the film “Freedom Writers” directed by Richard LaGravenese, There are many good film techniques that work together very well and teach us 2 very important ideas of how some of Erin’s students really live and how prejudice we really are as well as how lucky we are to be living like we are right now, because not everybody gets away with it this easy. These techniques also structure the film well too keep the audience entertained and teach us valuable life lessons such as racism and prejudice, some of these film techniques are: Diegetic sound, narration, lighting, and montage.
When we change we adapt and move forward, but when we do not we neither move forward or backward . We all bleed the same colour, so we should all treat each other with respect. Furthermore, Miss Gates, a teacher at Scout’s school, tells her that people in America are not treated with hostility, however, Miss Gates goes on to discriminate a coloured man later, “Over here we don’t believe in persecuting anybody. Persecution comes from people who are prejudiced.” (Lee 329).
The movies of “The Blind Side” and the “Freedom Writers,” are two different genre films, they follow different itineraries and ideas. Movies can be seemly different, but can have the same message. “The Blind Side” and “Freedom Writers,” are the perfect example of demonstrating how stories can follow different plotlines, but can hold the same meaning. Furthermore, both movies share similarities of people dealing with huge obstacles and overcoming life-changing events that impacted their lives every day. In both films the characters met someone who motivated them and encouraged them to pursue a proper education. After all these radical changes the characters from both movies had a more serious understanding that education is really important for their future.
Freedom Writers deliver the message of hope and teaches the audience that if hard work is put into a task then a purpose to life can change completely if the right decisions are made. This movie delivers that message in a wonderful way by using the ‘ghetto’ as an example to change ones destiny which is truly satisfying. This isn’t the best movie but it is a convincing drama where the emotional scenes often feel real than fake. Freedom Writers was a movie that totally blew the audiences mind away, it was an emotionally, heart touching movie that got people thinking about what happens and what others go through. LaGravenese did a very good job using passages from the actual student’s dairies to pursue the message of the film. This is truly an awesome, incredible, amazing movie that everyone should watch connect with it.
In a place of extreme torment, this teacher is capable of bringing a light of faith in her students and from her determination she is able to show that is worthwhile to make a difference. Now days education is only about standardized testing and teaching a curriculum, rather than becoming a role model to students and change their perspectives of life. Therefore this movie teaches the enormous value and impact that a teacher can have in someone 's life and encourages teachers to exceed the limits and make education meaningful for students. In addition, the film inspires to pursuit a better future. It demonstrates that there is always hope to achieve big dreams and overcome the impossibilities. Finally, freedom writers teaches the humanitarian lesson of helping those who suffered, and being the change that they need to see. It is about becoming a hero everyday in the simplest moments of
The film Freedom Writers directed by Richard La Gravenese is an American film based on the story of a dedicated and idealistic teacher named Erin Gruwell, who inspires and teaches her class of belligerent students that there is hope for a life outside gang violence and death. Through unconventional teaching methods and devotion, Erin eventually teaches her pupils to appreciate and desire a proper education. The film itself inquiries into several concepts regarding significant and polemical matters, such as: acceptance, racial conflict, bravery, trust and respect. Perhaps one of the more concentrated concepts of the film, which is not listed above, is the importance and worth of education. This notion is distinctly displayed through the characters of Erin, Erin’s pupils, opposing teachers, Scott and numerous other characters in the film. It is also shown and developed through the usage of specific dialogue, environment, symbolism, and other film techniques.
...n people have nothing. If people had more compassion for others the United States would not have all the problems that it does today. Mrs. Erin Gruwell had compassion for the students; when they saw how much she cared they changed their perspectives on life. Against all odds toward against Mrs. Erin Gruwell, she had the power of human will to teach the student. The writer introduced several scenarios on how young innocent children were influenced by family and friends of the same racial background to create hatred and gang’s violence against other races. Five messages in Freedom Writer are: Non judgmental, Racism, having compassion, the power of the human will, and education. Being non judgmental, having compassion and having human will helped Mrs. Erin Gruwell educate the children at Woodrow Wilson Classical High School. Segregated by race, united with education.
“Be not conformed to this world but be ye transformed by the renewal of your minds.” Romans 12:2. Bell Hooks quotes the bible to explain to her audience that people don’t always have to follow societies perceived notions concerning racism; instead they should think for themselves and construct their own opinions about what is right. Bell Hooks’ essay, “A Revolution of Values: The Promise of Multicultural Change,” speaks about the integrated public school system and it’s effect on society of the later 1950’s and 1960’s. Generally speaking towards African Americans and whites alike, the author apprehensively talks about how she plans on attending her first ever high school reunion. She recounts the friendship that she and a white male had formed during her high school years and how it was deemed unacceptable at the time because she was an African American female. Bell Hooks goes on to in her essay to remember her feelings as an African American in a society that she thought needed a social change to end all racism. She wanted society to move from a segregated culture to cultural diversification. Bell Hooks’ essay is successful because of her strong use of many different sources of expert support, as well as her influential uses of both pathos and ethos to maintain her argument to end racism.