Erin on Her Students' Perspective

An Anne Frank tribute video done to the fitting song "Girl in the War" by Josh Ritter. The slideshow features pictures of Anne and her family.

At the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles, Mario, April, Deance and the other Freedom Writers actors browse the exhibits and share their thoughts on the Holocaust. April L. Hernandez reads from a diary that she kept during the filming.

The real Erin Gruwell discusses her first year of teaching, when due to a lack of tenure she was given the worst students in the school, many of whom were disciplinary transfers, had been to rehab, or had emotional problems. Yet, despite these obstacles, it was these students who became the Freedom Writers.

Erin talks about the journals that she encouraged the kids in her class to create. She emphasizes that the movie is more authentic because her students' actual journal entries, which are gritty and honest, were used in the movie.

Real life teacher Teacher Erin Gruwell, portrayed by Hilary Swank in the Freedom Writers movie, recalls the moment that her students first bonded after she asked how many of them had been shot at.

A tribute video for Armand "Prozpect" Jones that was created for the remembrance at Crenshaw Christian Center on April 30, 2006. Armand's life was taken just after filming wrapped on Freedom Writers. In the film he portrayed the character Grant Rice, who was the fictional counterpart to real life Freedom Writer Sharaud Moore (the student who was wrongly accused of the shooting).

Watch the Freedom Writers movie trailer for the 2007 film starring Hilary Swank, Scott Glenn, Patrick Dempsey and Mario. The movie tells the story of real life teacher Erin Gruwell, who refused to accept the status quo and strived to find a way to reach the troubled intercity kids who made up her classroom.