FREEDOM WRITERS | Inge Auerbacher’s visit

Holocaust survivor Inge Auerbacher’s visit to Austintown Middle School came about because of Freedom Writers classes at Fitch High School. Steven Ward, whose ninth- and 11th-grade English classes make up the Fitch Freedom Writers, said he arranged for her to visit through the Jewish Community Center.

Ward is one of 150 teachers nationwide trained in the principles of Erin Gruwell, a teacher who inspired her “unteachable” California students to change their lives. They were the original Freedom Writers.

Gruwell faced her first students, dubbed by the administration as “unteachable, at-risk” teenagers in 1994 at Woodrow Wilson High School in Long Beach, Calif. The class included black, Latino, Cambodian, Vietnamese and white students, many of whom had grown up in rough neighborhoods in Long Beach. In the first few weeks of class, the students made it clear that they were not interested in what their teacher had to say, and made bets about how long she would last in their classroom.

In a pivotal moment, a racial caricature of one of the black students circulated in the classroom. Gruwell intercepted it and compared it to the Nazi caricatures of Jews during the Holocaust. To her amazement, the students responded with puzzled looks. Many had never heard of the Holocaust.

When she asked how many in her class had been shot at, however, almost all of them raised their hands, and began lifting their shirts to show their scars. This initiated a battle-scar show-and-tell that left Gruwell shocked. But she took advantage of the energy she had sparked.

With a philosophy that valued and promoted diversity, she encouraged her students to rethink beliefs about themselves and others and to rechart their futures. Her students shattered stereotypes to become critical thinkers, aspiring college students and citizens for change.

They wrote anonymous journal entries about the adversities they faced, and learned that writing was a powerful tool for self-expression. They decided to call themselves the Freedom Writers, after learning about the Freedom Riders who fought against segregation during the Civil Rights Movement.

A collection of their journal entries was published as “The Freedom Writers Diary.” The 2007 movie “Freedom Writers” is based on their experience.

Ward’s classes came to AMS with Auerbacher, so that the younger pupils could hear her speech as part of a mentoring program with The Fitch Freedom Writers, who tell their own life stories through anonymous diary entries.

Auerbacher will also appear at YSU at 7 tonight in the Ohio Room at Kilcawley Center.

Sources: Steven Ward, Vindicator files, freedomwritersfoundation.org