Posts Tagged ‘Freedom Writers’

“She told me that what she hopes people will learn from her life ‘is that every individual, even a very ordinary housewife or secretary, can make a difference.’”

This A.P. obituary for Miep Gies, the Dutch woman who helped hide Anne Frank and her family in Amsterdam during World War II, omits one of the things I find most impressive about her: that she accepted an invitation in 1996 from Erin Gruwell to speak to her class of “unteachable, at risk” high school students in Long Beach, California. The quote comes from The Freedom Writers’ Diary, the book Gruwell published with her students.

I’m not sure what’s more amazing: that a teacher would extend such an unlikely invitation, or that it would be accepted. Miep wrote to the students on her return:

“The interest and insight shown, both by teachers, impressed me greatly. Without any hesitation I state that this visit has been one of my most unique experiences. Several of your faces have been engraved in my heart.