Freedom Writers - after the film

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• vmbo t
• Leerjaar 4

After the movie

What themes were dealt
with in the film?
(name 2)

Wat wordt hiermee
bedoeld?

Wat wordt hiermee
bedoeld?

A few facts...

All 150 "Freedom Writers" Graduated. Many of them attended college.

The Holocaust survivors in the movie, who eat dinner with the students at the Marriot, are the actual survivors who dined with the real Freedom Writers. These individuals include Renee Firestone, Eddie Ilam, Elisabeth Mann, and Gloria Ungar.

Erin Gruwell and her husband did divorce for reasons similar to those presented in the film

Background - some American history

- Segregation in the US

- Rosa Parks

- Freedom Riders

Slavernij

In de zuidelijke staten van de V.S. bestond nog slavernij

In 1865 wordt de slavernij afgeschaft, maar daarmee is de ongelijkheid niet verdwenen...

+/- 1800

Jim Crow wetten

In de zuidelijk staten werden wetten doorgevoerd om de witte en de zwarte bevolking te scheiden. (segregatie)

A poster announcing a show of a white artist performing as a black person in 1900. The act usually consisted of funny dances.

Veel vluchten naar de Noordelijke staten. Daar ontstaan al snel achterstandsbuurten in de grote steden. 

Segregatie

"Gescheiden maar gelijk"

pro- and anti segregation protests, 1954.

Segregation in the bus: white people in the front , black people in the back.

If the front of the bus was crowded, black people had to give up their seats for white passengers

During the Bus Boycott, black people refused to take the bus, to force the bus company to lift the racist rules.

This was successful. The bus company almost went bankrupt and eventually changed the rules, allowing free choice of seats for everybody.

Rosa Parks was arrested for not giving up her seat to a white passenger in the bus.

1955 - Rosa Parks

1961 - Freedom Riders

Who were the Freedom Riders? 

What is the similarity between the Freedom Riders (1961)
and the Freedom Writers (from the film you watched)?

1992 - Tupac Shakur - Changes

Come on, come on

I see no changes, wake up in the morning, and I ask myself

Is life worth living, should I blast myself?

I'm tired of bein' poor, and even worse I'm black

My stomach hurts, so I'm lookin' for a purse to snatch

Cops give a damn about a negro

Pull the trigger, kill a nigga, he's a hero

Give the crack to the kids who the hell cares

One less hungry mouth on the welfare

I see no changes, all I see is racist faces

Misplaced hate makes disgrace to races

We under, I wonder what it takes to make this

One better place, let's erase the wasted

And although it seems heaven sent

We ain't ready, to see a black President

It ain't a secret, don't conceal the fact

The penitentiary's packed, and it's filled with blacks

Tupac

Discussion:

What was he singing about?

What is the link between Tupac's song
& the film 'Freedom Writers'
(use single English words)

Toen & nu

I, Too (Langston Hughes) 

“I, Too” is a cry of protest against American racism. 

Written by Langston Hughes in 1855 (Before the Civil War). 

He talks about being black and not belonging to American society—even though he is a key part of it.

Question:  Is this only a pre Civil War 'problem' or is it , even now , a bigger world-wide issue?

Change the 1855 text to a
more modern version
'I, too, am __________'