 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(November 2015) |
"Each one teach one" is an African-American proverb. It has been adopted as a motto by many organizations. [1]
| | This article needs additional citations for verification .(November 2015) |
"Each one teach one" is an African-American proverb. It has been adopted as a motto by many organizations. [1]
The phrase originated in the United States during the time of slavery, [2] when Africans were denied education, including learning to read. Many if not most enslaved people were kept in a state of ignorance about anything beyond their immediate circumstances which were under the control of owners, the lawmakers and authorities. When an enslaved person learned or was taught to read, it became their duty to teach someone else, spawning the phrase "Each one teach one". [2]
Many of the political prisoners on Robben Island, South Africa held during apartheid (1948–1991) were illiterate. Their mail was highly censored and reading materials limited. The inmates used the term, "each one, teach one" as a battle cry to ensure everyone in the movement was educated.
The phrase is used as a slogan in literacy campaigns in Nigeria. [3]
In the first half of the 20th century, the phrase was applied to the work of a [Christian missionary], Dr. Frank Laubach, who utilized the concept to help address poverty and illiteracy in the Philippines. Many sources cite Dr. Laubach as creating the saying, but many others believe that he simply used it in order to advance the cause of ending illiteracy in the world. [4]
The phrase is the party slogan of the Communist Party of Great Britain (Marxist–Leninist).[ citation needed ]
The phrase has also been adopted by the Delancey Street Foundation, a nonprofit organization based in San Francisco that provides residential rehabilitation services and vocational training for people with history of substance abuse or criminal convictions. The organization incorporates the "each one, teach one" principle by having each client act as a mentor to successive clients in academic subjects and trades varying from masonry to catering. [5]
In the 1996 novel Push by Sapphire and the 2009 movie based on it, Precious , the expression is used as the name of an alternative school that the principal character is attending after being transferred out from public school.
Each One Teach One was used as the title of a memoir by homeless activist Ronald Casanova. Published by Curbstone Press in 1996 and subtitled Up and Out of Poverty, Memoirs of a Street Activist, the book recounts Casanova's life as a New York City orphan, his youth in a series of detention centers, and ultimate success as an officer of the National Union of the Homeless, where he campaigned for low-income housing and greater federal and local assistance to the homeless and to squatters. [6] Northwestern University Press announced the re-issue of the memoir scheduled for 2023. [7]
Literacy in its broadest sense describes "particular ways of thinking about and doing reading and writing" with the purpose of understanding or expressing thoughts or ideas in written form in some specific context of use. In other words, humans in literate societies have sets of practices for producing and consuming writing, and they also have beliefs about these practices. Reading, in this view, is always reading something for some purpose; writing is always writing something for someone for some purpose. Beliefs about reading and writing and their value for society and for the individual always influence the ways literacy is taught, learned, and practiced.
Frank Charles Laubach, from Benton, Pennsylvania was a Congregational Christian missionary educated at Union Theological Seminary and Columbia University, and a mystic known as "The Apostle to the Illiterates." In 1915, while working among Muslims at a remote location in the Philippines, he developed the "Each One Teach One" literacy program. It has been used to teach about 60 million people to read in their own language. He was deeply concerned about poverty, injustice and illiteracy, and considered them barriers to peace in the world.
Street newspapers are newspapers or magazines sold by homeless or poor individuals and produced mainly to support these populations. Most such newspapers primarily provide coverage about homelessness and poverty-related issues, and seek to strengthen social networks within homeless communities. Street papers aim to give these individuals both employment opportunities and a voice in their community. In addition to being sold by homeless individuals, many of these papers are partially produced and written by them.
Functional illiteracy consists of reading and writing skills that are inadequate "to manage daily living and employment tasks that require reading skills beyond a basic level". Those who read and write only in a language other than the predominant language of their environs may also be considered functionally illiterate. Functional illiteracy is contrasted with illiteracy in the strict sense, meaning the inability to read or write simple sentences in any language.
Pierre Toussaint was a formerly enslaved Haitian-American hairdresser and philanthropist, brought to New York City by his enslavers in 1787. He was declared Venerable by Pope John Paul II in 1996.
The Nicaraguan Literacy Campaign was a campaign launched in 1980 by the Sandinista government in order to reduce illiteracy in Nicaragua. It was awarded the prestigious UNESCO Literacy Award. There have been many other literacy campaigns in the country since the first one was launched in 1980.
International Literacy Day is an international observance, celebrated each year on 8 September, that was declared by UNESCO on 26 October 1966 at the 14th session of UNESCO's General Conference. It was celebrated for the first time in 1967. Its aim is to highlight the importance of literacy to individuals, communities and societies. Celebrations take place in several countries.
During the era of slavery in the United States, the education of enslaved African Americans, except for religious instruction, was discouraged, and eventually made illegal in most of the Southern states. After 1831, the prohibition was extended in some states to free blacks as well. Even if educating Blacks was legal, they still had little access to education, in the North as well as the South.
Literacy in the United States was categorized by the National Center for Education Statistics into different literacy levels, with 92% of American adults having at least "Level 1" literacy in 2014. Nationally, over 20% of adult Americans have a literacy proficiency at or below Level 1. Adults in this range have difficulty using or understanding print materials. Those on the higher end of this category can perform simple tasks based on the information they read, but adults below Level 1 may only understand very basic vocabulary or be functionally illiterate. According to a 2020 report by Gallup based on data from the U.S. Department of Education, 54% of adults in the United States lack English literacy proficiency.
The Delancey Street Foundation, often simply referred to as Delancey Street, is a nonprofit organization based in San Francisco that provides residential rehabilitation services and vocational training programs for substance abusers and convicted criminals. It operates programs across the United States. Residents are reintegrated into mainstream society by running various businesses, including hospitality, transportation, and retail, that are wholly managed by the residents themselves.
Elizabeth Mooney Kirk, known by many as "Betty", spent her entire life advancing adult literacy. She worked with Frank Laubach using his "Each One Teach One" reading method. She traveled and taught in India, Africa and the United States. While working in Kenya, she provided the financial support for Barack Obama Sr. to come to the United States to study.
Samuel Williams, better known by his pen name Sam Aleckson, was an American emancipated and author of Before the War and After the Union: An Autobiography. Written in 1914 and published in 1929, His memoir gives a rare look into the lives of urban enslaved people in North America and the ways freedmen negotiated their ways through Reconstruction and into the 20th century.
The Virginia Literacy Foundation (VLF), is an organization whose mission is to reduce adult illiteracy in Virginia by providing funding and technical support to private, volunteer adult literacy organizations that teach low level literacy adults to read and write with one-on-one instruction and tutoring. The VLF was founded by Jeannie Baliles, Virginia's First Lady from 1986 to 1990, and founding director Mark Emblidge, and was incorporated as a 501(c)(3) organization in 1987. The VLF supports grass roots organizations via challenge grants, direct consultation, and program development training with public partners like The Virginia Adult Learning Resource Center. The VLF also works in partnership with public institutions, corporations, and private literacy organizations in Virginia to address adult illiteracy in the workplace and to provide family literacy training to teachers and parents. The VLF is governed by the founding executive director, Mark E. Emblidge, and a board of directors chaired by Jeannie Baliles.
Ruth Johnson Colvin is the founder of the non-profit organization Literacy Volunteers of America, now called ProLiteracy Worldwide in Syracuse, New York, in 1962. She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President George W. Bush in December 2006. She turned 100 in December 2016.
The National Union of the Homeless (NUH) is a national union of local activist organizations that fight for housing rights and economic justice in the United States. The organization was active between 1985 and 1993 and was reestablished in 2020. At its height the National Union of the Homeless had over 20 local unions and 15,000 members.
The World Literacy Foundation(WLF) is a global not-for-profit that works to lift young people out of poverty through literacy. Founded in Melbourne, Australia in 2003, the World Literacy Foundation operates on the principle that education is a basic human right. It aims to eradicate global illiteracy through the promotion of literacy and the provision of educational resources.
Helen Marguerite (Emery) Roberts was an American writer, photographer, and multilingual educator. From 1958 to 1975, she battled illiteracy in Africa, teaching reading, writing, health and Christian religion to thousands of illiterate adults. In the course of her African work, she mentored and sponsored many promising young Africans, encouraging them to pursue higher education, including Barack H. Obama, the father of President of the United States Barack Obama.
La Alianza Hispana is a social service agency founded in 1969 by residents of Roxbury/ North Dorchester to support Boston's Hispanic population. La Alianza advocates for equal access to services and public resources for the Hispanic Community by combating the effects of discrimination, poverty and challenges of migration.
"No justice, no peace" is a political slogan which originated during protests against acts of ethnic violence against African Americans. Its precise meaning is contested. The slogan was used as early as 1986, following the killing of Michael Griffith by a mob of youths.