This phrase originated in the US during slavery, when Africans and African Americans were denied education, including learning to read. Many, if not most slaves were kept in a state of ignorance about anything beyond their immediate circumstances which were under control of owners, the law makers and the authorities. Denying education was one of the methods used to keep them docile and instill and maintain the belief that they were inferior and unworthy of a life beyond subservience, labor and harsh treatment. The right to an education and the possibility of learning were unachievable goals for many people, but slaves, free blacks and white sympathizers understood its value. Some of these people, despite the possibility of physical punishment, and for people of color, the continued assault on their psychological well being, were brave enough to risk themselves in an effort to teach others. When a slave learned or was taught to read, it became their duty to teach someone else, spawning the phrase "Each one teach one." It became a saying that still resonates in the African American community, and underlies many community driven charitable, educational and volunteer programs.
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 utilized it in order to advance the cause of ending illiteracy in the world, a historic, valuable and honorable effort on his part.
In the 1996 novel Push of Sapphire as well as the 2009 movie Precious the expression is used as the name of an alternative school that the principal character is attending after being expelled from public school
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