[1] The phrase originated in the United States during the time of slavery,[2] when Africans were denied education, including learning to read.
[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.
[citation needed] It is also the name of an organisation based in Berlin, promoting empowerement of afro-european german citizens: Each One Teach One (association) [fr].
[5] 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.
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.