Each One Teach One

Trade Cloth – $22.95

ISBN 978-1-880684-37-5

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Contributors

Ron Casanova (Author)

Stephen Blackburn (Author)

Publication Date

October 1996

Each One Teach One

Up and Out of Poverty, Memoirs of a Street Activist

Ron Casanova and Stephen Blackburn

Each One Teach One chronicles Ron Casanova's struggle out of poverty, homelessness, and drug addiction to find dignity and purpose in life. Through his own awakening, this Black, Puerto Rican activist ultimately finds his answer in helping other people. Born into a dysfunctional family and placed in an orphanage on Staten Island at an early age, Casanova faced overwhelming odds. His story illuminates some of the major events of our time, including the "police riot" at Tompkins Square, the "Housing Now" march of the homeless on Washington, and community takeovers of housing in Kansas City, New York, and Philadelphia.

Underlying Each One Teach One, with its vivid cast of characters and intimate descriptions of Harlem and other urban areas, is the profound sense that no matter what your circumstance, you can use your past experience to help others. Ultimately, Casanova's story is a message of hope for the future and for the possibility of self-sufficiency and self-empowerment for each individual.

About the Author

Ron Casanova was an American activist. At different periods in his life, he was the Vice President of the National Union of the Homeless, the Editor of the Union of the Homeless National News, and the Director of The Kansas City Union of the Homeless. He also served as the founding director of Artists for a Better America in New York City and as a leader of the Poor Peoples Economic Human Rights Campaign. He died in 2011.

Stephen Blackburn is an American author. Born in Corpus Christi, Texas, he holds both a BA and an MFA from the University of Texas at Austin. He is the author of the memoir Each One Teach One (with activist Ron Casanova), the short story collection The Extinction of Rhinos in Mexico: 9 Tales of Life and Death, and a play, The Rock of Abandon, that was staged by the Fierce Backbone Theatre Company in Hollywood. He currently lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Consuelo.

Reviews

"An eloquent voice for Americans too often ignored or scapegoated."—Booklist

"A valuable firsthand account of a street survivor's harrowing experiences." —Kirkus Reviews

"Read Each One Teach One as the epic of a man's awakening to community and purpose from a life lived on the bounce between our savage so-called 'social' institutions and the streets. Or read it as a raw bulletin from the fractured front of a class war too many in our country want to ignore. Either way, this is an urgent, vital, necessary book." —Fred Pfeil, author of What They Tell You to Forget