The Author: Dr. Frank C. Laubach

Dr. Frank C. Laubach was the world literacy pioneer who started the "Each One Teach One" method of language learning in the Philippines. Laubach was born in Benton, Pennsylvania,

On September 2, 1884, and educated at Princeton University, Teachers College of Columbia University, and Union Theological Seminary, New York. He married Effa Seely (1882-1973), also of Benton, Pennsylvania, and together they served from 1915 to 1941 as missionaries of the Congregational Church (now the United Church of Christ) to the Philippines. In 1930 he adapted the Roman alphabet to the Maranao language spoken by the Muslims in Lanao del Sur province. He devised a picture-word-syllable method of teaching adults to read in their own language. The Maranao people began teaching one another, thus giving birth to the "Each One Teach One" literacy method. He was the first to attempt translating the Maranao epic Dareangen * into English. Laubach spent the final 35 years of his life establishing literacy programs abroad, visiting 105 countries and helping develop literacy materials in 315 languages. "Each One Teach One," developed among the Philippine Muslims in 1930, continues to be used around the world helping thousands of men and women each year to become literate. In 1955 he organized Laubach Literacy International, ** which continues his work throughout the world. Some of the works of Laubach include The People of the Philippines and Seven Thousand Emeralds, as well as this present work, Rizal: Man and Martyr.

Labauch researched the life of Rizal between 1922 and 1927. In his words, he wrote Rizal: Man and Martyr because he felt Rizal was in "danger of becoming a myth, of being turned into a cold statue." Laubach used Rizal's writings as a method in which to develop his life, yet Rizal's character most inspired Laubach. "The life Rizal lived," wrote Labauch, "is a more abiding gift than the things he said and wrote." His life will forever be of inestimable importance."

Slightly adapted from Historical Dictionary of the Philippines by Artemio R. Guillermo and May Kyi Win. (Landham, Maryland and London, The Scarecrow Press, Inc., 1997), page 133; Frank C. Laubach: One Burning Heart by Karen A. Norton. The Heritage Collection. (Syracuse, New York: Laubach Literacy International, 1990), p. 10f; and the preface of this book.
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* One of the few and best preserved pre-Spanish folk epics. Taken from oral tradition it is a long series of about twenty-five songs. The principal character, Bantugan, handsome, skillful, bold, and endowed with magic, encounters many epic adventures. The epic is the source of the traditional wisdom of the Maranao people.

** Now known as Pro-Literacy Worldwide. http://www.proliteracy.org