Mahatma Gandhi

Mohandas Gandhi’s methods not only led to India’s independence from Britain but also had victories over racial

Mohandas Gandhi was born in 1869 in the Indian coastal city of Porbandar (Background Essay). He then studied law in London, where he noticed that Indians were expected to imitate their rulers, the Englishmen (Background Essay). Gandhi wanted all people to live free, even those imposed by India’s caste system so he decided to take action in a peaceful manner (Background Essay). By doing so he was able to gain India’s independence in 1947 (Background Essay). This caused Gandhi to be known as “ Mahatma” or “ Great Soul” because he was able to do it without violence (Background Essay). Gandhi’s nonviolent movement worked because he accepted the consequences to his actions, strived for fairness to all mankind, and didn’t think of the British as enemies.

British rule was tough on many Indians. Gandhi, an Indian born lawyer, believed in freedom and peace for his people. He once experienced racism when he was kicked out of a train in Europe. He changed people’s point of view without breaking the law, which was tough for him. Gandhi made his nonviolent movement work through the use of determination, peaceful civil disobedience, and being a powerful leader.

In South Africa Gandhi was exposed to a level of racism that he had never experienced before. He was not allowed to wear his turban in a courtroom and he was not allowed to ride in the same cars as Europeans on the trains. While traveling to by train to Pretoria, he was asked to leave his seat for the van compartment. He refused and was kicked off the train.8 To get to his destination, he found a stagecoach going to Pretoria. He was not allowed to sit in the coach-box with the white passengers, but was forced to sit with the coachman. Later, he was asked to give up his seat to sit on the floorboard. Gandhi would not agree to this injustice. And, although he received a beating for it, he remained in his seat.9 These incidents led Gandhi to decide to fight for the rights of Indian workers in South Africa.

History is filled with stories of dedicated human rights activists that risked their lives to fight for what they believe in. Three good examples of human rights activists that never gave up are Melba Pattillo Beals, Mahatma Gandhi, and Mother Jones. Melba Pattillo Beals and Gandhi actively worked in fighting for racial equality while Mother Jones worked to improve children’s and workers’ rights. These determined human rights activists never gave up when fighting to improve the rights of persecuted people facing discrimination.

When people think about nonviolent movement leaders, the first person people think of is Mahatma Gandhi. Born in October 2, 1869, Gandhi is known for his accomplishment for freeing India from Britain in 1947 with no violence. But how did he do it? His nonviolent movement worked because he had mass appeal, compassion, and clever planning helped him free India.

He outed the moral and political philosophy of satyagraha, or nonviolent resistance, which he had developed while in South Africa. His message to Indians was simple: develop your own resources and control the instincts and activities that encourage membership in colonial economy and government, and you shall achieve swaraj or self-rule. Faced with Indian self-reliance and self-control pursued nonviolently, Gandhi claimed, the British eventually would have to leave. When the Depression struck India in 1930, Gandhi asked for his people not to use salt showing his new way of civil disobedience. Salt symbolized tasked the Indians' defeat to an alien government. To break the colonial government's control, Gandhi began a 240-mile march from western India to the coast to gather sea salt for free. With him were seventy-one followers representing different regions of India. Thousands of people met around and encouraging them to hold independence from British rule. (Pollard, Rosenberg, Tignor 2015 Pages

Personal experience motivated Melba Beals and Harriet Tubman to get equal rights, while Mother Jones was affected by what she saw to get worker’s rights. These three are very important, all making a change to these human rights.

M.K. Gandhi was an Indian who protested successfully against Britain and ultimately influenced future events around the world. Gandhi’s most successful tactic to gain Indian independence was “Satyagraha” or passive resistance because the majority of society would disagree with the opponent, they will continue to protest no matter what, and it was successfully used in the Salt March. Firstly, using this tactic, about 80 Indian citizens were publically brutalized by British authorities which greatly influenced the world against them because an eyewitness wrote and sent thousands of newspapers, talking about British police brutality, around the world. For example, in Source 3 the text says, “Webb Miller’s eyewitness account was published in over a thousand newspapers around the world.”

“In a gentle way, you can shake the world” stated Mahatma Gandhi-- a fierce activist who fought for basic human rights of the people of India. Gandhi, Daisy Bates, and Nelson Mandela were all leaders in the fight for equality. Mandela fought for the rights of the African people while Bates fought in the Civil Rights movement in America. These three individuals used persistence, courage, and peace to defend the basic human rights of all people.

Mother Jones, Cesar Chavez, and Malala Yousafzai all fought for the rights that they believed in. They all were leaders part of a big picture. Although these three individuals used different methods to get their point across, they all had courage to speak out about injustice and improve human rights.

Gandhi is considered by many around the world as the father of the Indian independence movement. Gandhi spent over 20 years in South Africa working to fight discrimination. It was in South Africa that he developed his concept of Satyagraha, a non-violent way of protesting against discrimination. The first time Gandhi used Satyagraha was in South Africa beginning in 1907 when he organized opposition to the Black Act. In 1907, the Black Act was passed, requiring all Indians to keep registration documents on them at all times.

Hira Baig Mr. Beal English III AP 5 5 February 2010 Thoreau’s Influence on Modern Social Movements Henry David Thoreau’s concept of civil disobedience had a noteworthy amount of impact on Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. and therefore motivated the work they did in their respective social movements. Before analysis can be done to determine Thoreau’s importance to Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr., an adequate understanding of Thoreau’s concept of civil disobedience is necessary. According to Thoreau, civil disobedience or passive resistance is, in essence, the practice of deliberately disobeying a law a person believes is unjust. The catch is, however, that the person who practices civil disobedience must oblige

Inspired in part by Thoreau, Gandhi stated that “Until I read that essay I never found a suitable English translation for my Indian word, Satyagraha”, While Thoreau had advocated against unjust taxes and not clearly stated his opinion on violent/non-violent action, Gandhi was inspired by Thoreau’s notion of non-conformity and similarly became his own person creating the concept of “Satyagraha” (truth and strength), an expression used for his peaceful protests. His persuasion for coal miners to strike created a negative response from the british government. Many indians were either arrested or shot, however not a single one fought back using violence. “A man who was completely innocent, offered himself as a sacrifice for the good of others, including his enemies, and became the ransom of the world. It was a perfect act.”, Gandhi alluding to Jesus and also showing the irony of how only when innocence is slain, is when justice is done, at the expense of many, the Indian Relief Act of 1914 was created. While civil disobedience can be peaceful opposition at times speaks louder and unfortunately people are murdered, yet their deaths rarely happen in vain. Martin Luther King jr was

In South Africa, he involved himself in an attempt to end discrimination against the minority Indians residing there. During this course, he developed “satyagarha”, which translates into “soul force”, or an approach of non-violence resistance, against the British governments in South Africa. In the years following the World War I, Gandhi became a leading figure in India for his struggle to achieve independent from the mighty British rule. His willingness to tolerate the punishments and the prison confinement earned him the title of “ Mahatama”, a “great soul” in India in 1914. (Mohandas Gandhi, 2015)