Name: Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
Dates: 1869-1948
Biography:
Gandhi was the spiritual and political leader of the movement for Indian independence. As a young lawyer in South Africa, he became a proponent of civil disobedience and other non-violent methods, attempting to improve the civil rights of Indians in South Africa.
In 1915, he returned to India. Throughout the rest of his life, Gandhi continued to use non-violence in the struggle to free India (which then also included the modern nations of both Pakistan and Bangladesh) from British rule, despite often-brutal reprisals. India achieved independence in August 1947, but was soon divided into Hindu-majority India and Muslim-majority Pakistan, despite Gandhi’s efforts to avoid partition.
Nicknamed “Mahatma” (“Great Soul”) and “The Father of India,” Gandhi was assassinated in January 1948.
Learn more: Wikipedia
(Inspired by the upcoming birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr., this is the first in a series of posts celebrating the men and women who struggle to make this world a better place, especially those who work toward peace, human rights, and protection of the environment.)