Aim/Goal: How did Mohandas Gandhi’s philosophy of
civil disobedience lead to India’s independence?
Do Now: What are the consequences of independence?
Homework: Create an obituary for Gandhi.
Accomplishments
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Born October 2, 1869 - died January 30 1948
Major political and spiritual leader of India
Leader of the Indian Independence movement.
Believed in Satyagraha, philosophy based on
truth and non-violent resistance
This philosophy was the way India gained
independence
Inspired movements for civil rights and freedom
across the world.
Gandhi as a young boy
Accomplishments
• When he returned to India, he organized poor
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farmers and others to fight against discrimination
and taxation.
Leader of the Indian National Congress
Led campaigns to end poverty, liberation of
women, brotherhood among religions
Wanted to end caste discrimination
Swaraj, the independence of India from foreign
domination.
Salt March in 1930, a major peaceful protest to end
British imperialism
Biography
• In May 1883, at the age of 13, Gandhi was
married through his parents' arrangements
• They had five children, the first of whom
died in infancy.
• At the age of 18 on in 1888, Gandhi went to
Britain to study law
Gandhi and his wife
The Vegetarian Society
•A
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group
Gandhi
became associated with
while living in Britain
He
promised
his
mother that he would
observe
all
Hindu
traditions
Biography
• After graduating from law school, he moved to
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South Africa to practice law.
He encounters racism.
Indians were not considered full human beings.
Thrown out of a first-class railway compartment
car, though he held a first-class ticket.
This event leads him to be leader of the Indian
community.
Law career
• Practicing law in South
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Africa
The skills he obtained
in law school will help
him in his quest for
Indian independence.
Philosophy
• Truth could only be attained through ahimsa (non-
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violence, love) and brahmacharya (celibacy, striving towards
God). He was imprisoned numerous times in both South
Africa and India.
Gandhi practiced non-violence and truth, in all situations.
He lived simply, organizing an ashram that was selfsufficient in its needs.
Made his own clothes – dhoti and shawl woven
Vegetarian diet.
He underwent long fasts, for both self-purification and
protest.
Homespun
• Gandhi
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encouraged
to be self
Indian’s
sufficient.
He believed the less
dependent upon the
British the more likely
they were to gain their
independence
Peaceful Protest
• Britain instituted a new tax on
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Salt.
Indians were outraged by this
new tax.
March 12 to April 6 Gandhi and
his followers launched a peaceful
protest
The famous Salt March lasted for
248 miles from Ahmedabad to
Dandi
Thousands of Indians joined him
on this march to the sea.
This campaign was one of his
most successful at upsetting
British rule
Britain
responded
by
imprisoning
over
60,000
people.
Return to Britain
• 1915 returns to India
• He only makes one trip
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outside of India.
1930 goes to Britain to
discuss:
– Independence
– Freedom for political
prisoners
– Signs the Gandhi-Irwin pact
that halts civil disobedience
Assassination
• On January 30, 1948, Gandhi was
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shot and killed while having his
nightly public walk
The assassin, Nathuram Godse,
was a radical Hindu
Godse held Gandi responsible for
weakening India
Godse and his co-conspirator
Naravan Apte were later tried,
convicted; they were executed on
November 15, 1949
Gandhi’s last words were "Oh
God".
India Grieves
• Jawaharlal Nehru radio address:
• “Friends and comrades, the light has
gone out of our lives, and there is
darkness everywhere, and I do not
quite know what to tell you or how
to say it. Our beloved leader, Bapu as
we called him, the father of the
nation, is no more. Perhaps I am
wrong to say that; nevertheless, we
will not see him again, as we have
seen him for these many years, we
will not run to him for advice or
seek solace from him, and that is a
terrible blow, not only for me, but
for millions and millions in this
country.”
• Why was Gandhi's death a terrible
blow to India?
The Legacy
• The legacy of Gandhi
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lives on.
He has
influenced such leaders
as Martin Luther King,
Jr.
and
Nelson
Mandela.
Both of these leaders
have used his principles
of civil disobedience as
a way to enact change.
Obituary: a notice of the death of a
person, often with a biographical sketch,
as in a newspaper.
• Today, Ms. Barretta passed away. She was 95
years old. She is survived by her two sons.
Ms. Barretta was the world’s greatest social
studies
teacher.
She
had
many
accomplishments, one of which included a
Masters degree in History.
Your Task:
• Write an obituary for Mohandas Gandhi.
• This will be collected.