Gandhi : Great Soul
By Zoey Frey and Bryce Smith
Early Life
Born - October 2, 1869 Porbander India Mahatma ‘great soul’ Gandhi
At 13, he had an arranged marriage tp Kasturba Makanji. He rebelled by smoking, eating meat and stealing change from household servants.
At the age of 19, Gandhi left home to study law in London at the Inner Temple, then practicied law in South Africa, where he first saw horrible predjudice.
Gandhi lived an austere life devoted to prayer, fasting and meditation.
He formed the Natal Indian Congress in 1894 to fight discrimination
"Live as if you were to die tomorrow; learn as if you were to live forever."
April 13, 1919 Massacre of Amritsar
Brigadier General Reginald Dyer fired machine guns into a crowd of unarmed demonstrators and killed nearly 400 people. Dyer withdrew his men, leaving the dying and wounded where they lay. Dyer issued instructions that all Indians traversing the street where the woman missionary had been attacked were to crawl along it on their hands and knees. His actions were praised by the governor of the Punjab, Sir Michael O’Dwyer.
Salt March
Britain’s Salt Acts prohibited Indians from collecting or selling salt, a staple in the Indian diet. Citizens were forced to buy the vital mineral from the British , who, in addition to exercising a monopoly over the manufacture and sale of salt, also exerted a heavy salt tax. Although India’s poor suffered most under the tax, Indians required salt. . Approximately 60,000 Indians were jailed for breaking the Salt Acts, including Gandhi, who was imprisoned in May 1930
INDIA GAINS INDEPENDENCE
After years of prejudice and with the strong leadership of Gandhi, India won its Independence from Britain on August 15, 1947.
"An eye for eye only ends up making the whole world blind."
Gandhi's Assassination
January 30, 1948 Hindu extremist Nathuram Godse fired three bullets into Gandhi's chest at point blank range
"You must be the change you wish to see in the world."
Gandhi Inspires
Gandhi’s actions inspired future human rights movements around the globe, including those of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. in the United States and Nelson Mandela in South Africa