Mahatma Gandhi's Life and Legacy

Study Notes

Mahatma Gandhi was born on October 2, 1869 in Gujarat, India.
He trained as a lawyer and started his own law practice in India but was unsuccessful.
In 1893, Gandhi moved to South Africa to represent an Indian merchant in a lawsuit.
He lived in South Africa for 21 years and during this time he used nonviolent resistance to fight for civil rights.
In 1915, Gandhi returned to India and soon became the leader of the Indian National Congress.
Gandhi led nationwide campaigns for easing poverty, expanding womens rights, building religious and ethnic amity, ending untouchability, and achieving self-rule.
Gandhi adopted the traditional Indian clothing of a dhoti and hand-spun yarn as a sign of identification with the Indian rural poor.
Gandhi undertook several hunger strikes over the years as a form of political protest.
In 1947, Britain granted independence to India and the British Indian Empire was partitioned into two dominions, a Hindu-majority India and a Muslim-majority Pakistan.
Gandhi did not celebrate independence and instead visited the affected areas to try to stop religious violence.
In the months following independence, Gandhi undertook several hunger strikes to pressure the government to pay Pakistan some debt owed to India.
Gandhi died on January 30, 1948 at the age of 80.