10 Martyrs That Furthered The Civil Rights Cause

Commonly known by his followers as ‘Mahatma’, meaning the great-souled one, Gandhi led an extensive career, beginning as a recently emigrated civil rights lawyer in South Africa, where he would live for 21 years. He was a man of many talents and occupations but where he would make his most fame would be back in India as the leader of the campaign to free the country from oppressive British colonial rule, a role for which he served years of prison sentences.

But when his campaign succeeded and a free India was established in 1947, he knew peace was not yet at hand. Indeed, Gandhi argued that the subcontinent would never truly be free until the historic tension between Hindus and Muslims was placated. It was this kindness towards his ‘rivals’ that led nine radical Hindus to orchestrate his murder on 30 January 1948. He had devoted his life to a successful cause and paid with his life for that of nonviolent protest against racial factionalism, one that would inspire millions across generations to come.

It was this advocacy for ‘an eye for an eye making the whole world blind’ that would make him as many enemies as friends.