Mahatma Gandhi

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Mahatma Gandhi

• Oct. 2, 1869
• Porbandar, India
• Gandhi was one of the foremost spiritual and
  political leaders of the 1900's. He helped free
  India from British control by a unique method of
  nonviolent resistance and is honored by the
  people of India as the father of their nation.
  Gandhi was slight in build but had limitless
  physical and moral strength. He was assassinated
  by an Indian who resented his program of
  tolerance for all creeds and religions.

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Mahatma Gandhi

• Reasons he fought for freedom
• Guided by a search for truth through tolerance
  and
• concern for others
• Wanted to free India from British control
• Fought against English bills that would make it
  unlawful to organize opposition to the government

Gandhis Signature
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Mahatma Gandhi

• Strategies they used to fight for freedom
• Taught others to master their fears
• Used only nonviolent methods
• developed a method of direct social action, based
  upon principles of courage, nonviolence, and
  truth, which he called Satyagraha. In this
  method, the way people behave is more important
  than what they achieve.

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Mahatma Gandhi

• The effect they had on
• American History and Culture
• Influenced Martin Luther King Jr.s ideas of
  nonviolence
• Advanced political freedom and prepared Indians
  for self-government spreading the ideas of
  democracy around the world.
• He taught that the way people behave is more
  important than what they achieve.

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Mahatma Gandhi

• The end of the story
• On Jan. 13, 1948, at the age of 78, Gandhi began
  his last fast. His purpose was to end the
  bloodshed among Hindu, Muslim, and other groups.
  On January 18, their leaders pledged to stop
  fighting and Gandhi broke his fast. Twelve days
  later, in New Delhi, while on his way to a prayer
  meeting, Gandhi was assassinated. Nathuram Godse,
  a Hindu fanatic who opposed Gandhi's program of
  tolerance for all creeds and religions, shot him
  three times.
• A shocked India and a saddened world mourned
  Gandhi's death. The great scientist Albert
  Einstein said of Gandhi
• "Generations to come will scarcely believe that
  such a one as this walked the earth in flesh and
  blood."