Gandhi

Gandhi

Early Life Mohandas Gandhi was born in India into a large Hindu family on October 2, 1869. Many Hindus believe in nonviolence and caring for and respecting others. His parents taught him about these values. Gandhi went to school in London and became a lawyer. When he came back to India, he had a hard time finding work. He ended up taking a job in South Africa.

South Africa The British ruled both India and South Africa at that time. In South Africa, people who were not white were treated poorly. Even though Gandhi was a lawyer, he was treated poorly, too. He thought this was unfair and felt he had to do something. Gandhi stayed in South Africa to help the Indians in that country. His work brought attention to him, and he became a leader among the Indian people.

Gandhi led many nonviolentprotests. He asked Indians not tofollow the unfair laws and to take the punishments. Many Indians were hurt or put in jail, including Gandhi. People around the world heard about the punishments and were shocked. Gandhi stayed in South Africa for twenty years. He worked for better treatment of Indians. During this time, he stopped wearing western clothes. Instead, he wore homemade robes and sandals.

A Leader in India When Gandhi returned to India, he worked to free the country from British rule. He held protests against the British. In one protest, he asked people to stay home from work and school. Some protesters were violent, however, so Gandhi ended the protest. Some people held their own protests. At one peaceful protest, many people were hurt or killed when British soldiers shot at them.

Gandhi was very sad about the shootings. He started another nonviolent protest. He asked Indians to stop buying British goods or working for the British in any way. Many Indians did as Gandhi asked, but a few were violent. The British blamed Gandhi for the violence and put him in prison for two years.