Mahatma Gandhi And Martin Luther King Jr.: The Power Of Nonviolence In Civil Rights

Mahatma Gandhi inspired people all over the world, including one of the United States’ most famous civil rights leaders, Martin Luther King Jr. Though the two men never got a chance to meet (King was 19 when Gandhi was assassinated), King learned about Gandhi through his writing and a trip to India in 1959. King drew heavily on Gandhian principles of nonviolence in his own civil rights activism, writing that “while the Montgomery boycott was going on, India’s Gandhi was the guiding light of our technique of nonviolent social change.”

“Nonviolence” is more than simply agreeing that you won’t physically attack your enemy. Gandhi referred to his form of nonviolence as satyagraha, meaning “truth-force” or “love-force.” Practicing satyagraha means a person should seek truth and love while refusing, through nonviolent resistance, to participate in something they believe is wrong. This principle guided Gandhi’s activism against the British Empire, helping India win independence in 1947.

King Connected Christianity to Gandhi's Teachings

King first learned of Gandhi’s concept of nonviolence as a seminary student. As a Christian, he connected the Hindu thinker’s words to the Biblical appeal of Jesus to “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” He recognized the similarities between Gandhi's teachings and the foundational values of Christianity, emphasizing the importance of love and compassion in the struggle for justice.

“I came to see for the first time that the Christian doctrine of love operating through the Gandhian method of nonviolence was one of the most potent weapons available to oppressed people in their struggle for freedom,” King later wrote. This profound realization propelled him to incorporate nonviolent resistance into his activism, solidifying Gandhi's influence on his approach.

The Influence of American Writers

King was already familiar with peaceful civil disobedience through American writers like Henry David Thoreau. He admired Gandhi’s idea that oppressed people could use truth or love as weapons in their struggle for justice. However, it wasn't until he became involved in the Montgomery bus boycott of 1955 and '56 that he found a practical application for these concepts.

In his 1958 book Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story, King laid out the principles of nonviolence he’d employed during the boycott. He affirmed that it is possible to resist evil without resorting to violence and to oppose evil itself without opposing the people committing evil. He also wrote that people who practice nonviolence must be willing to suffer without retaliation, internal or external: “The nonviolent resister not only refuses to shoot his opponent but he also refuses to hate him.”

The Legacy of Nonviolence

He saw nonviolence as an expression of love for all people, according to Clayborne Carson, a history professor and director of the Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford University. “It’s a way of reaching people and convincing them of the rightness of your cause.” This perspective was crucial in making nonviolence a central tenet in the civil rights movement.

Shortly after the Supreme Court ruled that Montgomery’s bus segregation was unconstitutional, King told a crowd in Brooklyn: “Christ showed us the way, and Gandhi in India showed it could work.” This statement highlighted his belief in the effectiveness of nonviolent resistance and its ability to bring about meaningful change.

Gandhi's Impact on Other Civil Rights Leaders

King wasn’t the only civil rights leader who looked to Gandhi for inspiration. In the late 1950s, future congressman John Lewis studied Gandhi in nonviolence workshops led by activist James Lawson. These workshops prepared Lewis for the sit-ins he and other students would later hold at lunch counters in Nashville, Tennessee.

Lewis emphasized that understanding one's attacker as a victim of societal forces is vital for embracing a nonviolent life. He wrote, “If you can understand and feel even in the midst of those critical and often physically painful moments that your attacker is as much a victim as you are, that he is a victim of the forces that have shaped and fed his anger and fury, then you are well on your way to the nonviolent life.”

The Journey to India

To better understand Gandhian principles, King took a one-month trip to India at the beginning of 1959. There, he was pleasantly surprised to find that many people had followed the nonviolent bus boycott he’d been a part of. This experience deepened his appreciation for Gandhi's teachings and their global impact.

During the trip, he met with Gandhi’s son, cousin, grandsons, and other relatives and laid a wreath on his entombed ashes. He left even more convinced of the power of nonviolent civil disobedience to affect social change.

The Results of Nonviolent Campaigns

“It was a marvelous thing to see the amazing results of a nonviolent campaign,” King wrote in Ebony after his trip. “The aftermath of hatred and bitterness that usually follows a violent campaign was found nowhere in India. Today a mutual friendship based on complete equality exists between the Indian and British people within the commonwealth.”

After returning from India, King became one of the most prominent living advocates for nonviolence. Carson notes that King popularized many of Gandhi's ideas, which spread throughout the United States and beyond. His commitment to nonviolence shaped the civil rights movement and continues to inspire activists worldwide.