Mahatma Gandhi
Mahatma Gandhi was an Indian lawyer and activist who led India's successful campaign for independence from British rule through a philosophy of nonviolent civil disobedience.
Gandhi trained as a lawyer in London and spent over 20 years in South Africa, where he first developed his methods of nonviolent resistance while fighting discriminatory laws against the Indian community there.
Returning to India in 1915, Gandhi became a central leader in the independence movement, organizing mass campaigns including the Salt March in 1930, in which he walked 240 miles to protest British salt taxes.
India achieved independence in August 1947, though Gandhi was assassinated by a Hindu nationalist just months later, in January 1948. His philosophy of nonviolent resistance, or satyagraha, went on to influence civil rights movements around the world, including that of Martin Luther King Jr.