One cold winter night in May 1893, a train screeched to a halt in a station. A swarm of passengers boarded the engine on a journey to Pretoria, South Africa; among the crowd was a young and eager lawyer with a first class ticket. He sat in the seat designated by the voucher he held in his hand. Upon departure, the young lawyer’s darker complexion caught the attention of a white passenger. The white man objected that a ‘colored’ man was allowed to sit in first class, on what was then, a segregated train. When questioned regarding the seat, the lawyer provided his voucher and identification to confirm he was in the proper place. Nevertheless, the comptroller physically removed the young Indian lawyer from the compartment and abandoned him in Pietermaritzburg.1 The young man was left out in the chilly winter night, but this act of racism ignited a flame deep within the freezing body of young lawyer, Mahatma Gandhi. He made the conscious decision to stay in South Africa, and combat racial discrimination in what would be his first fight for human rights.
At the turn of the twentieth century, South Africa was engulfed in a war between Boers and Brits, sparked by the conflict between British imperial interests and local Boer nationalism (from descendants of Dutch settlers).2 Boers are decendants of the Dutch that reside in South Africa.3 Gandhi saw, the Second Boer War, as it is often commonly referred to, as an opportunity to pledge allegiance to the Empire; he organized a group of African born Indians as stretcher-bearers to aid fallen British troops in the war zone. Gandhi aspired to gain equality for Indians within the South African society as British subjects, a limited integration into a white society.4 The violent conflict between the Boers and Brits led to the signing of the Treaty of Vereeniging in 1902. The peace treaty settled the affairs between the South African Republic and the Orange Free State on one side and the United Kingdom on the other.5 However, this did not change racially discriminatory practices in the whole region.
Even worse, in July 1907, the South African government passed an ordinance called the Black Act.This required Indians to be fingerprinted, registered, and to carry identification cards at all times, and failure to do so was punishable by prison, heavy fines, or deportation.6 By this time, Gandhi had realized his overreaching life goal of saradaya which means the “welfare of all” and or “to lift of all”. The Indian terms describing these principles are satya (truth), ahimsa (nonviolence), and tapasya, (selfsuffering).7 Gandhi used this idea in response to the Black Act. He and other members of the satyagraha (truth and nonviolent disobedience) movement picketed outside of the registration offices; these actions led to the arrest of the leaders of the movement.8 This was Gandhi’s first arrest for disobedience; he was sentenced on January 10, 1908, to two months of simple imprisonment.9 This was the first of six arrests in South Africa; three of with involving failure to produce registration.10
Throughout his time in South Africa, Gandhi worked tirelessly to improve the rights of immigrant Indians like him. This is where he developed and practiced his creed of passive resistance.11 His efforts paved the way for a change in policy. In fact, the Gandhian influence dominated freedom struggles on the African continent right up to the 1960s because of the power it generated and the unity it forged among the usually powerless. Nonviolence was the official stance of all major African coalitions, and the South African African National Congress (ANC) remained implacably opposed to violence for most of its existence.12 South Africa because of apartheid was placed on the agenda of the United Nations for the first time in 1946 by India regarding the treatment of people of Indian origin living in South Africa.13 South Africa’s apartheid policies clearly violated provisions of the U.N. Charter and human rights instruments adopted pursuant to it.14. Apartheid has also negatively impacted relations between the Republic of South Africa and India because of the subordinate status of people of Indian decent in South Africa.15 The General Assembly highlighted the deficit of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in the apartheid policy within South Africa. Thanks to the work of Gandhi and satyagraha, the world took notice of inequalities caused by South African discriminatory policies.
South Africa was the land of the unfortunate encounter with institutional racism for Mahatma Gandhi. He found and established values in which he could fight against racial discrimination and civil rights violations for the rest of his life. Gandhi sated, “during ten years, that is, until 1914, excepting the intervals of my enforced rest in prison, there was hardly an issue of Indian Opinion without an article from me… the journal became for me a training in self-restraint, and for friends a medium to keep in touch with my thoughts.”16 He spent ten years living in South Africa, fighting for human rights, and writing about his journey for the Indian Opinion, an experience and self reflection triggered by the discrimination Indians faced in South Africa. He used adversity to shape his determination and mindset and framework of nonviolence for his future endeavors including India’s independence from the United Kingdom.
- “Gandhi in South Africa,” April 17, 2013, Maps of India. ↵
- Ashwin Desai and Goolam H Vahed, The South African Gandhi: Stretcher-Bearer of Empire, (Stanford University Press, 2015), 19. ↵
- Encyclopedia Britannica Online, s.v. “Boer,” by Shiveta Singh, last modified 2014. ↵
- Ashwin Desai and Goolam H Vahed, The South African Gandhi: Stretcher-Bearer of Empire, (Stanford University Press, 2015), 20. ↵
- Encyclopedia Britannica Online, s.v. “Peace of Vereeniging South Africa 1902,” by Darshana Das, last modified 2019. ↵
- Annette Barnabas & Paul Sundararajan Clifford, “Mahatma Gandhi – An Indian Model of Servant Leadership,” International Journal of Leadership Studies 7, no.2 (2012): 132-146. ↵
- Daniel M. Mayton II, “Gandhi as Peacebuilder: The Social Psychology of Satyagraha,” Peace, Conflict, and Violence: Peace Psychology for the 21st Century, (2001): 1-19. ↵
- Annette Barnabas & Paul Sundararajan Clifford, “Mahatma Gandhi – An Indian Model of Servant Leadership,” International Journal of Leadership Studies 7, no.2 (2012):132-146. ↵
- George Hendrick, The Influence of Thoreau’s ‘Civil Disobedience’ on Gandhi’s Satyagraha, (The New England Quarterly, 1957), 29. ↵
- “Years of Arrests & Imprisonment of Mahatma Gandhi,” 2005. ↵
- Richard Attenborough, The Words of Gandhi (HarperCollins, 1999), 39-42. ↵
- Nelson Mandela, “The Sacred Warrior,” Time Magazine, December 31, 1999, 1. ↵
- “South Africa and the United Nations 1946-1990,” South African History Online, https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/south-africa-and-united-nations-1946-1990. ↵
- United Nations, Charter of the United Nations, (1945). ↵
- Arthur J. Goldberg, “The Status of Apartheid under International Law,” Law Journal Library 13, no.1 (1985): 1-8. ↵
- Mohandas K. Gandhi, Autobiography: The Story of my Experiments with Truth, (1927), 326. ↵
42 comments
Nelly Perez
Gandhi worked hard to fight racism in South Africa. The fact that he experienced violence in his own country still gave him a reason to fight against discrimination and rights for immigrants like him. His experience from the train created an ember for him so people like him won’t experience injustice. In the end, he overcame the challenges he faced.
Vanessa Barron Ortiz
This is such an interesting article. It was fascinating to learn that after Gandhi was escorted off the train for the color of his skin, it would be the moment he decided to stay in Africa and fight for the “rights of all.” Something I was surprised by is that they fingerprinted Indians and made them carry there ID’s at all times and if they didn’t follow those rules they would be punished, This reminded me of the holocaust which would happen 40 years from 1905.
Kendall Guajardo
I really loved the way you wrote this story. A “silent” protest which is mostly referred to as civil disobedience was an amazing way of combating the violence and discriminatory actions of the colonizers who were even at war themselves. He dedicated so many years to stand up for many people who didn’t have a voice themselves because of an experience he had to go through. I have never heard of the Black Act until now and it is believable that they would enact such an overarching policy however it doesn’t make it any less atrocious. There is still blind hatred and racism in South Africa today as I have friends who live there. It is inspiring to have someone who defended themselves but there is also some oddities in his life story.
Berenice Alvarado
This article was very interesting and fascinating to read. This article starts out real sad. I hate how racist people are towards one another. But I love that Gandhi started a fight against racial oppression in South Africa. And how his nonviolent actions made India get independence from the British Empire. If it weren’t for Gandhi and his supporters maybe this would of never happen.
Sara Guerrero
The most popular event I have heard of Gandhi being in was when he made peaceful protest to gain independence for India. I was surprised to read that his efforts went beyond India and into South Africa fighting for others rights and he spent ten years in South Africa it showed his commitment and care. Gandhi was the most peaceful man ever and he is an inspiration to many different movements all over the world and he will always be an icon to everyone.
David Castaneda Picon
Wow. I believe this is an appealing article to read, I enjoyed to learn more about Gandhi’s history. I obviously have heard about Mahatma Gandhi. However, I never knew much about him. I think its crazy how times have changed, and that the change probably would have took to long to start if it was not thanks to Gandhi. I liked learning how Gandhi’s fight for human right begun, despite he was discriminated for his appearance and left off in the cold, he did not get depressed without doing anything. Instead, he took that anger and turned it into inspiration to fight for his rights.
Thiffany Yeupell
The work of Gandhi has rippled across history, starting the fight for racial equality in South Africa, and more notably India’s independence. The use of satyagraha has influenced works of civil disobedience that have now integrated itself into US history, as the nation was fighting its own battle of racial equality in the middle of the 20th century. For Gandhi to take the initiative to attempt to correct the wrongs of the South African apartheid when wronged once and not passively be punished by the laws of another country necessitates courage. And for that, his work was not unrecognized, as the eye of the United Nations and the world was exposed to the racial inequality of the South African apartheid, a social issue that could have lasted longer without his possible involvement.
Mia Hernandez
This was an excellent article to read. I’ve obviously heard of Gandhi, and his fight for human rights, but I still find it incredible that he went through so much to try and change the world. Gandhi will forever be an inspiration to many people including myself in that we must be humble and we don’t have to use violent actions to get what we want.
Andrea Degollado
I think this article was really fascinating to read. I think it was really sad to read how someone would go out of their way just because they saw a “colored” man sitting on the train, minding their business. I think that really shows just how much segregation was in these people hearts. However, it had the effect that inspired Gandhi needed and gave him the fire he needed.
Ana Cravioto Herrero
Great article! Most of us have obviously heard about Gandhi and his fight for human rights, but I had never really heard what he went through or what caused him to even want to fight. He is a very inspirational man and he will always be remembered. He made a really big difference in the fight for equality, and he definitely brought huge awareness to his cause. His determination and perseverance never and will never go unnoticed.