The birth of a student

January 15, 2023

According to the Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, nothing of significance happened on January 15, 1929. Gandhi wrote no letters, made no speeches. History, of course, has a different view; it was the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. His incorporation of Gandhi's ideas of love and nonviolence into the Civil Rights Movement were perhaps what Gandhi had in mind when he said, “It may be through the Negroes that the unadulterated message of nonviolence will be delivered to the world."

It was while King was away at college that he heard a speech by Mordecai Johnson, who had just returned from India, about the life and lessons of Mohandas Gandhi. After further study of Gandhi, King wrote, “[he] became deeply fascinated by his campaigns of nonviolent resistance.”

An opportunity to put these ideas to work came in 1955, with the Montgomery Bus Boycott. For 381 days, the city's segregated buses were boycotted by Montgomery's Black population. The nonviolent action frustrated prominent city leaders. King's house was bombed on January 30, 1956, while his wife and daughter were inside, but he refused to consider any thoughts of reprisal, remaining committed to nonviolence. The boycott ended after a Supreme Court decision struck down segregation on public buses.

A few years later, in 1959, King and his wife traveled to India. There, they met with Prime Minster Jawaharlal Nehru, Gandhi's political heir, as well as other followers of Gandhi, who welcomed them with open arms. He later wrote that as a result of his visit, his understanding of nonviolence, and his commitment to it, became greater than ever. Afterward, King began the practice of fasting his first two days in jail, both for internal focus and to honor his mentor.

His continued effort leadership in the Civil Rights Movement led to his being named as Time's “Man of the Year” for 1963, as Gandhi had been in 1930, and he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. King began to speak out against the growing Vietnam War, stepping up his emphasis on nonviolence across the globe. Finally, in 1968, his message of peace and unity was silenced the way his mentor's had been twenty years earlier; by the barrel of a gun. He was 39 years old.

What impact on history do you think Martin Luther King would have had if he’d lived?