Mahatma Gandhi Biography Speech Essay

â€Å"An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind†. This is a quote said by Mahatma Gandhi, an Indian revolutionary and religious leader who used his religious power for political and social reform and was the main force behind the second-largest nation in the world’s struggle for independence. Gandhi was born on October 2nd 1869 in Probandar, India. Him and his family lived in a self-sufficient residential community and only ate simple vegetarian food and undertook long fasts. He was the fourth child in the family and often had it the worse when it came to his education for his parents wanted him to follow in his father’s footsteps of becoming a lawyer. He eventually became a lawyer and trained in law in London and was employed in South America during the revolution from British control in India. At the age of 15 he married his wife Kasturba and had 4 children named Hirlal, Manilal, Ramdas, and Devdas. It was at this age that Mahatma first helped protest excessive land-tax and discrimination on the poorer people of India. What made him different from other protesters was that he created the concept of Satyagraha which is a nonviolent way of protesting injustices. He also spent 20 years of his life in South Africa fighting discrimination. He is also majorly known for leading the Indians in the Dandi Salt March of 1930 challenging the British-imposed salt tax. For many of his nonviolent protest though, he and many of his followers were often imprisoned in both South Africa and India. But weirdly enough, even after getting arrested many times, he never reacted in any violent ways for his vision of a free India was based off religion and pluralism. He was often described by many Indians as â€Å"The Father of The Nation†. On August 15th 1947, India attained independence after a great political and social struggle. Mahatma had achieved his goal but only enjoyed it for a short period of time. Mahatma Gandhi died on January 30th 1948, at the age of 78 in New Delhi after being assassinated by Nathuram Gadse. However, Mahatma’s legacy still continues for he inspired many movements for civil rights and freedom across the world. I decided to choose Mahatma Gandhi for my biography speech because he had a dramatic influence on the Indian Independence movement and achieved it in all nonviolent ways while never giving in to the evil that so many people do today.