Civil Disobedience Examples: Salt March, Civil Rights Movement, and Anti-Apartheid Movement

The Salt March

  • Response to the British imperial salt tax.
  • Gandhi and his followers walked approximately 100 miles to India's West Coast.
  • They harvested their own salt, which was an illegal act according to British law.
  • These demonstrations played a significant role in India's independence.

Martin Luther King Junior and the Civil Rights Movement

  • Inspired by Gandhi and adopted tactics of civil disobedience.
  • Protested America's racial segregation laws.
  • Examples of civil disobedience:
    • Montgomery bus boycott.
    • Sit-ins.
  • The civil rights movement affected political change.
  • The Supreme Court outlawed racial discrimination and overturned laws.
  • Integrated schools in the 1950s.
  • Congress passed anti-discrimination laws in the 1960s, aiming to equalize the treatment of white and black Americans under the law.

Nelson Mandela and the Anti-Apartheid Movement

  • From South Africa, where Africans were denied basic rights under the apartheid system.
  • Nelson Mandela was a prominent leader of the African National Congress.
  • He led black South Africans in acts of nonviolent resistance, including strikes and boycotts.

Comparison of Figures

  • Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., and Nelson Mandela all employed nonviolent resistance.
  • Nelson Mandela's unique aspect: Led strikes, which distinguished his approach slightly from Gandhi and King.