Which nonviolent thinker influenced U.S. Civil Rights activists, drawing on the Indian independence movement?

• A. Mahatma Gandhi
• B. Martin Luther King Jr.
• C. W.E.B. Du Bois
• D. Malcolm X

Answer: (A)

Nonviolent resistance modeled by Gandhi during India's struggle for independence provided a practical and moral blueprint that U.S. Civil Rights activists adopted. Gandhi’s approach—ahimsa, or nonviolence, combined with satyagraha, or truth-force—taught that peaceful mass actions, civil disobedience, and economic pressure can challenge unjust laws without resorting to violence. This stance helped build broad sympathy and legitimacy for the movement, while keeping participants disciplined and focused on justice.

In the United States, leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. drew directly on this philosophy, shaping campaigns such as the Montgomery Bus Boycott and other peaceful protests to press for desegregation and voting rights. Gandhi’s influence provided both a moral framework and a strategic method that showed nonviolent pressure could win concrete changes and win widespread public support.

Other figures contributed in different ways and did not anchor their approach in the Indian independence model of nonviolence to the same extent, which is why Gandhi stands out as the thinker who linked Indian anti-colonial resistance to the American Civil Rights movement.