What would one lead with better: a pot of honey or a bottle of arsenic? Often the most competent leaders in history were not those who used violent means for superficial means, such as money or power, but rather employed utopian conditions for the congregations they supported. Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. were both exemplary leaders applying passive resistance and poignant words of peace and freedom in their civil rights movements.


Mahatma Gandhi was one of the most predominant leaders in civil rights epochs in his distinctive trait of non-force in his movements. Gandhi employed non-violent methods of rebellion toward the British forces occupying India, exhibiting pacifism and vegetarianism as part of his reverence toward all living creatures. Furthermore, other strategies in his peace movements included ingeniously producing domestic products, such as cotton, to detriment the economic power of the English over India. Also, Gandhi inspired an effusive Indian nationalism, rallying large congregations in simple marches and hunger strikes.


Martin Luther King Jr. was also a humanitarian like Gandhi, refusing to demonstrate brutality, but instead supporting the idealism of a united mankind. Martin Luther King Jr. was raised by the standards of his preaching father who advised his son to love his enemies, instead of emulating hatred. Throughout his maturity, Martin Luther King Jr. accepted this apotheosis to heart, despite the racist atmosphere of the ‘60s during the height of the civil rights movement. Akin to Gandhi, Martin preached pacifism to his followers, rebelling tranquilly in the Rosa Parks movement and at Washington demonstrations. Martin’s “I Have a Dream” speech was one of the most distinctive aspects of his career, inspiring millions with a humane and gentle demeanor toward equality.


In the history of politics, Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. are lauded as unique leaders in their passive civil-rights movements. Mahatma Gandhi will indefinitely remain India’s legend for acting as the buttress fir independence movements of several ethnicities and pariahs, while doing so without casting fear or shedding blood. Martin Luther King Junior’s legacy, honored by movies, books, and his own personal holiday, which never fully express the extent of his sacrifice and work toward establishing equality for his fellow mankind.