About the event
As the leader of the Indian independence struggle in the first half of the 20th century, M. K. Gandhi galvanized the marginalized and the voiceless in an epic struggle to gain recognition and freedom. A student of Gandhi’s philosophy, Martin Luther King did much the same as the most important leader of the civil rights movement in the United States during the 1950’s and 1960’s. Because they successfully mobilized millions of ordinary men and women to oppose imperialism and racism, these two figures epitomize the best possibilities of force directed toward democratic ends. Nevertheless, they both expressed profound discomfort with politics. Join Jeffrey Ferguson (Black Studies and American Studies, Amherst College) and Uday Mehta (Political Science, The Graduate Center, CUNY) for a discussion about these two important figures and their shared principles and disagreements. Moderated by Sujatha Fernandes (Sociology, Queens College and the Graduate Center).
