--- description: Nov. 6, 1913: Mahatma Gandhi is arrested in South Africa while leading a march to oppose a racist policy title: Gandhi in South African Prison: History of Nonviolent Jail Strategy image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt371d7cedf31c28fd/6987636b3c16394b2d44f5b4/1101300331_400.jpg?branch=production&width=828&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [History](/section/history/) ## History Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Civil Rights](/tag/civil-rights/) ## Civil Rights Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # How Gandhi's Time in Jail Helped His Cause by [Jennifer Latson](/author/jennifer-latson/) ## Jennifer Latson Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 6, 2014 3:30 PM CUT  Mahatma Gandhi on the cover of TIME, Mar. 31, 1930 Mahatma Gandhi on the cover of TIME, Mar. 31, 1930TIME by [Jennifer Latson](/author/jennifer-latson/) ## Jennifer Latson Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 6, 2014 3:30 PM CUT Before he was the pioneering civil rights activist called by the honorific “Mahatma” (“[great soul](http://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/hyderabad/article550794.ece "undefined"),” in Sanskrit), Mohandas Gandhi was a young attorney just trying to take his seat on a train. Not long after moving to South Africa in 1893 [to help an Indian merchant with a legal problem](http://www.npr.org/2014/04/16/303363995/before-india-a-young-gandhi-found-his-calling-in-south-africa "undefined"), he was kicked out of the first-class section of a train — despite having bought a ticket for it — after being told, “This is for whites only,” according to Ramachandra Guha, the author of _Gandhi Before India_. “He had just come from England, where — at least in London in the 1890s — professionals who were colored did not face discrimination,” [Guha said](http://www.npr.org/2014/04/16/303363995/before-india-a-young-gandhi-found-his-calling-in-south-africa "undefined") in an interview with NPR. The experience was both humiliating and eye-opening, and set the stage for the civil disobedience that would become Gandhi’s legacy. He paid a price — including four periods in jail during his 21 years in South Africa — for demonstrating against discrimination, but continued with protests, such as leading Indian expats in opposing a racist law requiring all Indians to register with the[ “Asiatic Department”](http://www.salsa.net/peace/satyagraha/glassbook.html "undefined") and to carry their registration cards at all times or risk deportation. His [final stint in a South African prison](http://nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu/content/indians-south-africa-wage-satyagraha-their-rights-1906-1914 "undefined") began with his arrest on this day 101 years ago — Nov. 6, 1913 — for leading a march of more than 2,000 people to protest a tax on Indian immigrants. While he left South Africa for good the following year, his arrest record was far from complete. Going to jail was, in fact, one of the sharpest tools in Gandhi’s nonviolent tool belt, along with fasting (or a combination of the two). According to TIME’s 1948[ report on his assassination](http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,855988-4,00.html "undefined"), British authorities often freed him from jail when he began to fast, “lest a massive anger at his death in their hands engulf India.” Gandhi himself once said, according to the story, “I always get my best bargains behind prison bars.” The lessons he learned about the effectiveness of peaceful protest in South Africa formed the basis for his efforts to end British oppression in India. In the book [_Satyagraha in South Africa_](http://www.amazon.com/Satyagraha-South-Africa-Mahatma-Gandhi-ebook/dp/B00NO1OBIY/ref=sr%5F1%5F2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1414504227&sr=1-2&keywords=satyagraha "undefined"), Gandhi relates a conversation with a tailor in 1915, just after returning to India. --- > “” --- **_Read TIME’s original coverage of Gandhi’s assassination, here in the archives_**: [Saints & Heroes: Of Truth and Shame](http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,855988-1,00.html "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3546296/gandhi-1913/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3546296/gandhi-1913/"},"headline":"How Gandhi's Time in Jail Helped His Cause","datePublished":"2014-11-06T15:30:39.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T11:05:37.028Z","description":"Nov. 6, 1913: Mahatma Gandhi is arrested in South Africa while leading a march to oppose a racist policy","url":"https://time.com/3546296/gandhi-1913/","keywords":["Civil Rights","politics","India","Race","Gandhi"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt371d7cedf31c28fd/6987636b3c16394b2d44f5b4/1101300331_400.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jennifer Latson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/jennifer-latson/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt371d7cedf31c28fd/6987636b3c16394b2d44f5b4/1101300331_400.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Mahatma Gandhi TIME Cover 1930","caption":"Mahatma Gandhi TIME Cover 1930","creditText":"TIME","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/civil-rights/","name":"Civil Rights"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3546296/gandhi-1913/","name":"How Gandhi's Time in Jail Helped His Cause"}}]}] ```