The University of Alabama at Birmingham Department of Art and Art History will present a forum and lecture by Tushar Gandhi, great-grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, on Tuesday, May 6.
Tushar Arun Gandhi is the son of journalist Arun Manilal Gandhi, grandson of Manilal Gandhi and great-grandson of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, known as Mahatma Gandhi. He lives in Mumbai, India, and runs the Mahatma Gandhi Foundation.
In March 2005, he led the 75th anniversary re-enactment of the Dandi March, the 24-day, 240-mile march which his great-grandfather led in 1930. The Salt March, an important part of the Indian independence movement, began with the Dandi March, a direct action campaign of tax resistance and nonviolent protest. After making salt at Dandi, Gandhi continued southward along the coast, producing salt and addressing meetings on the way, until he was arrested. This march triggered the civil disobedience movement. The teachings of Gandhi and the Salt March were great influences on the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and the United States’ civil rights movement.
Gandhi will spend a day at UAB as part of a three-day trip to Birmingham to speak about and promote human rights and peace. From 12-4 p.m. May 6, the public is invited to participate in “Gandhian Paths to Global Progress: A Forum with Tushar Gandhi” at UAB’s Abroms-Engel Institute for the Visual Arts, 1221 10th Ave. South. The forum is free; participants must register by email at raglandj@uab.edu or by phone at 205-975-0693. Lunch and a coffee break will be provided.
| Tushar Gandhi will spend a day at UAB as part of a three-day trip to Birmingham to speak about and promote human rights and peace. From 12-4 p.m. May 6, the public is invited to participate in “Gandhian Paths to Global Progress: A Forum with Tushar Gandhi” at UAB’s Abroms-Engel Institute for the Visual Arts. The forum is free. Lunch and a coffee break will be provided. |
Later in the day, at 6 p.m., Gandhi will deliver his lecture on human rights, “Three Marches and a Dream: Salt and Freedom,” in UAB’s Mary Culp Hulsey Recital Hall, 950 13th St. South. The lecture is free and open to the public; seating is limited. To reserve a seat, call or email Monica Robinson at 205-975-6267 or monie@uab.edu.
While in Birmingham, Gandhi will speak to the Birmingham Rotary Club and to students and faculty at Miles College, visit the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, and meet with members of the Indian Cultural Society. Assistant Professor of Art History Cathleen Cummings, M.A., Ph.D., organized the trip after she met Gandhi in New Delhi last summer, when the people of Birmingham were in the midst of celebrating the 50th anniversary of the civil rights movement.
“I was inspired by the stories he told me of Martin Luther King Jr.’s visit to Mahatma Gandhi’s home in Mumbai,” Cummings said. “I thought, how wonderful it would be if Tushar could share these with the whole Birmingham community.”