Mahatma Gandhi was the leader of India's non-violent independence movement against British rule. He was born in India in 1869 and grew up practicing Hinduism. As a young man, he went to London to become a lawyer and later worked in South Africa, where he organized demonstrations against discrimination and was imprisoned multiple times by the British for his activities. In his later life, he returned to India and worked to help the poor and gain independence, which he achieved in 1948, though he was assassinated that same year by a fanatic.