Visions of a Better World: Howard Thurman`s Pilgrimage to India and the Origins of African American Nonviolence, Dixie Quinton, Eisenstadt Peter

When Thurman (1899-1981) became the first African American to meet with Mahatma Gandhi, he found himself called upon to create a new version of American Christianity, one that eschewed self-imposed racial and religious boundaries, and equipped itself to confront the enormous social injustices that plagued the United States during this period. Gandhis philosophy and practice of satyagraha, or soul force, would have a momentous impact on Thurman, showing him the effectiveness of nonviolent resistance.

After the journey to India, Thurmans distinctly American translation of satyagraha into a Black Christian context became one of the key inspirations for the civil rights movement, fulfilling Gandhis prescient words that it may be through the Negroes that the unadulterated message of nonviolence will be delivered to the world. Thurman went on to found one of the first explicitly interracial congregations in the United States and to deeply influence an entire generation of black ministers--among them Martin Luther King Jr.