Gandhi’s South African March: People, Streets and Surviving Records

A historical photograph of the Great March appears in this later educational filmstrip preserved by the Gandhi Smarak Sangrahalaya Samiti. The black surround and printed caption belong to that presentation. The underlying scene records the 1913 march; its exact day and camera position are not established by the catalog.

This educational filmstrip maps the route from Newcastle toward Volksrust. It is a later explanatory graphic, not a map carried by the marchers. Its caption gives 75 children; the Mani Bhavan chronology gives 57. The article follows that chronology rather than silently repeating the figure printed on the slide.

A later educational slide reproduces Gandhi in the plain clothing associated with his identification with Indian laborers. Commons dates the underlying portrait to 1913. The image belongs to the campaign year, but the catalog does not establish that it was taken on November 6.

Gandhi sits with Gopal Krishna Gokhale and supporters during the Indian political leader’s 1912 visit to South Africa. Gokhale hoped negotiations would secure relief. The failure to obtain a satisfactory settlement forms part of the background to the renewed resistance the following year.