Q 01/05

Gandhi's 24-day walk to the seaside village of Dandi in 1930 defied a British tax on which everyday commodity?

A) Salt

B) Tea

C) Sugar

D) Rice

Answer · why

A) Salt

Salt was a British monopoly under an 1882 law that kept its collection and manufacture in government hands. Gandhi picked up a lump of salty mud at th...

Q 02/05

Which silent film star met Gandhi at a house in East London during the Indian leader's 1931 visit?

A) Buster Keaton

B) Harold Lloyd

C) Douglas Fairbanks

D) Charlie Chaplin

Answer · why

D) Charlie Chaplin

Charlie Chaplin and Gandhi talked about modern technology, which Gandhi distrusted. The conversation helped inspire the factory satire Modern Times, a...

Q 03/05

The last viceroy chose 15 August for India's independence because it marked which country's World War II surrender?

A) Germany

B) Japan

C) Italy

D) Finland

Answer · why

B) Japan

Japan had surrendered exactly two years earlier, when the viceroy was the Allied commander in South East Asia. He pulled the handover forward from a B...

Q 04/05

Which Indian national holiday falls on 26 January because Congress declared complete independence on that date in 1930?

A) Constitution Day

B) Martyrs' Day

C) Republic Day

D) Gandhi Jayanti

Answer · why

C) Republic Day

Republic Day marks the constitution taking effect in 1950, timed to that anniversary. Until the British left, Congress had kept 26 January as its own ...

Q 05/05

Which American civil rights leader made a five-week tour of India in 1959 to study Gandhi's nonviolent methods?

A) Adam Clayton Powell Jr.

B) Martin Luther King Jr.

C) A. Philip Randolph

D) Thurgood Marshall

Answer · why

B) Martin Luther King Jr.

Martin Luther King Jr. said he went to other countries as a tourist but came to India as a pilgrim. He had already borrowed Gandhi's tactics for the M...