Howard Thurman as Transformative Translator of the Gandhian Repertoire

The Gandhian repertoire of nonviolence caught the imagination of American intellectuals soon after the 1919 Rowlatt Bills campaign in India.  It sparked heated debate in the early 1920s, especially among religious pacifists led by John Haynes Holmes and civil rights activists led by W.E.B. DuBois.  But the first wave of American interest tended to exaggerate the religious similarities between Gandhi and Jesus or the cultural differences between the Indian and American society.  Both responses prevented serious consideration of the Gandhian repertoire’s relevance for organized activism in the United States.  Its spread to American shores, and eventually to the civil rights movement, would have failed without the translation efforts of African-American intellectuals during the 1930s. 

Howard Thurman’s contributions were particularly significant, in this regard.  As leading theologian and preacher, his ideas and texts reached wide audiences, both within and beyond the African-American community.  And as the first African American Christian to travel to India and meet with Gandhi, he was able to engage in deep, face-to-face dialogue with the new repertoire’s author, rather than having to rely on hearsay or criticism from afar.  Thurman’s translation inspired several of his students and readers to experiment with the Gandhian repertoire’s application in American settings, including James Farmer and of course Martin Luther King, Jr.

My essay starts by discussing translation, highlighting how this important concept and practice promotes transnational diffusion between different cultures and distant social movements.  It then focuses on the life, ideas, and actions of Howard Thurman, whose part in the American civil rights movement has not received adequate attention among scholars, intellectuals, and activists.  The final section synthesizes my earlier arguments and considers the wider relevance of Thurman’s transformative translation.