In India, a set of recently discovered photographs is drawing attention to the role of women in one of the country's biggest anti-colonial movements, known as the civil disobedience movement, led by Mahatma Gandhi in 1930-31.
The images do not simply capture female participation; they are visual proof of how women commanded and dominated political activity, often relegating men to the sidelines.
In April 1930, Gandhi concluded his pivotal salt march, breaking the British monopoly on salt production - a charged symbol of colonial misrule. Raising a handful of muddy salt from the sea, he declared himself to be shaking the foundations of the British Empire.
Afterwards, Gandhi presided over waves of civil disobedience protests, encouraging supporters of the Indian National Congress to manufacture contraband salt, boycott foreign goods, and face down phalanxes of lathi-wielding policemen. Just a few months before, the Congress had declared purna swaraj (complete independence) as its political objective for India.
Historians have long recognized the civil disobedience movement as an important turning point in Indian politics.
First, women joined anti-colonial activities in greater numbers. When Gandhi began his salt march he forbade women from joining, but several female leaders eventually convinced him to accord them a greater role.
Also, Congress leaders harnessed modern media technologies like radio, film, and photography, which helped their political struggle reach an international audience.
About 20 years ago, one album of photographs from the movement appeared at a London auction. Tipped off by an antiquarian dealer in Mumbai, the Alkazi Foundation, a Delhi-based art collection, acquired the album.
Despite their unknown origins, the photographs of the Nursey album told a dramatic and detailed story, capturing violent confrontations with police, wounded volunteers loaded onto ambulances, boisterous marches amidst monsoonal downpours, and endless streams of protesting men and women.
Among the images, Lilavati Munshi stands defiantly outside a boycotted British store, instructing men raiding a government-owned salt pan. This visual record of female leadership is unique, showcasing thousands of unnamed female volunteers and their unprecedented involvement in nationalism.
The Nursey album makes a compelling argument that the people of Bombay, including these women, made the movement that in turn made Gandhi globally famous. The album also points to remarkable inversions of gender dynamics as women took the lead.
These photographs have re-emerged in public circulation with the recent release of a book, *Photographing Civil Disobedience*, and exhibitions in Mumbai and at Duke University that seek to acknowledge the defining role of women in India's independence struggle.
