B.R. Ambedkar

(1891 - 1956)

B.R. Ambedkar was born into the “untouchable” Dalit caste, and as one of the first members of the caste to reach political prominence—after years of studying in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany—he spent much of his life fighting for civil rights for Dalits. He served as the chair of the drafting committee for India’s new post-independence constitution in 1947 and was appointed the country’s first law minister by Jawaharlal Nehru; he resigned from the position in 1950 after women’s rights legislation failed to pass. In 1956, shortly before his death, Ambedkar publicly converted to Buddhism along with nearly 400,000 followers.