In the mid-20th century, America experienced a painful and long-overdue reckoning for the most inhuman societal injustices in its history — the stark racial inequalities that gave the lie to the nickname “land of the free.” And LIFE was there, recording the triumphs, frustrations, and martyrdoms of the civil rights movement’s heroes — and the gloating hatred that fueled the era’s villains.
Pictured: During a nonviolent march demanding desegregation in public facilities in Birmingham, Alabama, the city’s infamously racist public-safety chief, Bull Connor, ordered firefighters to turn high-pressure firehoses on the peaceful demonstrators.
(see more — LIFE at 75: Best Civil Rights Photos)
