In 1996, Ann Arbor, Michigan resident Keshia Thomas was one of a group of locals who gathered to protest a Ku Klux Klan rally. The protest took place in a designated area cordoned off by a fence. But when a fellow protester shouted into a megaphone that there was a “Klansman in the crowd,” a moment of chaos ensued. The man, who was wearing a Confederate flag T-shirt and had what the BBC called an “SS tattoo,” tried to run away, but protesters immediately seized him, knocking him to the ground and beginning to beat him.

In a now-famous moment captured on film by photographer Marc Brunner, 18-year-old Keshia Thomas jumped between the protesters and the “Klansman,” shielding him from their blows in spite of his racist regalia. The image went viral, 1996-style, becoming one of Life magazine’s Photographs of the Year, and the young Thomas became a sought-after voice advocating tolerance amidst hatred. It had been just five years since the Rodney King beating stunned the nation, and four since the subsequent riots rocked L.A. “Can we all get along?” King had asked.

In a 2016 “Where Are They Now?” interview with Oprah Winfrey, Thomas recalled that she was “amazed” by the attention and outpouring of support she received after the incident. But, she added, “I got a lot of hate mail. A lot of people, still to this day, hate me. I get death threats.”