Keshia Thomas Stops a Beating

Keshia Thomas shielded a man being beaten by demonstrators protesting against the Ku Klux Klan. The 18-year-old Black high-school student had herself joined the protest. The Klan rally took place outside City Hall in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on 22 June 1996. Police had erected a barrier between the two groups.

1. Thomas shields the man

The crowd noticed a man in clothing bearing Confederate symbols, with an SS tattoo. They took him for a Klan supporter, though his membership has not been established. When he tried to leave, people chased him. They knocked him down and kicked him and struck him with the wooden poles of their signs.

2. A man runs from the crowd

Thomas lowered herself over the man and demanded that the beating stop. Photographer Mark Brunner recorded the attack and several moments of her intervention. The photographs are presented in an editorial order; their exact sequence has not been established.

3. The attack

4. Thomas intervenes

Thomas later said that she had herself experienced violence and remembered wishing someone had stood up for her. In a 2013 BBC interview, she said the man she protected had not contacted her. Months after the protest, a young man approached her in a cafe and thanked her: he was the man’s son. Brunner published his series, and a photograph of Thomas appeared in LIFE’s 1996 pictures-of-the-year selection.

5. Among the sign poles

6. Addressing the crowd

In 2017, as Hurricane Harvey flooded Houston, Thomas helped carry people to safety in a truck. Floodwater had disabled her own car; she found a truck after putting out a call on Facebook. After the storm, she helped organise relief at Green House International Church, where volunteers distributed food, clothing and essential supplies.