20 dramatic photos of the movement that came before the Civil Rights Act was signed 51 years ago today

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Today marks 51 years since President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

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The seminal legislation made discrimination based on race, color, nationality, or gender illegal. But it also came after years of bloody, and sometimes deadly, confrontation between the African-American and white community.

These dramatic photos depict the dramatic confrontations that preceded the passage of the law.