MARGARET BOURKE-WHITE/GETTY IMAGES
OUT OF THEIR DEPTH
This arresting image from a gold mine in South Africa depicts‘Miners 1139 and 5122’, sweltering in 35C heat. Almost a mile beneath the surface, the workers faced unimaginable dangers, from rock falls to asphyxiation by toxic gases. The original, taken by photographer Margaret Bourke-White, was featured in a LIFE article on apartheid, which showed readers the brutality of white supremacy.