What was it like to live in the southern United States in the 1960s?

I feel like it must have been a tumultuous time period to be in the south, especially in major cities like Jackson MS, Birmingham AL, or Selma AL. Did people know that the way they were treating black people was wrong, but just didn’t care? Did they convince themselves that they were in the right? It seems like there was definitely a lot of brainwashing going on, convince people that they, and only they, were truly American. I just don’t know if I can truly wrap my head around it.