1Mviews
50 Important Historical Photos That Might Change Your Perspective On Things (New Pics)
In the mid-2000s, historian Anna Pegler-Gordon said that visual media often seems more accessible to her students than the written record. They claimed images make the past seem more accessible, giving concrete shape to a world that sometimes seems intangible. Not to mention the immediacy of the image, which often conveys information more quickly than a primary document written in an unfamiliar, or even a foreign, language. But according to Pegler-Gordon, this immediacy also works well in discussion sections, where the shared experience of viewing a picture can provide a focus for lively group discussion.
Now, 15 years after the professor said these words, we can say that her insights were spot on. Take this subreddit, for example. It unites over 3 million people, and they're all exploring the past through historical photographs. The rarely seen images coupled with the detailed fashion in which the community shares them with one another (every upload includes an accurate description of what is being presented (event, location, war, year, etc.) not only provides a look into our earlier days, but also inspires interesting discussions in the comment section.
We at Bored Panda have already covered the subreddit here and here, but it has received plenty of new submissions since our last publication, so we thought it's about time we made another one. Continue scrolling to check out some of its recent posts and the conversation we had with historians Joshua Wilkey and Darren R. Reid.
This post may include affiliate links.
Cop Stops The Traffic In New York So A Mother Cat Holding A Kitten Can Cross Safely C.1925
Remember That Photo Of The Construction Workers Having Lunch On The Unfinished Empire State Building? Well Here's The Photographer Charles Ebbets Taking That Photo. 9/20/1932
"I think photography can be an essential and powerful tool for understanding history, but I think it is also necessary to view all photographs with a critical eye," professor, writer, and amateur homesteader Joshua Wilkey told Bored Panda. "While we might be accustomed to skepticism of photos in the age of Photoshop, photo editing isn't the only thing that should give us pause."
Dr. Darren R. Reid, who earned his Ph.D. from the University of Dundee and is now a lecturer at Coventry University, agrees. He explained to us that images are an incredibly important part of how we understand the past. "They give us a distinct look into how people and societies viewed themselves and each other," Reid said.
"In the medieval period, for example, Jesus and the saints were often depicted as physically larger than ordinary people — not because they were believed to be taller, but because they occupied a higher status in the minds of the artists who produced these images, and the audiences who consumed them. In later centuries, Europeans (and their descendants) looked to the classical world for inspiration, spending huge amounts of time (and money) on images that were both increasingly realistic and idealized."
"Native Americans and American colonizers were frequently depicted in classical poses — all deliberate choices that show us how many people perceived the invasion of the Americas and the genocides that occurred there," Reid continued. "They also include important details (such as items of clothing, hairstyles, etc.) that help us to picture the past. For modern people, this means we can more accurately imagine, and perhaps, empathize with the very different folks who came before us."
Rail Commuters Wearing White Protective Masks, One With The Additional Message “Wear A Mask Or Go To Jail,” During The 1918 Influenza Pandemic In California
Stoney First Nation Member, Guide Samson Beaver With His Wife Leah And Their Daughter Frances Louise, 1907. Photo Taken By Mary Schäffer
Mogadishu, 1993. An Italian Soldier Gives Food To A Local Orphan
Talking about photographs, in particular, Joshua Wilkey provided a few very helpful questions we can ask ourselves when analyzing them:
Is the photo lacking context? Or what is happening outside of the frame? "There's always the chance that the viewer is seeing an intentionally skewed perspective," Wilkey highlighted. "A picture might be worth a thousand words, but sometimes it takes a thousand words to explain the context of a single photo. Some pictures are downright strange without context."
Is the photo representative? In other words, can the photo indicate something bigger than itself? "For example, the internet has, for years, made fun of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un for marveling at seemingly cool but likely fake things like modern and well-stocked grocery stores. These photos are meant to be representative images portraying for Kim's people and for foreigners that North Korea is a modern and well-nourished society. The reality is a bit different."
Atelier Photo: "A Lesbian Couple In Semi Drag Wedding Attire"; Kingdom Of Hungary - Budapest, 1920
A Man Looking For A Job Wearing His Cv, England - 1930s
A Beach In Iran A Few Months Before The Islamic Revolution, 1979
As the historian said, these concepts can apply to virtually any photograph, but they become crucial when we're viewing a particular one as evidence. "They are important for historical photographs because of the power and usefulness of photography in political propaganda. North Korea is a great example of a regime that uses photography for propaganda, and the Soviet Union and the US were great examples too, particularly during the Cold War and the Space Race."
"Another good example of government using photography to achieve a political end was the Farm Service Administration's use of photography to document the impact of the Great Depression as a means of garnering support for the New Deal," Wilkey added. "Roosevelt's opponents argued it was political propaganda, while his proponents argued it was an accurate depiction of what was happening. Ultimately, most scholars have concluded that, while it accomplished political ends, it was indeed an accurate portrayal of reality."
1972: 3 Women On The Streets Of Kabul, Afghanistan
A Man Browses For Books In The Old Public Library Of Cincinnati. The Building Was Demolished In 1955. Today An Office Building And A Parking Lot Stand Where It Used To Be
Oh God SO MANY BOOKS!!! I hope they saved the books before demolishing the building
It’s No Longer Possible To See This, As Buildings Outside Block The Sun. Grand Central, NYC, 1929 Photo By Louis Faurer
One more case that Wilkey mentioned to illustrate his point is Jacob Riis’s 1890 photojournalism work titled 'How the Other Half Lives,' which offered shocking views of tenement housing in New York City.
"Riis's work was accused of being 'muckraking' (activist journalism), but it led to reforms on tenement laws and rights and helped shepherd some of the first public health laws in the US," the historian said.
"Using photos from Riis’s work, one can apply both of the principles above: consider what is happening outside the frame of the camera, and consider whether the photos are representative. In the case of most of Riis’s photos of terrible living conditions, what was outside the frame of his camera was much the same as what was inside the frame, and his photographed subjects were representative of their entire communities. For me, they pass both my tests and should be treated as important historical sources."
Freddie Mercury With His Mother, 1947
A French Boy Introduces Himself To Indian Soldiers Who Had Just Arrived In France To Fight Alongside French And British Forces, Marseilles, 30th September 1914. [colorization]
West German School Children Pause To Talk With Two East German Border Guards Beside An Opening In The Berlin Wall During The Collapse Of Communism In East Germany In November 1989 (Photo: Stephen Jaffe)
However, Darren R. Reid pointed out that not only politicians and governments contribute to bending the narrative, and suggested taking a closer look at the art produced by the people.
"The invasion of the Americas was frequently sanctioned and/or driven by governments, but it was the acts of 'ordinary' people that made it possible, and across that continent, a huge body of work was produced to justify, even encourage, some really terrible acts," he said. "American comic books and movies depicted Native Americans as simple, brutish, and savage. This helped to justify genocide and colonization as it was ongoing — and justify it, long after the most violent part of the process was complete. For a great example, check out the awful depiction of Native Americans in Disney’s Peter Pan. They helped to justify the colonial project to generations of children, right up to the present day."
As Sue Walsh, the creative director at SYPartners, wonderfully put it, the way we perceive the world is more fluid than the binaries of fact and fiction. Especially now that we live in what some call a post-truth era. So keep not only an open eye, but a sharp mind as well if you want to navigate it.
Reporters Who Exposed The Watergate Scandal Watch President Nixon Resign, 1974
A Man Guards His Family From The Cannibals During The Madras Famine Of 1877 At The Time Of British Raj, India
I don't care if anyone gets offended by this, bt fck those colonizing grassholes! This looks so painful to WATCH, the pain they must've gone through is beyond my capability to imagine.
A Man Takes A Selfie Using A Stick Of Wood To Activate The Camera, 1957
French Soldiers Passing By A Dog Wearing Googles And Smoking A Pipe, 1915
High School Teacher John T. Scopes Is Brought To Trial In Dayton, Tennessee For Teaching The Theory Of Evolution, Which Was Prohibited Under State Law. July 10, 1925
There are people today who want to return to those benighted days.
A Black U.S. Soldier Reads A Message Left By The Việt Cộng During The Vietnam War, The Message Reads: "U.S. Negro Armymen, You Are Committing The Same Ignominious Crimes In South Vietnam That The Kkk Clique Is Perpetrating Against Your Family At Home.", 1970.
Those poor guys, could not catch a second of a break. Racism rampant among troops, hated at home by war protestors. These guys had no sense of security at all. Half of their company might have been outright racist jerks, not a great feeling going out into the jungles of a foreign country they having to worry about the enemy but also the armed racists guys who are suppose to have your back. Makes me cry every time just thinking about it.
What was said wasnt wrong. He oppressed a group of people too. He killed innocents too. That wasnt racist. Do you not care about the children killed by Americans in Vietnam, the women raped?
Load More Replies...Fight or Prison....Black men came back to the USA with agent orange, drug addictions, disabled with nightmares, still hated and being hung from trees. This is AMERICA.
I hear you loud and clear!! And they were also denied health care benefits because they didn't have health insurance insurance. It was absolutely awful for black men who fought in Vietnam! I'm not saying it wasn't hard on white solders too, because it was! But white men returning to the US got more assistance with housing, health care and other benefits. Black soldiers were left unto themselves, hooked on herion suffering from PTSD, misunderstood by their families and ignored by the government! Now, those Vietnam vet's grandchildren are running around the streets of Chicago and other big cities shooting and killing each other and are incarcerated. What Vietnam did to Black soldiers was a generational curse!!
Load More Replies...Wow. Sobering message. I was at the American War Museum in Vietnam in 2014. I've got a strong stomach and horror films haven't been able to scare me for some years now. But what I saw of the birth defects due to the US military polluting the soil and water table had me sobbing. And the poison will be in their foodchain for centuries to come. If countries want to go to war they need to stay behind and clean up the mess they made. It's basic upbringing like cleaning your room as a kid but entire nations think they don't have to clean up after themselves. No wonder Mother Nature is culling us with Covid
He was probably pretty glad he was in Vietnam on the side of the hunters.
Load More Replies...It looks a lot like a gravestone marker (it's thick like a chunk of granite or concrete), so they probably used the same lettering methods.
Load More Replies...Somewhat true. Only somewhat because black people didn't want to be in Vietnam.
Sure, but in a situation of kill this innocent person or you and your family will be killed, does it make it right for a person to kill innocents just to save themsleves and their families? Oppress innocents the same way you were oppressed? I don't know what I'd have done if I was in that situation, maybe I'd have become killed those innocents to save my family, but that doesn't make it right, it's still wrong and horrible, it doesn't remove the blame from the person because they are a victim too.
Load More Replies...Then you'd have been the guy who caused my father's company to get killed. Thankfully my father did not die. He was the only one who made it back.
Load More Replies...Communist propaganda that is still being used to divide us today with great effect on the internet. Wake up people!! These messages of racism are being pushed by our enemies to divide us. We are better than this. We must come together because the enemy is knocking at the gate and laughing at how easily the seeds of division took root once they were sown. Please head this warning my fellow Westerners. I bring this message with love. We must stand strong and find our commonalities. We are all brothers of the free World. Beware of messages that bring division. The enemy is busy at work and have a free and open platform to beam their messages of hate, mistrust and division direct into every home and household. They wish to divide the West in order to weaken our defensive capabilities. This picture perfectly encapsulates their methodologies. You can easily recognize it still at work today. Keep your eyes open. Love your fellow countrymen regardless of skin color and stand together.
I always feel SO bad especially for Vietnam vets. They're among the most hated vets (due to hatred of the conflict they fought in and THAT'S wrong too) and it makes ZERO f*****g sense! I don't think people truly understand that when you are a grunt, YOU DO AS YOU ARE TOLD. Period. It wasn't some random grunt's idea to start doing evil heinous s**t to people, the order cane down from the top. You want to blame someone well don't bother blaming the vets or the troops, they're just trying to survive the war and come home to their families. Blame the people who decided to tell the troops to do that s**t. If you hate war PLEASE support our troops, THEY are the reason YOU sleep soundly and peacefully at night without bombs going off over your head, the LEAST you could do is thank them and mean it.
I completely agree with you sentiments in the sense that we must support our veterans more. I think it's truly disgusting that we have veterans living on the streets and veterans (particularly of the Vietnam era) are still hated. They laid down their lives to fight for our freedom and they deserve more respect than any of us. However where I would have to disagree is we can't just continue the redirect of don't blame the foot soldiers blame the men above them. While it is true that often when war crimes are committed the people on top giving orders do have a lot of the blame but you also have many instances where it was the common foot soldiers who took things into their own hands and committed atrocities. One example of this was during the Vietnam war with the My Lai massacre. Another example is the actions taken by many German soldiers during the Second World War. Although many orders were given to commit crimes many were still carries out by the soldiers themselves.
Load More Replies.......and communists perpetrate atrocities to this day - Russia, China, North Korea, Cuba.......
I was born in 1972 and have done plenty of research outside of school-sanctioned "history" and media rederick, yet this is the first I've laid eyes on this piece of powerful historical truth. How much exposure will it take for the citizens of Earth to join together in recognizing that we're being divided by hate and governed through lies?
I remember Mohammed Ali objecting for this, among other reasons. I know my FIL didn't want my husband to join the military due to his experience both during and after WWII.
It wasn't US negro armymen who was fighting the Viet Cong, those soldiers were drafted and forced to fight! It was the US government committing ignominious crimes because most of the government were members of the KKK!!! During this time, 1970, Klansmen were congressman, senators, state representatives, governors, sheriffs and police chiefs! In every form of government in the US the Klan has been involved, so before you blame the black soldiers drafted to the army to fight a war they knew nothing about, put the blame where it belongs- rich, white, conservatives who sent their sons to Canada as draft dodgers!! Like Muhammad Ali said, "No Viet Cong ever called me n****r!"
They tried to divide us but the soldier knew that Communism was not a sweet ride also
An incident in a different war involving a different country?
Load More Replies...Words also spoken by Muhammad Ali.... who was willing to go to jail before doing this crime against people
That doesn't sound like it's from the Viet Cong. It sounds like propaganda. It sure is lucky someone happened to come by with a camera. I do agree with Ray, though. They weren't wrong.
Aww the poor minorities are just always victims and never do anything wrong and just can't catch a break. Poor liberals are just always finding a reason to be upset at history about. No the kkk was not doing the same s**t that black American soldiers were doing in Vietnam. Soldiers were fighting to free the people of Vietnam, the problem was in the way America fought the war. We could have won if we stopped with the weak minded liberal fucktards way of fighting wars and got back to General Patton's way of winning wars. To beat Russia and China it's going to take ignoring weak minded no backbone liberal fucktards and fighting to win. Liberal fucktards are not mentally strong enough to protect or keep America Strong. Look how scared and sheep followers they are against a virus. They will give up their freedoms and rights because of fear. What little weak minded bitches. Put your mask on follower and take your vaccine and let the liar corrupt Fauci think for you b***h.
This comment has been deleted.
Load More Replies...David Attenborough Entertains Prince Charles And Princess Anne With A Cockatoo. 1958
Martin Luther King Jr. Removing A Burnt Cross From His Front Yard In 1960
Ugh, I hate how racist some people are. It's sad there are still racists, but we've gotten much better
A Young Female Welder Photographed By Bernard Hoffman In Connecticut, Circa 1943.
Woman Cutting Her Birthday Cake In Iran 1973, 5 Years Before The Islamic Revolution
A Makeshift Hospital In The Vietnam War, 1970
An Old Woman Leaving Her Home With Just A Portrait Of Her Husband And Rugs. Russian Soldiers Gave Her Just 5 Minutes To Pack Her Bags And Leave Before They Destroyed Her Home And Everything In It. Her Sons And Husband Were Already Dead. She Had Lost Everything. May 1995, Grozny
Filming An Episode Of “The French Chef” With Julia Child, 1963
Max Schreck Relaxing Behind The Scenes Of Nosferatu, 1922
A Picture Of A Submerged Diver In 1899. Many Believe It To Be The First Photograph Taken Underwater
John F. Kennedy Campaigning Door-To-Door In West Virginia (1960)
I don't know about anyone else but when someone comments that they're commenting to hide a rude comment, it draws my attention to the rude comment, not away from it.
Korean Mother Embraces Her Son, A Prisoner Of War Who Escaped His North Korean Pow Camp Shortly After The Signing Of The Korean Armistice Agreement, Which Ended The Widespread Fighting Of The Korean War, 1953.
Chinese Guerrilla Fighter Cheng Benhua 成本華 Smiling Moment Before Execution By The Japanese, She Was 24. (Late 1938) [502 X 806]
Sailors Saluting A War Veteran, Leningrad 1989
Students Dance In Tiananmen Square Before The Arrival Of The Chinese Military, June 4th 1989
Chief Low Dog - An Oglala Lakota Chief Who Fought With Sitting Bull At The Battle Of Little Bighorn, C. 1881
The Queen Consort Of Mongolia, Genepil, In Mongolia. The Last Queen Consort And Married To The Bogd Khaganate, Bogd Khan, Until His Death On April 17th, 1924, When The Monarchy Was Abolished. She Was Killed During The Stalinist Purges In May 1938. Photograph Dated January 1st, 1923
Rare Photo Showing Niagara Falls Without Water, 1969
Mt St Helens The 17th Of May 1980 And 4 Months Later
David Bowie After Being Arrested For Marijuana Possession In Rochester, 1976
Photograph Of The First Official Defector Of The "German Democratic Republic", Conrad Schumann, Who Escaped To The Western Side On August 15, 1961 After Jumping The Unfinished Area Of the Fence That He Guarded.
Eiffel Tower Under Construction, July 1888 [colorized]
In the background you can see the halls constructed for the world fair 1889. All of which have been demolished afterwards unfortunately. The tower was the hightes building in the world until the Chrysler Building was finished in 1930.
Kubrick Taking A Photo With Daughter Vivian, On The Set Of The Shining. Nicholson Thought He Himself Was The Photo’s Subject. 1980
Ha! Imagine someone waves at you, you wave awkwardly back and it was the person behind you. That would be the same level of awkward i think. :D Poor Nicholson.
Actor And Martial Arts Star Jackie Chan At The Benefit Concert In Hong Kong, In Support Of Tiananmen Square Protesters - 1989
The Director Of The Belgrade Zoo Tries To Convince Sami The Chimpanzee To Return Home After He Escaped, 1988
Indigenous Children Forced To Pray To God In A Residential School Ran By The Canadian Government And Catholic Church Between 1930 And 1970, Unknown Location
Babies Left To Sleep Outside, Enforcing Immune Sistem, Moscow 1958
Coal Miner Waiting To Get Into The Communal Shower At The End Of His Shift, Taken In Gelsenkirchen, Germany, 1958. By Photographer Max Scheler
Archduke Franz Ferdinand And His Wife Minutes Before Assassination That Would Lead To Ww1, 1914 [colorized]
People Fighting To Get On A Plane In Nha Trang, April 1, 1975, During The Us Withdrawal From South Vietnam
Nirvana During The Photo Shoot For Their Album Nevermind, Which Was Released 30 Years Ago. 1991
Ugh, the baby for the cover has grown up into an insufferable a$$hole, just look up "Nirvana baby drama" and you'll see what that d*ckhead has been up to
Note: this post originally had 125 images. It’s been shortened to the top 50 images based on user votes.
Absolutely fascinating photos. Love these articles. Can't "like" alot of pictures as they are too sad
Weapons, war, religion, greed: these are how we have destroyed our world.
I think greed is probably beh9ind a lot of the war and religion, thereby making weapons profitable :-(
Load More Replies...I like posts that cover the whole world, not only the Western part of it
The one with the starving Indians was the one that really hit me hard. They looked like skeletons. It really puts all of the ridiculous things we hold as important into perspective.
Very interesting post. There are many thing and events I now want to research. The photos are fascinating! Thank you BP
This is when history comes alive for me. Its one thing to read about it in a book, but photos make it tangible. Especially when I'm so much younger (31) then all of them except like 1 or 2.
The photos are amazing and I made loads of emotional noises out loud as well as felt hot prickly tears at the back of my eyes. What a collection. Great work Bored Panda crew :)
Bored panda needs to do a Bored panda comments section list like the most obvious,the most desperate for someone to acknowledge I'm alive ,the most off topic ,the most informational, the most bizarre cause honestly some comments make me laugh harder then whatever topic that's being covered
I wonder if us humans will ever learn from our pasts...
These were amazing but kinda sad at the time. Just crazy what some photographers can get and make others open there eyes to laughter or sadness. In reality it's all beauty and to help others be grateful for what we have. We can only hope n pray for peace and sometines we get a to capture in a photo. Peace I pray for the world now.
Some pictures make you think how much humanity has progressed to the better and how much some stays the same.. Despite all that.. without doubt, the emotions in every picture is immortal
Communist greed for power is at the root of much of the war, death and famine in the 20th century. In those hundred years they managed to kill more people than religion ever has.
Whenever I see stuff about war I remember a play we were shown in school. As long as we persist in identifying as anything at all, war is inevitable. Play is called Us and Them by David Campton. https://pracownik.kul.pl/files/12821/public/Over_the_Wall_Us_and_Them.pdf
Serious? Because all those men dying, being tortured, captured, suffering from PTSD and suicide weren't in hell.
Load More Replies...Absolutely fascinating photos. Love these articles. Can't "like" alot of pictures as they are too sad
Weapons, war, religion, greed: these are how we have destroyed our world.
I think greed is probably beh9ind a lot of the war and religion, thereby making weapons profitable :-(
Load More Replies...I like posts that cover the whole world, not only the Western part of it
The one with the starving Indians was the one that really hit me hard. They looked like skeletons. It really puts all of the ridiculous things we hold as important into perspective.
Very interesting post. There are many thing and events I now want to research. The photos are fascinating! Thank you BP
This is when history comes alive for me. Its one thing to read about it in a book, but photos make it tangible. Especially when I'm so much younger (31) then all of them except like 1 or 2.
The photos are amazing and I made loads of emotional noises out loud as well as felt hot prickly tears at the back of my eyes. What a collection. Great work Bored Panda crew :)
Bored panda needs to do a Bored panda comments section list like the most obvious,the most desperate for someone to acknowledge I'm alive ,the most off topic ,the most informational, the most bizarre cause honestly some comments make me laugh harder then whatever topic that's being covered
I wonder if us humans will ever learn from our pasts...
These were amazing but kinda sad at the time. Just crazy what some photographers can get and make others open there eyes to laughter or sadness. In reality it's all beauty and to help others be grateful for what we have. We can only hope n pray for peace and sometines we get a to capture in a photo. Peace I pray for the world now.
Some pictures make you think how much humanity has progressed to the better and how much some stays the same.. Despite all that.. without doubt, the emotions in every picture is immortal
Communist greed for power is at the root of much of the war, death and famine in the 20th century. In those hundred years they managed to kill more people than religion ever has.
Whenever I see stuff about war I remember a play we were shown in school. As long as we persist in identifying as anything at all, war is inevitable. Play is called Us and Them by David Campton. https://pracownik.kul.pl/files/12821/public/Over_the_Wall_Us_and_Them.pdf
Serious? Because all those men dying, being tortured, captured, suffering from PTSD and suicide weren't in hell.
Load More Replies...