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“Be A Witness To The Events That Changed Mankind”: 40 Important Historical Photos That Might Change Your Perspective On Things
Although we cannot get into the minds of the people waiting in a queue on a cold day in Chukotka, Soviet Union back in 1985 to get wine, or what the daredevil sky boys who built the Empire State Building in 1930-31 were thinking when balancing unsecured on the 88th floor, we can get a fairly good glimpse into the wonders of history.
Thanks to photography, a new means of visual representation that debuted in 1839 and startled the entire world, a lot of incredible moments of the past are now carved into film forever. So today we’re taking a miscellaneous history class, one you wouldn’t have skipped at school, thanks to this educational Facebook page titled “Historic Photographs.”
With almost 2.5M followers, the page is an online destination for rare historical photos and incredible stories behind them. Below we selected some of the most captivating ones, so pull your seat closer!
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Long Before Color-Sensitive Film Was Invented, Russian Photographer Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky Took 3 Individual Black And White Photos, Each With A Filter (Red, Blue And Green) To Create High Quality Photos In Full Color. This Self Portrait Is Over 110 Years Old
Few things captivate our imagination as much as historical photographs that tell stories about people and their lives in the past. While very distant in time, they also feel somehow familiar – old photographs have a power to transcend time and space and put us in long-gone contexts, places, and situations.
On August 23, 1989, About 2 Million People From Latvia, Estonia And Lithuania Formed A Human Chain That United All 3 Countries To Show The World Their Desire To Escape The Soviet Union And The Communism That Brought Only Suffering And Poverty. This Power Stretched 600 Km
Mary Wallace: First Female Bus Driver For Chicago Transit Authority, 1974 (Colorized)
According to Lisa Yaszek, this shouldn’t come as a surprise, since old photos affect our perception of time in unique ways. Yaszek is a Regents Professor of Science Fiction Studies at Georgia Tech where she researches and teaches science fiction as a global language crossing centuries, continents, and cultures. We previously spoke with her about the cultural significance of old and historical photographs and what it tells us about the way we perceive not just the past, but also the present.
They affect the way we understand time “by making abstract historical events visually concrete, giving us an emotional connection to eras we might not otherwise know very much about, exactly, through books or family stories.” Yaszek explained: “For instance, when I was looking over the photos for this article I was really taken by images of Japanese-Americans in WWII U.S. internment camps, young people protesting low wages for teachers in the Great Depression, female engineers working for the Space Race, and little kids protesting Daylight Savings Time—my own son especially appreciated that one…”
Rosa Parks Sits At The Front Of A Bus Following The End Of Racial Segregation By The Transit Company, Circa 1965
I wish they taught the REAL story of Rosa Parks in school. She was NOT a tired, stubborn, older woman as I was always taught, but a young and spunky woman who was part of a planned protest. I think that's the more powerful message
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What about Claudette Colvin? She was 15 when she was arrested for refusing to give up her seat. That's pretty bold! Granted this photo is after desegregation. Still, Colvin should be better recognized.
Agreed. I understand she did it 1st and the organizers got the idea from her incident. They just didn't want their poster girl to be a teen, supposedly.
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I sat on a bench and chit chatted with her one day in 2003 or so. She seemed nice enough I suppose. Nothing remarkable. Just another person waiting for a bus.
A not-so-well-known fact is that she didnt give up her seat because she remembered what had been done to Emmett Till a few months before.
If he hadn't been tortured and murdered because of a lie, Emmett Till would be 81 years old today. The woman who lied about him, Carolyn Bryant, is 88 and still alive. And unrepentant. Both are younger than my grandmother. "The past isn't even past."
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My mom worked literally across the street from the church her funeral was at. She could look down at the street from her office window (several floors up). She saw Oprah arriving.
I had the great honor to attend her funeral representing the SGI-USA (Soka Gakkai International - USA), a Buddhist lay organization. There were many dignitaries in attendance, including a senator from Illinois - Barack Obama. It was truly an honor to be a participant in a truly historic moment. My daughter and granddaughter were also in attendance. I have had the great honor to have had dialogue with her. She was an incredibly humble and unassuming woman. Meeting and talking with her, you could forget that she was a person who literally helped change the course of civil rights in this country. Her funeral in it's entirety can be seen on the internet.
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I didnt realize she was a freedom rider, but I guess I just didnt think about it
Claudette Colvin did it first, Rosa interviewed her and followed the 15 year olds example. They didn't want to make the story about a child so they used Rosa Parks.
So elegant and pure🥰. Her light is so obvious! Thank you, Rosa💖. We (all people) really needed you.🌷
She is so regal. If i was her, and had done THAT MUCH to end segregation, the least I could was poke my tongue out to all the snobby white people
Stoney First Nation Member, Guide Samson Beaver With His Wife Leah And Their Daughter Frances Louise, 1907. Photo Taken By Mary Schäffer
This picture shows that no matter your race, gender, heritage, culture, or religion, we all share the same feeling of love and happiness when it comes to having a happy, supportive family around you
World War One Memorial In Vácrátót (Hungary)
This monument needs to be preserved to remind us, there is nothing to gain from wars. It's 2022 and people are still at it.
According to Yaszek, if you look closely at the subjects of historic photographs, you realize how alive they look. This is because they have a range of emotions on their faces—“from determination to silliness to fear to hope. It reminds us that historical events don’t just happen on their own—they involve real people taking real action, for better or for worse.”
A Dapper Group On Their Way To Church, Chicago 1940s
German Soldier Helps A Little Boy Sneak Across The Berlin Wall, 1961
The Level Of Detail On The Column Of Marcus Aurelius In Rome Which Was Completed Around Ad 193
Although we may not realize that, old photos also remind us that people in the past led rich and complex lives, just as we do today. “For instance, we tend to assume that in the past, women were limited to work as wives and mothers, and we certainly see a number of images here celebrating women’s work in the home. But we also see women doing all sorts of work in the public sphere as well—everything from attending school graduations and working on supercomputers to taking back the streets of postwar London and bouncing drunks out of bars!” Yaszek explained.
Negotiation Between The Zoo Director And Escaped Chimpanzee. Belgrade, Yugoslavia, 1988
Residents Of West Berlin Show Their Children To Their Grandparents Living In East Berlin, 1961
20-Year-Old Helen Mirren Dressed For Her Role As Cleopatra In A Theatrical Production, 1965
When asked whether we tend to idolize the past and vilify the present, Yaszek said that it’s true and that old photos can indeed play a part in that process. She explained: “Even as some photos help us put a personal face on big historical events, others give us very unrealistic understandings of what everyday life was really like in the past.”
A Motor Home In 1922
Us Cavalry Soldiers Pose In Front Of A Tree Known As The "Grizzly Giant" 1900. The Tree Still Stands
Pablo Picasso Painted This When He Was 15 Years Old
I've read that he did that in order to finish art school. They wouldn't let him graduate without completing classical art course. Not sure if it's true tho.
Moreover, before the advent of digital cameras that could take and store hundreds of photos without costing users very much in terms of effort or money, photos were more expensive and difficult to create—in the 1800s, subjects had to stand still and pose to create good images.
“Throughout the early and middle 20th century, good cameras were often complicated to master; and even when instant cameras made it easier for people to take decent photos at the drop of a hat in the 1970s, users had to have the money to purchase expensive film cartridges,” Yaszek explained.
Lt. Col. Robert Stirm, Is Greeted By His Family, Returning Home After More Than Five Years As A Prisoner Of War In North Vietnam. Burst Of Joy Is A Pulitzer Prize-Winning Photograph By Associated Press Photographer Slava "Sal" Veder, Taken On March 17, 1973 At Travis Air Force Base In California
Sailors Saluting A War Veteran, Leningrad 1989
The Sioux Nation Of Native Americans Teepees Spread Across The Great Plains In 1800s (Image Believed To Have Been Taken In The Dakota Territory)
when ever i see these kinds of pics i think of how ignorant the white/europeans were to think that they were savages or less than them. they had/have a very unique culture and community that seemed to have far less conflict than the whites. they had a form of government that was respected. they even possessed the same kind of values and morals although they were expressed in different ways. even today there are those that think that people of another race are not as 'good' just because of racial/cultural differences.
Star Wars Characters Together From Left To Right : Han Solo, Darth Vader, Chewbacca, Princess Leia, Luke Skywalker And R2-D2, 1977
There Was A Time When You Could See The Core Structure Of The Twin Towers. (1970, During The Construction)
Silent Film Actress, Delores Costello, Drew Barrymore's Grandmother, 1928
World War I Field: More Than 100 Years Later
A Rare Example Where An Engineer Thought About The Mechanic. (Daf-Domburg Diesel From 1949. Made In The Netherlands)
Niagara Falls Froze Over In 1883
150 Million Year Old Dinosaur Footprints In France
Marilyn Monroe Photographed By Earl Leaf 1950
The First Photo Of Chernobyl On The Morning Of The Nuclear Disaster (April 26, 1986). The Heavy Grain Is Due To The Huge Amount Of Radiation In The Air That Began To Destroy The Camera Film The Second It Was Exposed For This Photo. Photo Taken By Igor Kostin
Three Generations Of Women Outside Their Stone Cottage In Ireland 1927
Bruce Lee And His Family In 1970
Nan Wood Graham And Dr. Byron Mckeeby Pictured In 1942 Recreating Their Original Poses For The Iconic ‘American Gothic’. She Was The Painter’s Sister, And He Was Their Dentist
I see the resemblance in the man, but I feel like the woman was given a more thin face, and her hair doesn't quite look the same
The Seal Of Tutankhamun's Tomb (On The Third Golden Shrine) Before It Was Opened In 1923. It Was Unbroken For Over 3000 Years
Shoemaker’s Lunch, 1944. Photo By Bernard Cole
American Soldiers At Mass In The Rubble At Cologne Cathedral, March 1945
The FBI Finger Print Files, 1944
A 'Knocker-Up' In London (1929). Before Alarm Clocks, People Were Paid To Wake Clients Up For Work By Knocking On Their Doors And Windows With A Stick
An Elevator Parking Lot In Chicago, 1930s
The Roof Of An Old Fiat Factory. Yes, That Is A Track (Lingotto, Turin - Italy)
A 32 Year Old Mom Trying To Start A New Life In California, March 1937
This looks like Florence Owens Thompson - the "Migrant Mother" photo by Dorothea Lange - actual backstory is pretty sad
Monica Bellucci And Gianni Versace, 1995
To the people asking why this is relevant or historical or worth thinking about... Maybe because this man was an openly gay immigrant to America who worked hard and became hugely successful, and by all accounts was a lovely person in a loving, long term stable and happy relationship before being brutally assassinated on his own doorstep for no reason? I think there's probably a lot to learn from that in a lot of ways. Also, this picture was taken nearly 30 years ago, and he died 25 years ago, so I'm afraid that counts as the past, (history) I mean it was in a different decade, century, millennium, etc!
Residents Of Hanoi Wait In Chest-Deep Sidewalk Shelters For The All Clear Signal, During An Air Raid Alert. Hanoi, North Vietnam, 1967
Note: this post originally had 70 images. It’s been shortened to the top 40 images based on user votes.
For each picture I said either "Oh wow" or "Oh no" I think that means that the point of the article was made x
Humanity should never forget from where we came... And when I look at these pictures... I truly see we are all the same... Only difference is some evolved further and continue their journey forward... While some are stuck in the past and struggling to relate to others and collaborate
So very interesting. We, including me, know so little about actual history. Mostly just what they now put on TV.
What's the second photo in the title about? I don't see it in the list
We can learn from history so that we don't repeat it. If we weren't studying history in schools, such as the 2 World Wars we've had, what's to prevent them from happening again?
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For each picture I said either "Oh wow" or "Oh no" I think that means that the point of the article was made x
Humanity should never forget from where we came... And when I look at these pictures... I truly see we are all the same... Only difference is some evolved further and continue their journey forward... While some are stuck in the past and struggling to relate to others and collaborate
So very interesting. We, including me, know so little about actual history. Mostly just what they now put on TV.
What's the second photo in the title about? I don't see it in the list
We can learn from history so that we don't repeat it. If we weren't studying history in schools, such as the 2 World Wars we've had, what's to prevent them from happening again?
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