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20 Rarely Seen Photos Of America In The 1950’s Show How Different Life Was Before
The 1950’s are often viewed as a golden era in U.S. history, a time of happiness and prosperity, despite the threat of nuclear annihilation, racial segregation and the looming Cold War.
While most photos from the time are in black and white, color photography was still a relative novelty at the time and the film was quite expensive for regular people, the photos below are in glorious color. This means that they are more relatable, and makes the period feel closer to us than ever.
Many of the photos were collected by Denis Fraevich, a New Yorker of Russian descent who loves to bring the era back to life. “The pictures were found at auctions, flea markets and yards, digitized and posted on the Internet,” he told Bored Panda. “Someone's happy life, someone's dreams, important events, holidays and travel, for some reason were thrown into the garbage and became penny goods in a neighborhood sale. Seeing this is incredibly sad, but thanks to enthusiasts who buy and digitize old slides, we can raise the curtain of time and look at that era through the eyes of ordinary Americans.”
It is Denis' hobby to search for these photos, he is fascinated by all things Americana and loves history, abandoned places and as you can see in many of the photos, classic American cars. “I am amazed at how often a car is present in the frame,” he said. “They obviously occupied a much more important position in the life of an American than in our time. Today, it is much less likely that someone would take pictures of their car or television.” Denis works as a Russian-speaking tour guide in NYC and has a fascinating blog, which you can find here. (Translate it from Russian)
Scroll down to check out the pictures below, it might just inspire you to dig out that old leather jacket and the Brylcreem!
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
Colored Entrance, Alabama, 1956
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#2
Ladylike In NYC, 1958
#3
My Very Cool Grandpa In The 1950s Holding A Fish, Smoking A Cigarette, With A Book Tucked Into His Pants And Cigarette Pack In His Sleeve
#4
A Drink, A Cigar And Not Giving A Good Goddamn, 1950s
#5
My Grandma Had Such A Gorgeous Smile. 1950's
#6
An Officer With Hot Foot Teddy, The Real-Life Inspiration For Smokey The Bear, 1950
#7
Daytona Beach,1957
#8
James Dean At A California Gas Station With His Silver Porsche 550 Spyder, Named "Little Bastard," Just Hours Before His Fatal Crash. September 30, 1955
#9
Store Front, Mobile, Alabama, 1956
#10
Girl And Her Grandmother Window-Shopping In Mobile, Alabama, 1956
#11
Anne St. Marie, New York City, 1959
#12
Alabama, 1956
#13
The Streets Of San Francisco. 1957
#14
Girl Portrait. Shady Grove, Alabama, 1956
#15
At The Party, 1956
#16
Showgirls Playing Chess Backstage At The Latin Quarter Nightclub - New York, NY (1958)
#17
Outside Looking In, Mobile, Alabama, 1956
pret atva 7 years ago
This pic is the worst. Adults segregating black and white in bars can be a bitter pill to digest. But this pic with longing looks of innocent children,who just want to ride a see-saw/ferris wheel, and have been told they are not worthy enough to ride them, just breaks my heart. Its so horrible. The worth is measured even before birth, which puts them below a white bum. While some of the black kids might have an IQ higher than the worthy kids there, or can win an Olympic medal in athletics given a chance.
Azure Adams 7 years ago
These poor kids weren't allowed to play at that park simply because of the color of their skin. Don't forget the real stuff, this is not nostalgia!
Retta van auken 7 years ago
Heart breaking. Those were painful days. We must be the change we see so needed now
sharron lynn parsons 7 years ago
Yes Wanda, some things should not be forgotten, there were some horrific situations. Being white and poor, in no way compares to the suffering of others !!!
Randy Inbred 7 years ago
Why do people use the word "sad" rather than "disgusting" or "inhumane" to describe scenes like this??? It really makes me "sad".
jevais 7 years ago
Well the last time i went to the states i didn't see so much progress.
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BusLady 7 years ago
MammaG: (???) How did the children in the photo feel?
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Thies Schaper 7 years ago
Think beyond the square. As heart braking as it looks, this pix is very inspiring for these kids. They are banned from a "bum wiping comfy white club", but more observant and creative than their white counterparts to build THEIR OWN entertainment world with far simpler means to make them feel more happy, having achieved that under the circumstances at a natural waterhole.
RaY1 7 years ago
To be honest here, we could be reading this picture completely wrong. It looks like they are setting up for a fair or carnival. These kids could just be excited watching the setup. We are ASSUMING that they weren't allowed in there.
Rich Auntie Skeleton 7 years ago
No, it was a white's only carnival. The children weren't allowed inside. This photo is from Life Magazine. https://www.artinamericamagazine.com/reviews/gordon-parks/
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#18
A Slightly Surrealistic Photo Of My Grandma And Some Dude Somewhere In Florida, 1957
#19
South Side Snack. 1953, Chicago
#20
Child In A Car Seat
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What do you think ?
J Mason 7 years ago
My mom loved the 1950's in New York City. She got to see the original West Side Story on Broadway and had coffee with the beatniks in Greenwich Village who read poetry out loud to jazz. The city was clean and people looked forward to the future and anyone with a college degree had their pick of jobs. Women went shopping with their best clothes on which often included a mink coat or fox fur wrap. The ladies would have lunch at Schrafft's which also served alcohol. In the early 50's they didn't have to go grocery or errand shopping, all the markets (meat market, flower market, etc.) delivered everything to their maid Virginia through the back kitchen entrance. Were things not as good for minorities? No they were not. Mom was raised by an adored black maid named Virginia who was not permitted by the family to go to her wedding. She always felt bad about that and never understood why things were that way. Later, mom got arrested in the 1960's fighting for integration.
Lee Ann Hamilton 6 years ago
Ahhhh, the 1950"s. Where people looked the other way when they saw children be abused and domestic violence the norm because wives and children were considered "property"
Load More Replies...
Katinka Min 7 years ago
A golden era for white males. I'm am VERY glad I don't have to have lived in it.
Patrick McKenna 7 years ago
very ignorant comment. plenty of poor white families all across America at that time, and before. yes, segregation was outrageous, no doubt about it.
Load More Replies...
Becca Stefan 7 years ago
Honestly, these photos creep me out. For me, these pictures emphasize society's morbid need for perfection. Fake smiles. Brightly painted, but underdeveloped, technology. Ignorance and contributions to mass discrimination. I'd never want to live in the 1950's.
Josh Hill 7 years ago
And you don't think our technology will seem undereveloped in the 2090's? I was a kid in the 50's and it was just fine. The smiles weren't fake -- people in these photos look like they actually did. Why do you think people have changed so much?
Load More Replies...
Kristen Halterman 7 years ago
Golden era LOL! Except women and anyone other than a white male. The only decent thing to come out of the 50's was Brown V Board of Education of Topeka.
Nia Loves Art 7 years ago
Beautiful and interesting pictures. I love the fashions of the time.
Edgar L - F 7 years ago
Awesome photos! It's really a trip back to the past!! One quick question though....are these photos colorized?
Josh Hill 7 years ago
No, they're color photos. Typically slides. Color film had been common since the late 30's. More common in amateur photography since it was hard to process, expensive to make large prints, and very expensive to reproduce in print.
Load More Replies...
Sachidhanantha Narayanan 7 years ago
Give us more of such pictorial depiction of different cities across the world. Especially of the South and South East Asia, India, China, the Pacific Rim nations. Worth watching.
Josh Hill 7 years ago
Very evocative. I was a kid back then (born 1954) and the clothes and cars bring back fond memories. It really was a good time. Not perfect, no time ever is, but it's an accurate depiction of how people lived at a time when working people were earning middle class incomes for the first time in history. No drug plague, homelessness, mass incarceration. I'm taken by how well everyone is dressed -- it brings back memories, I remember having a coat just like one of the kids -- that changed with the youth rebellion of the 60's and never went back. Otherwise, besides the look of the cars and clothes, it's interesting to look at the buildings and realize one would be very comfortable walking around in that world today, indeed, if you look at some of the streets, they might as well be in 2018 -- not just the old but the modernist architecture.
Vanessa Stone 7 years ago
that's when we used to live in America.its been dead for along time.now we live in the rotting stinking empire,which is collapsing just as all empires do.
Jill 7 years ago
We (society in 2018) need more pictures like these from the history of ”black” America. As a ”white” person this is something really lacking in both my education and education in general. These images of that unfortunately separate history of America are affirming of the resilliance and warmth of their lives even though they represent a social injustice we can never repay.
King Old Man Bob 7 years ago
My education had plenty of pictures and even movies about this topic and stop speaking for us white people. Its okay to be white.
Load More Replies...
Vanessa Stone 7 years ago
hat's when we used to live in America.its been dead for along time.now we live in the rotting stinking empire,which is collapsing just as all empires do.
Apollo 7 years ago
Everything was classy and beautiful and pastel. But then you see the segregation. OMG. I think a lot of White people in that time where so brainwashed they thought it was normal. But I hope many understood the madness of it all and wanted change, but couldn't do much about it.
Josh Hill 7 years ago
The segregation was in the deep south. When I was growing up it horrified us as much as it horrifies people today. Southerners, of course, thought it was normal. And people *did* do something about it, it was already changing (e.g., Truman had integrated the armed forces and school segregation was ruled unconstitutional) and in a few years Martin Luther King would be marching. In 1965, LBJ signed the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts, and the formal apparatus of Jim Crow was dismantled.
Load More Replies...
Elizabeth Lord Cary 7 years ago
Make America Great Again people don't realize that back in the day America was only great if you were a white person, especially a white man. Or maybe they do realize that and they just don't care about anyone but themselves. That being said, there are some beautiful photos here.
Bob 2.0 7 years ago
I'm not sure what "people" you're addressing here. We all fully understand the horrible stuff back then.
Load More Replies...
Stuart Herrmann 7 years ago
The US led the world in standard of living back then. Most of all I remember it as a time of very little crime and more neighborly than today.
MammaG 7 years ago
It was just hidden. Domestic violence and child abuse were rampant. Clergy were raping children. No one reported it. Don't scratch below that shiny surface - especially if you aren't a white Christian man.
Load More Replies...
J Mason 7 years ago
My mom loved the 1950's in New York City. She got to see the original West Side Story on Broadway and had coffee with the beatniks in Greenwich Village who read poetry out loud to jazz. The city was clean and people looked forward to the future and anyone with a college degree had their pick of jobs. Women went shopping with their best clothes on which often included a mink coat or fox fur wrap. The ladies would have lunch at Schrafft's which also served alcohol. In the early 50's they didn't have to go grocery or errand shopping, all the markets (meat market, flower market, etc.) delivered everything to their maid Virginia through the back kitchen entrance. Were things not as good for minorities? No they were not. Mom was raised by an adored black maid named Virginia who was not permitted by the family to go to her wedding. She always felt bad about that and never understood why things were that way. Later, mom got arrested in the 1960's fighting for integration.
Lee Ann Hamilton 6 years ago
Ahhhh, the 1950"s. Where people looked the other way when they saw children be abused and domestic violence the norm because wives and children were considered "property"
Load More Replies... Katinka Min 7 years ago
A golden era for white males. I'm am VERY glad I don't have to have lived in it.
Patrick McKenna 7 years ago
very ignorant comment. plenty of poor white families all across America at that time, and before. yes, segregation was outrageous, no doubt about it.
Load More Replies... Becca Stefan 7 years ago
Honestly, these photos creep me out. For me, these pictures emphasize society's morbid need for perfection. Fake smiles. Brightly painted, but underdeveloped, technology. Ignorance and contributions to mass discrimination. I'd never want to live in the 1950's.
Josh Hill 7 years ago
And you don't think our technology will seem undereveloped in the 2090's? I was a kid in the 50's and it was just fine. The smiles weren't fake -- people in these photos look like they actually did. Why do you think people have changed so much?
Load More Replies... Kristen Halterman 7 years ago
Golden era LOL! Except women and anyone other than a white male. The only decent thing to come out of the 50's was Brown V Board of Education of Topeka.
Nia Loves Art 7 years ago
Beautiful and interesting pictures. I love the fashions of the time.
Edgar L - F 7 years ago
Awesome photos! It's really a trip back to the past!! One quick question though....are these photos colorized?
Josh Hill 7 years ago
No, they're color photos. Typically slides. Color film had been common since the late 30's. More common in amateur photography since it was hard to process, expensive to make large prints, and very expensive to reproduce in print.
Load More Replies... Sachidhanantha Narayanan 7 years ago
Give us more of such pictorial depiction of different cities across the world. Especially of the South and South East Asia, India, China, the Pacific Rim nations. Worth watching.
Josh Hill 7 years ago
Very evocative. I was a kid back then (born 1954) and the clothes and cars bring back fond memories. It really was a good time. Not perfect, no time ever is, but it's an accurate depiction of how people lived at a time when working people were earning middle class incomes for the first time in history. No drug plague, homelessness, mass incarceration. I'm taken by how well everyone is dressed -- it brings back memories, I remember having a coat just like one of the kids -- that changed with the youth rebellion of the 60's and never went back. Otherwise, besides the look of the cars and clothes, it's interesting to look at the buildings and realize one would be very comfortable walking around in that world today, indeed, if you look at some of the streets, they might as well be in 2018 -- not just the old but the modernist architecture.
Vanessa Stone 7 years ago
that's when we used to live in America.its been dead for along time.now we live in the rotting stinking empire,which is collapsing just as all empires do.
Jill 7 years ago
We (society in 2018) need more pictures like these from the history of ”black” America. As a ”white” person this is something really lacking in both my education and education in general. These images of that unfortunately separate history of America are affirming of the resilliance and warmth of their lives even though they represent a social injustice we can never repay.
King Old Man Bob 7 years ago
My education had plenty of pictures and even movies about this topic and stop speaking for us white people. Its okay to be white.
Load More Replies... Vanessa Stone 7 years ago
hat's when we used to live in America.its been dead for along time.now we live in the rotting stinking empire,which is collapsing just as all empires do.
Apollo 7 years ago
Everything was classy and beautiful and pastel. But then you see the segregation. OMG. I think a lot of White people in that time where so brainwashed they thought it was normal. But I hope many understood the madness of it all and wanted change, but couldn't do much about it.
Josh Hill 7 years ago
The segregation was in the deep south. When I was growing up it horrified us as much as it horrifies people today. Southerners, of course, thought it was normal. And people *did* do something about it, it was already changing (e.g., Truman had integrated the armed forces and school segregation was ruled unconstitutional) and in a few years Martin Luther King would be marching. In 1965, LBJ signed the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts, and the formal apparatus of Jim Crow was dismantled.
Load More Replies... Elizabeth Lord Cary 7 years ago
Make America Great Again people don't realize that back in the day America was only great if you were a white person, especially a white man. Or maybe they do realize that and they just don't care about anyone but themselves. That being said, there are some beautiful photos here.
Bob 2.0 7 years ago
I'm not sure what "people" you're addressing here. We all fully understand the horrible stuff back then.
Load More Replies... Stuart Herrmann 7 years ago
The US led the world in standard of living back then. Most of all I remember it as a time of very little crime and more neighborly than today.
MammaG 7 years ago
It was just hidden. Domestic violence and child abuse were rampant. Clergy were raping children. No one reported it. Don't scratch below that shiny surface - especially if you aren't a white Christian man.
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