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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!

#1

Colored Entrance, Alabama, 1956

Colored Entrance, Alabama, 1956

Gordon Parks Report

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ellaandzoe123 avatar
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Cesi Baca
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Yes, so sick of when people talk about how we need to return to the values of the past......These were the REAL American values of the past.

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urafotze
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

They look so beautiful but the picture is just so sad

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Rich Auntie Skeleton
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Please don't forget that this wasn't that long ago. My father, who is still alive, remembers growing up in Virginia during Jim Crow and living with segregation laws. Remember so history doesn't repeat itself.

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BusLady
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

How old is he now, Auntie? Probably about my age. I m 60, and I grew up in the USA south. Things were much different then. My grandfather was African American, and I heard stories.... Bless him, if he were still alive, he would be 102. Miss him much.

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Toots
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I just read a really good book about this period. "Black like Me" was written by a white journalist that took skin treatments to make his skin black and went to live in Louisiana and Mississippi as a black man to tell the truth of what it was like. It is a true story. I highly recommend.

jevais avatar
jevais
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I read this book too. What an eye opener. Unfortunately things are still the same some how. No use to go to church and badly treat others.

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Wanda Queen
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5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

How much time and energy we have wasted -- how much heartbreak we've caused -- and continue to cause, all these years just because of differences in skin tone and culture.

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Alib
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Very well stated, Wanda. Hate accomplishes nothing. It is pure waste.

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Apollo
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

When I looked at this photo, I first saw a classy lady waiting in front of a fancy bar. Then I realized it's not a fancy bar named 'colored', it's apartheid. A lot of us can't grasp that these absurd things actually happened.

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varwenea
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I hate this so much. I never want our nation or any other nation to become this. Yet our current administration is all about this divisiveness. May we never forget and never repeat this hateful part of our history.

jevais avatar
jevais
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

What is the difference between Usa and South Africa? None both countries practice Apartheid, had slaves and both stole land from the the people who were there before the white men.

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Crazy Cow Lady
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Many cultures practiced pillaging, slavery and stealing of land. Many tribes in Africa captured people from other tribes and sold or traded them into slavery. Irish were enslaved, Asians were enslaved, Africans were enslaved, the Jewish were enslaved. Its part of human history, not just the USA and South Africa. And it's not just white people who did it.

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Jodi Ellis
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5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It is sad, however, be grateful times are not like that. Or at least hopefully not going backwards.

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Katinka Min
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Yes. Segregation is really not nearly as long ago as people like to pretend.

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Molly Block
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5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I think this is my favorite photo in this series, because although it does embarrass me completely because of the "colored entrance" and how we as US citizens treated people with a darker color, I can't help but look at this woman and think just how damn classy and beautiful she looks! Her look is simply timeless.... That dress. Her shoes... her earrings and her clutch, just gorgeous. She's simple beautiful. And this city-scape, wow, it just brings me back to some long ago memories from my childhood. I grew up in Alabama, so I wonder where this was taken. Birmingham perhaps? Huntsville? No idea, but I LOVE this photo! Regardless of the humiliating entrance sign. I find that sign to be more humiliating than anything.

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BusLady
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I wonder what that little girl is thinking. This is the year before I was born.

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RaroaRaroa
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is so bizarre when you try to work out the reasoning behind it. The belief, even at government level, that you were somehow, even impecably dressed like these two, were still not suitable to be physically close to white people. It's disgusting, horrible, unfair, cruel, etc, and impossible to understand. The mindsets people are raised with are hard to break.

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Keith Smith
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

at least there is a place for them to enter, in Canada an "Indian" was only allowed off the rez for a specific timeframe with a permit from the indian agent

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Furious_Lover
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Since I’m albino, would I be allowed in colored places and whites only?

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Dimitri Caraïsco
Community Member
1 year ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Nop unfortunately :-( because theses bastard knews albinos were black but imagine I’m mixed light skin black if I have a 1/4 child with a white woman and my kids is white so my kids could be alowed in white area but not me , looks how this is ridiculous

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jevais
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5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Forgot to state that both countries still have a big difference in the treatment of none whites. Still very racist both.

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Krystine Patterson
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5 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Photographed by Gordon Parks in Mobile, Alabama 1956. He was mainly a photojournalist but dabbled in fashion photography too. I have a set of his work on Flickr if any one is interested - https://www.flickr.com/photos/53035820@N02/sets/72157625111136669/

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Lesley Emmerson-Scheel
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

What strikes me isthe pride in their appearance. People had pride in themselves, no matter the circumstances

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John Dalton
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

From England, 2022, looking at the USA and this poignant image, it seems amazing that that great nation lost its way so thoroughly and so long ago, largely thanks to its political and commercial misleaders. Henry David Thoreau's disappointment still sounds relevant!

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Don Roggensees
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This was an example of "jim crow laws ? sad ! A pretty mom and her daughter

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Nancy Mcgowan
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This was not in where I lived. I know it was in the Southern states.

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Linda Cloutier
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Despite the obvious racism here, it is still notable that both mother and child dressed up to go "downtown" as was the norm of the day.

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Maureen Kick
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Whats heartbreaking and sad if there is a Bigot in the White House who want to bring it back,

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JacekEU
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

lol, love it. Back then, everyone wanted to move to the US. Now, f* it, not a chance, don;t want to be murdered by these "poor people"

synskyzo avatar
Dimitri Caraïsco
Community Member
1 year ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Rly sad how u said it u must have a rly poor life to get all this frustration , u don’t know how it’s rly direspectfull for people who lived in this area and how hard it was , ur just a racist jerk f**k yourself judgment day is coming soon ur old probably in ur 70s hope u died fast and soon we don’t want u in this world anymore die pls die fast mother f****r ur racist b***h 🤮🤢🤮🤮🤮🤮

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Agnew Dellinger
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5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

They lady and child look so elegant. I remember having to dress up to go uptown with my dad. "Put on your Sunday clothes if you're going with me."

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Michael McCallion Sr
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I remember accompanying My Sister's first Husband; he was a jerk, when he was driving a Truck to Florida delivering apples and picking up bananas for delivery to New York City. Stopping for lunch in Georgia, Truckers drove all night then and twelve to fourteen hour days were standard. Walking into the restaurant as a young teen ager from Canada I was amazed there were separate drinking fountains and rest rooms and "coloured".That is all the sign read "coloured" everyone understood. Fifteen years later when driving to Charlotte North Carolina as a twenty-eight year old for a training course as employee of an the international company I stopped at a restroom facility for all People. The only separation being gender. I was a tie-wearing suit jacket male driving a current year company car walking down the sidewalk when an older man raking leaves responded to my good-day greeting. His tennis shoes had holes for his small toes. He said with pride; "I am an American".

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Dimitri Caraïsco
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Are u still amazed for the coloured espace ? u understand it’s was racist right

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sharron lynn parsons
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Beautiful mother and daughter, perhaps dressed up for Saturday outing !

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Pamela
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Similar anti-white situation in Australia with aboriginal services that exclude whites - legal services, community transport, sports teams. If white organisations excluded aboriginals there would be hell to pay, but the opposite if fine, apparently! Now that is heartbreaking and sad! :(

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Glenda Coker
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I remember in the 50's my uncle had a bar in springdale arkansas-across the street was a bar that had music and dancing and I said daddy could we go over ther e they look more fun (we where visiting from california-he said NO that is for the black people

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Dimitri Caraïsco
Community Member
1 year ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Oh so sad 😭 I’m sure ur a kind and sweet lady Im sure u have the love of god in u and u know it was racist I’m praying we all meet together in heaven 🥹😊

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Lilly
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5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

we can't change history, only learn from it. on the plus side, though, they are beautiful!

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Kelly Hartle
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I only wish that the ones now who are saying we should go back to the 50's had to live it from the other side for a while.

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Full Name
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

So weird. There are all sorts of things that separate people, so using the most visibly obvious one as the basis for an entire segregated population is just bizarre (and intellectually lazy).

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Krystal
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It's such a beautiful photo, but so very sad at the same time.

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Barb Morgan
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I remember there being a colored people only drinking fountain in the Hudson's store in Detroit in the mid 50s when I was a young child.

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Anilda
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Was the same in South Africa... luckily no more and very much in the past

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George Kavakas
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

As a Canadian, it is so hard to fathom that this actually existed..

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GC
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

As a Canadian? Why as a Canadian? Just curious. I mean many of the same issues existed in Canada as well.

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Donald Holder
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5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Very sad. And people say we are worse off than that golden time.

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Martin Forbes
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This supposed to be a Christian country where the predominant religion teaches that all are the same in the eyes of God. So sad.

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AngelCake13
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

She looks amazing in that dress (yes I know what the point of this article is, just wanted to make a positive observation)

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Gayle Bynum Cardosa
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My Mom told me recently about how when I was a little kid we were in a diner somewhere in the south (we used to do a lot of random traveling) and a family pulled up into the parking lot and the father came in. He had to come in ahead of his family and ask if they would be allowed to come in and eat because they were black. Mom said she felt so heartbroken to sit and watch that mother and two kids sit in the car waiting for Dad to come back out to say yes or no and potentially have to go on to the next place to find out if it was OK. They DID get to come in but even just the every day things that other people took for granted...it is the kind of thing that has formed the deepest of scars in the soul. Where does that anger come from? From every cut of that knife.

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LSR
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Such a disgusting thing that some neon ad company actually manufactured that damn sign. Beautiful woman and girl.

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TC
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

And that was just yesterday... And somehow still goes on

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Mark Jaress
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Came here to see this photo (or one similar). Without it, your claim of Life in the 50's would be disingenuous

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gayle_bynum_cardosa avatar
GC
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It's hard to understand how many people keep thinking that this was going on in one country...racism was and is prevalent all over the world. It's as if people are thinking it was confined to the U.S. in the 1950's.

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katarina
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

when i read a title, i expected to see a painted door... at least, colored entrance means something different now

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old#3 number3
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

In 1956 the people of Alabama were served by Governor Jim Folsum, US Senators John Sparkman and J. Lister Hill, US Congressmen Frank Boykin, Carl Elliot, George Huddleston Jr., Robert E. Jones Jr., Albert Raines, and Kenneth Roberts. All Democrats.

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NK
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Beyond heartbreaking that we let this happen....and it's still going on, only it's unseen by most, except for black folks themselves.

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Dao Van
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I was so busy admiring their dresses and posture, until the sign grab me. And once again I love the way they remain so graceful and classy, so opposite of the sign.

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gayle_bynum_cardosa avatar
GC
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

S A M please look up the Gordon Parks foundation. He was a famous photographer and this was one of a series of well known photographs.

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Kiki
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5 years ago

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Look how nicely dressed they are. No weaves, not a bunch of make-up, no fake butts.

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Etta Melecio
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5 years ago

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I love her classy look! I wish women would put effort in their appearance like this.

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Karen Susan
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5 years ago

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Seeing this pretty woman and her little girl tells me that she has a husband and there is a father in the family.

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#2

Ladylike In NYC, 1958

Ladylike In NYC, 1958

Sante Forlano Report

#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

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

schants Report

#4

A Drink, A Cigar And Not Giving A Good Goddamn, 1950s

A Drink, A Cigar And Not Giving A Good Goddamn, 1950s

B_Underscore Report

#5

My Grandma Had Such A Gorgeous Smile. 1950's

My Grandma Had Such A Gorgeous Smile. 1950's

omeccamonolith Report

#6

An Officer With Hot Foot Teddy, The Real-Life Inspiration For Smokey The Bear, 1950

An Officer With Hot Foot Teddy, The Real-Life Inspiration For Smokey The Bear, 1950

DillyDylan Report

#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

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

unknown Report

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#9

Store Front, Mobile, Alabama, 1956

Store Front, Mobile, Alabama, 1956

Gordon Parks Report

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BusLady
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Those old stores always has "product placement" coke signs.

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#10

Girl And Her Grandmother Window-Shopping In Mobile, Alabama, 1956

Girl And Her Grandmother Window-Shopping In Mobile, Alabama, 1956

Gordon Parks Report

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Daria B
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5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The face expression of the lady clearly says how much she loves the little girl. Or at least, that's how it looks like to me. ^^

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#11

Anne St. Marie, New York City, 1959

Anne St. Marie, New York City, 1959

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#13

The Streets Of San Francisco. 1957

The Streets Of San Francisco. 1957

unknown Report

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BusLady
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Nice shot. All those old cars. Wonder how many are still on the road?

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#14

Girl Portrait. Shady Grove, Alabama, 1956

Girl Portrait. Shady Grove, Alabama, 1956

Gordon Parks Report

#16

Showgirls Playing Chess Backstage At The Latin Quarter Nightclub - New York, NY (1958)

Showgirls Playing Chess Backstage At The Latin Quarter Nightclub - New York, NY (1958)

Gordon Parks Report

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Apollo
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Why was everyone so classy back then? The girl in the front looks like she's a 16th century Italian painting.

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#17

Outside Looking In, Mobile, Alabama, 1956

Outside Looking In, Mobile, Alabama, 1956

Gordon Parks Report

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Wanda Queen
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is the s**t we mustn't forget, especially in this day when people want to keep telling us we need to get back to some imaginary "good old days".

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#18

A Slightly Surrealistic Photo Of My Grandma And Some Dude Somewhere In Florida, 1957

A Slightly Surrealistic Photo Of My Grandma And Some Dude Somewhere In Florida, 1957

shesafox Report

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BusLady
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Trying to empress her, and she's not even looking. That's why he's "some dude' instead of "Grampa."

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#19

South Side Snack. 1953, Chicago

South Side Snack. 1953, Chicago

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