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20 Rarely Seen Photos Of America In The 1950’s Show How Different Life Was Before
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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!
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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 Grandma Had Such A Gorgeous Smile. 1950's
An Officer With Hot Foot Teddy, The Real-Life Inspiration For Smokey The Bear, 1950
Daytona Beach,1957
This makes for an awesome tilt-shift > https://imgur.com/YGQmTdC 5a82f6123c...1e0de4.jpg 
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
Girl And Her Grandmother Window-Shopping In Mobile, Alabama, 1956
At The Party, 1956
Showgirls Playing Chess Backstage At The Latin Quarter Nightclub - New York, NY (1958)
Outside Looking In, Mobile, Alabama, 1956
This is the shit 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".
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.
we all human we should not forget these times were bad now we can look to a brighter future stop identity politics and grow as human beings race should not matter anyone who is racist in 2018 should get a mental health check
The human race is not like that of animals that can't be breed together because of different ADN and genes. For instance it is not possible to breed a giraffe with a canary. All humans ethics do breed out of their ethical groups.
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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!
Heart breaking. Those were painful days. We must be the change we see so needed now
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 !!!
Why do people use the word "sad" rather than "disgusting" or "inhumane" to describe scenes like this??? It really makes me "sad".
Well the last time i went to the states i didn't see so much progress.
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MammaG: (???) How did the children in the photo feel?
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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.
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.
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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this site does not like dissent and its sad my comment got hidden why cuz i stated facts cuz im latino? check it on google who founded the kkk who was against abolition of slavery if yall dont like facts or latinos or blacks keep hidin my comments
You pointed out facts, and as we know, some people would rather deflect, deny, project and bury their heads in the sand, rather than admit that us 'right-wingers' might actually have a valid point. Hell, even when historical facts are used, as incredible as it is, they will try to say it didn't happen that way. That's the one thing that boggles my mind the most! I will admit that I used to be a leftist. However, over the last 5 years I've really begun to educate myself politically. I realized that the views I had were because I had taken on my parents viewpoint and I stuck with them for a solid 40+ years. Sad, I know. Needless to say, I will NEVER go back to backing a party that has their 'values' & ideologies. Enough from my soapbox. I wish you and your gf the very best. Stand firm on your convictions and keep fighting for what's just. As long as you have one of those 'tolerant', 'loving' leftists telling you that you're wrong, you'll know you're right!
Load More Replies...A Slightly Surrealistic Photo Of My Grandma And Some Dude Somewhere In Florida, 1957
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.
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"
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
I resigned my office-job and now I am getting paid £64 hourly. How? I work over internet! My old work was making me miserable, so I was forced to try something different, two years after...I can say my life is changed-completely for the better! Check it out what i do... http://cutt.us/RF5TJ
Americans loved their cars back then, didn't they?
We still do!
I appreciate the lines and colors of the cars from before the 1970s. I wish more cars today had those curves, fins, and rocket style lights in the back, and were electric :)
A golden era for white males. I'm am VERY glad I don't have to have lived in it.
very ignorant comment. plenty of poor white families all across America at that time, and before. yes, segregation was outrageous, no doubt about it.
Truth. There was no one in my family who had it all or was anything like anyone in these photos. My Grandmother worked even with my Grandfather working and she made most of my Mom's clothes herself and a lot with potato sacks. It was hard for a lot of people. My heart breaks for all who had to go through this. We are all worth it. No matter the color of your skin or where you are right now in life.
And it was better that people like YOU weren't there to cause trouble.
That sounded racist
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.
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?
These cars!!
Really enjoyed all of these photos. A trip back in time.
For 30 pages, this article could have been curated and turned into several articles. I would have loved to see all the pictures of under-represented America from that time period, but as it is, I gave up after page 12. Sorry.
I love the 1950's dresses.
nice neon on some of the signs
I LOVE the styles (clothes and cars) in the 1950's!
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.
Beautiful and interesting pictures. I love the fashions of the time.
Awesome photos! It's really a trip back to the past!! One quick question though....are these photos colorized?
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.
Sick to my stomach of these photos. America is so unfair.
This is absolutely great! Love the pics sooo much!
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.
there is something special about these pics I really enjoyed them
No fat people either ... I guess obesity IS a 21st century epidemic ...
You think?
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.
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.
This was a great time in America, Not so much for some but it was start of something good.
Great photos.
I love those vintage pictures and the colours
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.
My education had plenty of pictures and even movies about this topic and stop speaking for us white people. Its okay to be white.
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.
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.
your generation is not better or smarter than the previous ones. future generations will be condemning your stupidity. they too will look foolish. a viscous circle.
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.
I'm not sure what "people" you're addressing here. We all fully understand the horrible stuff back then.
yeah, i'm with you. That was uncalled for.
Or maybe that isn't really true. I recoil at those pictures of racism in the deep south but look at how the people are dressed, and the decent family lives they were living despite the bigotry.
your ignorance is staggering. white families struggled in all eras..they didn't all have it "made"
That's not the point of the comment. The only way you could consider the time great would be to be a white man. That doesn't mean others didn't struggle.
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.
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.
Mamma's brain is hidden, too.
I'm sure all that discrimination and lynching was done out of neighborly affection. Did you miss all the photos of segregation in this list? Or does that not count as a crime to you?
Yes, certainly true. I think that the people who replied to your comment have been reading too much propaganda! Domestic violence, child abuse, clergy raping children -- come on. Some of this went on, of course, and some of it continues to, but then as now it was the exception rather than the rule. Ditto lynchings -- awful, but hardly common. Much like police killings today.
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.
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.
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"
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
I resigned my office-job and now I am getting paid £64 hourly. How? I work over internet! My old work was making me miserable, so I was forced to try something different, two years after...I can say my life is changed-completely for the better! Check it out what i do... http://cutt.us/RF5TJ
Americans loved their cars back then, didn't they?
We still do!
I appreciate the lines and colors of the cars from before the 1970s. I wish more cars today had those curves, fins, and rocket style lights in the back, and were electric :)
A golden era for white males. I'm am VERY glad I don't have to have lived in it.
very ignorant comment. plenty of poor white families all across America at that time, and before. yes, segregation was outrageous, no doubt about it.
Truth. There was no one in my family who had it all or was anything like anyone in these photos. My Grandmother worked even with my Grandfather working and she made most of my Mom's clothes herself and a lot with potato sacks. It was hard for a lot of people. My heart breaks for all who had to go through this. We are all worth it. No matter the color of your skin or where you are right now in life.
And it was better that people like YOU weren't there to cause trouble.
That sounded racist
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.
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?
These cars!!
Really enjoyed all of these photos. A trip back in time.
For 30 pages, this article could have been curated and turned into several articles. I would have loved to see all the pictures of under-represented America from that time period, but as it is, I gave up after page 12. Sorry.
I love the 1950's dresses.
nice neon on some of the signs
I LOVE the styles (clothes and cars) in the 1950's!
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.
Beautiful and interesting pictures. I love the fashions of the time.
Awesome photos! It's really a trip back to the past!! One quick question though....are these photos colorized?
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.
Sick to my stomach of these photos. America is so unfair.
This is absolutely great! Love the pics sooo much!
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.
there is something special about these pics I really enjoyed them
No fat people either ... I guess obesity IS a 21st century epidemic ...
You think?
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.
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.
This was a great time in America, Not so much for some but it was start of something good.
Great photos.
I love those vintage pictures and the colours
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.
My education had plenty of pictures and even movies about this topic and stop speaking for us white people. Its okay to be white.
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.
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.
your generation is not better or smarter than the previous ones. future generations will be condemning your stupidity. they too will look foolish. a viscous circle.
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.
I'm not sure what "people" you're addressing here. We all fully understand the horrible stuff back then.
yeah, i'm with you. That was uncalled for.
Or maybe that isn't really true. I recoil at those pictures of racism in the deep south but look at how the people are dressed, and the decent family lives they were living despite the bigotry.
your ignorance is staggering. white families struggled in all eras..they didn't all have it "made"
That's not the point of the comment. The only way you could consider the time great would be to be a white man. That doesn't mean others didn't struggle.
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.
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.
Mamma's brain is hidden, too.
I'm sure all that discrimination and lynching was done out of neighborly affection. Did you miss all the photos of segregation in this list? Or does that not count as a crime to you?
Yes, certainly true. I think that the people who replied to your comment have been reading too much propaganda! Domestic violence, child abuse, clergy raping children -- come on. Some of this went on, of course, and some of it continues to, but then as now it was the exception rather than the rule. Ditto lynchings -- awful, but hardly common. Much like police killings today.
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.