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65 Rare Photos That Show How Strange And Different The Past Really Was (New Pics)
Did you know that in the 1980s, there was a chimp at the Belgrade Zoo that escaped not once but twice? His name was Sami, and he became famous in 1988 when a photographer snapped a picture of him and the zoo director, Vukosav Bojovic, "conversing" on the roof. Bojovic attempted to coax the animal to come back, resulting in a pretty sweet moment.
This story is still circulating online thanks to the online community r/Historycord. In fact, the members of the subreddit share fascinating historical photographs all the time, making it a real treasure trove for seasoned history buffs. Bored Panda would like to take you on a journey through time with the help of r/Historycord. So, Pandas, scroll down and see what other interesting things you might learn today!
More info: Reddit
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#1
Princess Alexandrine Irene Of Prussia (1915 – 1980) The Oldest Daughter And Fifth Child Of Wilhelm, German Crown Prince, And Cecilie Of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. She Was Born With Down Syndrome But Adored And Never Hidden By Her Family As Was The Custom Of Her Time
RELATED:
#2
Black Women Serving In World War II
#3
Ella Fitzgerald Sitting In A Houston Jail Cell After She Was Arrested For Singing To An Integrated Audience, 1955
So, what happened to Sami the chimpanzee? During his first escape, Mr. Bojovic took Sami by the hand, put him in his car, and drove him back to the zoo. The chimp had made it to Students' Square. His second attempt at an escape didn't end that peacefully – the zookeepers had to use tranquilizer darts.
Sadly, Sami passed away in 1992, and he lived in Belgrade Zoo for a total of four years from 1988. In 1996, the Zoo erected a sculpture in honor of Sami, which still stands there to this day. Newspapers referred to Sami as a "dissident," as many Yugoslavians found his captures and detention at the Zoo poetically similar to their own lives under communism.
#4
Tintype Of A Gentlemen Posing With His Daughter, Circa 1870s
#5
Korean War Marine With His Kitten. The Marine Died On January,2018
Multa Nocte 12 hours ago
The kitten was named Miss Hap, she survived the war, and was adopted by another Marine who brought her to the US upon his return.
#6
Negotiations Between The Zoo Director And Escaped Chimpanzee. Belgrade, 1988
Fat Harry (Oi / You) 13 hours ago
Given how strong chimps are, this was really quite brave (although I imagine there were armed people around, just in case)
The 1948 photo of a man begging his wife not to divorce him is a real piece of history. It started making the rounds on Reddit in 2024, but the historian who uncovered this photo, Jeff Nichols, talked to Business Insider about it. The couple in the photograph is Steve and Anna Strack. Anna was the one who filed for divorce, citing "habitual drunkenness" as the reason.
In those times, spouses had to give the court a considerable reason for going through with the divorce. Yet, in Chicago, divorces were pretty common. According to Nichols's research, the apparently lax divorce laws were a regional joke, prompting people to make jokes such as: "Oh, people in Chicago just get divorced as a problem to have."
Anna Strack also talked with the Chicago Tribune about her divorce at the time, since the photo was printed in the publication. She told them that she would think over her decision. However, the 1950 census showed them as a divorced couple, and Anna lived with her parents and their 4-year-old son and worked as a packer at a gum factory.
#7
Japanese-American Family, Saitama, Japan, 1947
Smeghead Tribble Down Under 12 hours ago
I don't like kids at all, but that little boy is adorable!
#8
Written In 1918 By An Anonymous Suffragette
#9
Arabs And Jews Picking Oranges Together In Jaffa, C. 1910
Laszlo Larthlanc 7 hours ago
A few thousand years ago they were all the same people. Shalom Aleichem or Asalam Alaykum? Both sound almost the same when pronounced, and they both mean "Peace be upon you". I wish Netanyahu and his cronies would all vanish and allow Israel to be governed by decent human beings.
Some say that the photograph of Frederick Douglass with his wife, Helen Pitts, at Niagara Falls was taken during their honeymoon. We can't tell exactly, but we know that their marriage was quite controversial back in the day. Helen was the second wife of Frederick Douglass, the first one being Anna Murray Douglass for 40 years.
After her passing, Douglass fell into a deep depression. Helen is said to have helped him regain his good spirits. However, Douglass's kids opposed the marriage, and Helen's family didn't like her marrying a Black man. The public didn't react favorably, either: some accused Douglass of "forgetting his cause" by marrying a white woman; others denounced the 21-year age gap between the spouses.
#10
A British Blacksmith On Hms Sphinx Removing The Leg Irons Off A S***e, 1907
#11
Circus Worker, Ethel Hart, Showing Off Her Back, Circa 1940s
#12
The Most Decorated Unit Of World War II…the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. Made Up Of Japanese Americans Fought In The Naples-Foggia Campaign, Rome-Arno Campaign, Rhineland - 21 Medals Of Honor - 52 Distinguished Service Cross - 560 Silver Stars - Over 4000 Bronze Stars - Over 4000 Purple Hearts
Janissary35680 14 hours ago
And meanwhile some of their friends, neighbors, and relatives in the US were being kept in detention camps.
A piece of history that people deserve to know is about the Black women who served in the U.S. military during WWII. We might think that most of them were nurses, but there was an all-Black female unit stationed overseas. The 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion was created to deal with the postal worker shortage. They sorted millions of letters and packages that families sent to their loved ones on the war front. In 2022, the former members of the battalion received Congressional Gold Medals.
#13
Couple During War Time Taking A Photo, Circa 1940s
#14
In November 1990, Life Magazine Published A Photo Of David Kirby Being Comforted By His Father As He Was Dying. The Photo Is Considered To Have Changed The Face Of Aids
JoNo 14 hours ago
I thought it was Princess Diana shaking hands with an AIDS patient in hospital which changed the face of AIDS. The more photos the better, I suppose, to get the public to accept people with HIV and AIDS. This photo is far more powerful than the one of Diana. A father/family's love.
#15
Life In Little Italy, New York, Early 1900s
We all should be so lucky to live until 100 years old. Jeanne Calment was even luckier: she lived until 122. She was born in 1875 in France and passed away in 1997. A Russian mathematician, Nikolay Zak, suggested that Calment actually met her maker earlier and that her age record is actually fake.
#17
Mexican Federal Soldier Says Goodbye To His Daughter At The Train Station Before Going To War, During The Mexican Revolution, 1915
Luis Hernandez Dauajare 6 hours ago
He is wearing the uniform of the Carrancistas, one of the factions of the Civil War. Bloodiest part of the Mexican Revolution.
#18
Victims Of Stalin's Famine. Holodomor, Kharkiv 1933
Zig Zag Wanderer 14 hours ago (edited)
And my comment gets downvoted and hidden. Because I just pointed out that my grandfather took it. Seriously? It actually belongs to me 😂 you're welcome BTW.
Booker 11 hours ago
FYI, I don't know if it's the same glitch, but one of my comments was hidden as I was writing it. I didn't have any unusual punctuation and it was completely unoffensive. A glitch sounds like a good description to me. I've seen several others mention glitches.
Unicorn 9 hours ago
It's happened to me too. Probably explains the duplicate comments one sees sometimes.
Load More Replies...
According to Zak, Calment passed away in 1934, and the woman everyone thought was Jeanne was actually her daughter, Yvonne. That's why he posited that her grandson called her "maman" and lived with her supposed son-in-law. Zak argued that Yvonne chose to pretend to be her mother to avoid paying inheritance taxes and to have a roof over her head permanently.
#19
Young Couple At The Beach. 1931
#20
Masks Showing Different Stages In The Work Done By Mrs. Anna Coleman Ladd Of The American Red Cross For Soldiers Whose Faces Have Been Mutilated In World War I. August 1918, Paris, France. [812x575]
#21
Informal Photo Queen Elizabeth IL Shortly After Giving Birth To Prince Edward, 1964
However, many experts shut down ideas about Calment's falsified age. Although they admit that a person living until 122 is extremely unlikely from a biological standpoint, they note that perhaps too much had to be faked in Jeanne's case. "Any deception on Madame Calment's part would have required extraordinary prescience and the connivance of surviving relatives and we should banish such thoughts from our minds," gerontologist Tom Kirkwood wrote in his 1991 book, "Could she be a fraud?"
#22
Japanese Woman In Her Traditional Clothes, And In Western Fashion, 1930s
#23
When Dad Tried Doing Mom’s Work For A Weekend: A 1956 Life Photo Essay
#24
Frederick Douglass And Wife Helen Pitts At Niagara Falls, 1884
Have you learned anything new about history today, Pandas? Let us know which stories and photographs captured your attention and interest the most. And if you're in the mood for more photos from r/Historycord, check out our previous listicle right here or see these captivating photographs from "Undiscovered History"!
#25
The Peoples Of The Russian Empire In Photographs By Sergei Prokudin-Gorsky, One Of The Pioneers Of Color Photography
#26
Family Portrait Taken 118 Years Ago. February 13, 1905
#27
Case Report Of Brooklyn Society For The Prevention Of Cruelty To Children 1903-04
#28
Life On The Greek Islands In The 1960s
#29
Man Looking For A Job During The Great Depression. 1934
Multa Nocte 12 hours ago
As I noted in an earlier post, advertising that you speak 3 languages in the US these days just puts you on ICE's radar.
#30
Amanda America Dickson, Born To A 13-Year-Old Enslaved Girl And Her 40-Year-Old S***e Master. She Would Become One Of The Wealthiest Women In Georgia After Her Father Left Her His Entire Estate At His Death
#31
Chinese American With A Note That Says He Is Chinese, Not Japanese, To Avoid Harrasment At Work, 1940s
#32
Young Iranian Woman Handing Out Anti-Shah Regime Manifesto In Tehran, 1979
Janissary35680 14 hours ago
A great example of "Be careful of what you wish for" if ever there was one. (And now according to some reports Reza Pahlevi is chomping at the bit to return. 🎵🎶When will they ever learn?🎶🎵)
#33
Us Soldiers Having Some Fun In The Dance Flor Of A Pub In London, England, 1940s
Zig Zag Wanderer 15 hours ago
Because the British allowed black people to enter the pubs. That caused some problems with the white US soldiers...
#34
Eyes Of Hate Of Joseph Goebbels
NetworkMan 14 hours ago
I believe the story behind this is that he was told at the moment of the photo that the photographer was Jewish. That's not a resting evil face; that's his reaction to another human who has a religion.
#35
Princess Anastasia Taking A Selfie(1910)
Dee Hampton 8 hours ago
I find any pic of the Romanov girls deeply disturbing. Collateral damage in a game they never asked to join.
#36
Ho Chi Minh, Then Known As Nguyen AI Quoc, In France In 1919 To Advocate For The Independence Of Vietnam
#37
A Polish Woman Holding A Photo Of Her K****d Husband At The Opening Of A Katyn M******e Memorial In London, 1976
#38
Photo Of A German Mother Crying After Finding Out Her Captured Son Didn’t Survive In Soviet Union Pow Camps. (1955)
Zig Zag Wanderer 15 hours ago
Russia was brutal before, during and after the war. It's never really changed since their wonderful revolution.
#39
A Man Begs His Wife's Forgiveness Inside A Divorce Court. Chicago, 1948
Scarlett O'Hara's Ghost 15 hours ago
This picture is in every single historical picture post and every single one of them claims there's new pictures
#40
Teens Protest The Arrival Of The Horace Baker Family, The First African American Family In All White Delmar Village Folcroft, Pennsylvania, 30 Of August 1963
#41
The First Years After The War. Life In Italy In The Late 40s - Early 50s
#42
Agfachrome Shot Of A Blonde Lady In Norway, 1943
#43
Jeanne Calment, The Longest-Living Confirmed Person In History, At Age 20, 1895
#44
Adolf Eichmann Walks Around The Yard Of His Cell, Ramla Prison, Isreal, 1961
Laszlo Larthlanc 7 hours ago
One of the major architects of the H*******t. It's worth reading about him on Wikipedia if you feel the need to know more.
#45
Maid Makes The Braids For The Daughter Of Her Employers, February Of 1956
Rebecca O’Donnell 9 hours ago
My cousins’ nanny, who looked just like Aunt Jemima to a 5 year old me, used to put my braids in so tight my eyes would slant. :) She made the best blueberry pancakes and I just thought she was wonderful.
#46
The Excess Of 1980s England - As Seen Through The Eyes Of Society Photographer Dafydd Jones
Norfolk and good 13 hours ago (edited)
That looks quite tame. We can get a lot messier than that in Blighty. Judging by the tuxedos and evening dresses, this looks like some poshos party at either Oxford or Cambridge.
#47
Promotional Photo Of Marilyn Monroe For The Film The Prince And The Showgirl, 1957
#48
Photos Of Children Who Didn't Pass The "One Drop" Rule And Were Slaves, Eventually Emancipated In New Orleans, From Harper’s Weekly, 30 Of January Of 1864
#49
A German Student Taking Part In A Racial Education Class, N**i Germany, 1943
#50
Iranian Reza Shah Pahlavi At His Coronation, 1925
Kelly H. Wilder 3 hours ago
I think he is much better looking in the picture above. Age was good for him.
#51
A Meccan Merchant And His Circassian S***e. Picture Taken In Mecca Between 1887 And 1888
Zig Zag Wanderer 15 hours ago
But everyone loves to blame the British, who were one of the first to outlaw slavery.
#52
The Platt Family Case :white Family Labeled As Black By White Sheriff In 1955
Multa Nocte 12 hours ago
70 years ago and yet it could still be true today in Governor DeSantis' Floriduh.
#53
Soviet Officials Nestor Lakoba, Nikita Khrushchev, Lavrentiy Beria And Aghasi Khanjian During The Opening Of The Moscow Metro In 1936. That Same Year, Beria K****d Lakoba And Khanjian
#54
1955.”the One I Marry” Teenagers Are Asked Their Preferences About A Future Spouse
#55
Marie Azelie Haydel, The Last Owner Of Whitney Plantation, And One Of Her Enslaved House Girls
Speak easy buttercup 6 hours ago
This CHILD looks like an old lady!! Her eyes which should light up from a child like innocence only show pain and suffering and it's really heartbreaking! 💔
#56
Flight Deck And Controls Of A B-29 Superfortress. Note The Security Blanket Over The B**b Sight
#57
Iranian Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi And His Wife Shahbanu Farah Pahlavi With Their Four Children, 1973
Laszlo Larthlanc 7 hours ago
He was no more a humane leader than the current ones, and now his son wants to rule Iran. An awful lot of Iranians would love to return to the days where they were Persians living in Persia.
#58
He Washington Naval Treaty Signed In February 6, 1922, Forced Countries To Limit Their Battleships But Ended Up Creating Super Aircraft Carriers Instead Such As The Uss Lexington
Major Harris 3 hours ago
my name sake served on her when she was sunk in the battle of the coral sea. he was my dad's best friend and was a pilot. he survived this battle but was lost later on in the war.
#59
Members Of The Austro-Hungarian Upper Class, Including Emperor Franz Joseph I, At A Ball In Vienna In 1900 To Celebrate The Beginning Of A New Century
#60
60 Yr Old And His Family Of 3. 1946, Kentucky
#61
Nationalist Chinese Leader Chiang Kai-Shek With His Secret Police Chief Dai Li, 1940s
#62
U.S. Army Nurses Sunbathing Next To A Twin Bofors 40 Mm Gun On A Coast Guard Troop Ship Returning Back To The United States From Europe, 1945
Eugene the Jeep 5 hours ago
Those poor sailors, how can they work with those darned females cluttering up the deck?
#63
Us Paratroopers Train Outside Of Panama City During The Us Invasion Of Panama, 1990
#64
Brigitte Bardot During A Trip To Brazil, 1964
#65
Joseph Smith, The Founder Of Mormonism, Preaches To Native Americans On 12 August 1841
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Tea Drinker 11 hours ago
I hope all the places and institutions being wiped of non-white, non-male history by our orange f**kwit have kept their photos and displays for a kinder, more open time to come.
R Dennis 9 hours ago
Before that kinder, more open time, there must be a reckoning... without it, it will happen again, but worse.
Load More Replies... Tams21 9 hours ago
It's sad and more than a little disheartening to see that many of the photos that show dark moments in history or either likely to repeat themselves in the near future or are already in the process of doing so. Then there's also those things that never seem to ever changed.
TotallyNOTAFox 6 hours ago
"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it" - George Santayana. Despite having the ability to easily look up nearly all aspects of history back to ancient rome and beyond a lot of people rarely do that and so we end up with rising facism and socialism (the real deal) in the first half of a century once again. Given how the world looks, the 21st century will pretty much copy the 20th
Load More Replies... Tea Drinker 11 hours ago
I hope all the places and institutions being wiped of non-white, non-male history by our orange f**kwit have kept their photos and displays for a kinder, more open time to come.
R Dennis 9 hours ago
Before that kinder, more open time, there must be a reckoning... without it, it will happen again, but worse.
Load More Replies... Tams21 9 hours ago
It's sad and more than a little disheartening to see that many of the photos that show dark moments in history or either likely to repeat themselves in the near future or are already in the process of doing so. Then there's also those things that never seem to ever changed.
TotallyNOTAFox 6 hours ago
"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it" - George Santayana. Despite having the ability to easily look up nearly all aspects of history back to ancient rome and beyond a lot of people rarely do that and so we end up with rising facism and socialism (the real deal) in the first half of a century once again. Given how the world looks, the 21st century will pretty much copy the 20th
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