These Iconic Historical Photos Open Our Eyes To Some Of The World’s Most Intriguing And Revolutionary Moments

Published: Oct 01, 2023

When we think of all the historical events and significant moments that have occurred in the world, it’s overwhelming. There are neverending examples of humanity in all its mess and glory from the major triumphs and heartbreaking defeats that shed light on the human condition, to major sports and political milestones. Here are some iconic historical photos that put us in a time capsule of the past and make us look at the world in a whole new way. 

Elvis Presley Served In The Army

While everybody knows about the immense cultural influence of Elvis Presley (aka “The King of Rock’) and his impact on the music industry, this fact about the southern legend may surprise you. This photo is not as common as other famous images of him. From 1958-1960, Elvis served in the U.S. Army as a regular soldier. 

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Elvis’ valiant status of serving in the army earned the respect of those who had seen him in a negative light previously. 

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Tesla’s Lab

The man pictured in this photo is the immensely influential inventor, electrical engineer, and physicist Nikola Tesla sitting in his laboratory. Tesla’s creation called the “Magnifying Transmitter” was built in 1899 and served as the test subject for his study that same year. The study was centered on the use of high-voltage, high-frequency electricity in wireless power transmission. 

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Tesla invented, discovered, and patented the rotating magnetic field which has since become the backbone of most alternating-current machinery. In the 1890s, his experiments involving high-voltage, high-frequency power experiments were based on ideas surrounding worldwide wireless electric power distribution. 

Titanic Survivors

This image from 1912 shows the surviving passengers of the Titanic boarding the Carpathia. Approximately an hour and a half after the Titanic sank, the Carpathia arrived at the location at four in the morning. 

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The devasting sinking of the Titanic took more than 1,500 lives. Luckily, the crew members assisted in finding and rescuing 705 survivors from the Titanic’s 20 lifeboats even though it took four and a half hours. Charles Lightoller was the last person to be rescued, boarding the Carpathia at 8:30 a.m.

JFK's Assassination

On November 22, 1963, John F. Kennedy was riding on a motorcade with his wife, Jacqueline, and the Governor of Texas, John Connelly, through downtown Dallas’ Dealy Plaza. Suddenly, multiple gunshots were fired, hitting JFK directly and severely wounding him.

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In this sequence of photographs caught on film, the first time JFK was hit with a bullet is captured on the right. Subsequently, Jacqueline is seen hovering over her wounded husband in the backseat of the car (pictured left). The president was hit a total of six times, thus resulting in his ultimate death. That shocking day would go down in history as one of the darkest moments in American history.

The President’s Prank

As the 36th president of America, Lyndon Johnson was remembered for one particular prank that he pulled on some guests at his ranch. Johnson’s Amphicar (which was the only civilian amphibious car ever mass-produced) and these guests were at the center of his prank. 

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The president would drive visitors around the property in the ordinary-looking automobile. When they came to a hill, the vehicle would rush down it in the direction of the lake. Johnson would exclaim that the brakes weren’t working – the guests didn’t know the car was built to float in water!

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Lady Liberty

It wasn’t too long after the Statue of Liberty’s arrival to America from France on June 17, 1885, that this photo was taken. The statue served as a gift to the United States from France. As a figure of the Roman liberty goddess, Libertas, and following its dedication, the icon gained its status as a symbol of freedom. 

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Since its warm welcome in the U.S., Liberty has been a stunning sight that immigrants would see upon their arrival.

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The Two 30-Year-Olds

Taken in October 1956, this iconic image shows two legendary 30-year-old female figures at the time engaging in a handshake. On the left is Queen Elizabeth II, Britain’s longest-reigning monarch, and on the right is Marilyn Monroe, Hollywood’s blonde bombshell. 

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While these two females meeting each other may seem like an odd juxtaposition of personalities, both of them would have reached their 91st birthdays this year. They will always be remembered for their contributions, influences, and impacts on history and culture. 

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James Dean, The Rebel Without A Cause

This photo of James Dean was one of the last known photos of him captured before his untimely death. On September 30, 1955, Dean died during a road race, which resulted in a collision car crash as he was speeding along a dark highway. 

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Driving his silver Porsche Spyder sports car, Dean tragically passed away much too young at 24 years of age. Sadly, he was known more for his unexpected and devastating death than his actual status as a celebrity. 

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Babe Ruth: The Ultimate History Maker And Record Breaker

In the fifth inning of the World Series’ third game at Wrigley Field in Chicago, on October 1, 1932, George “Babe” Ruth made history. He is known as one of the greatest baseball players that ever lived. 

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On Friday the 13th, 1934, Ruth is captured hitting his 700th home run in this photograph. It shows him at the at-bat making a pointing gesture. The existing film actually confirms the truth of this gesture, but is ambiguous in its meaning. 

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Carving The Eye

It was in 1923 that Doane Robinson, a South Dakota state historian, needed to find a way to attract tourists and create economic stimulation. His proposal was to make a monument in the mountains which would be a tribute to the West’s magnificent heroes. 

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On October 4, 1927, federal funding was granted to Robinson’s project and he was able to begin carving. It took him 14 long and taxing years and 400 workers to carve away 450 tons of rock. Not a single fatality was involved.

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The Most Iconic And Imitated Beatles Cover

This photograph was taken in 1969 right before The Beatles were about to cross Abbey Road for their new album cover. The cover would become one of the most iconic cover images of all time, which has since been imitated in popular music. 

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The photographer was freelancer Iain Macmillan, a friend of John Lennon and Yoko Ono. To capture the famous shot, Macmillan stood in the middle of the street on a small ladder. He snapped six shots of the band as they walked across Abbey Road, right outside the studio. 

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A Young British Boy Reading

Great Britain was one of the many countries in which Germany unleashed mass and devastating destruction. The Germans enforced mass air raids against the towns and cities in Britain, starting with raids on London in 1940 towards the final moments of the Battle of Britain.

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Taken in front of a London bookstore, this photograph is of a young boy sitting and reading a book amongst the remains. The image is beautiful and eye-catching because he is calmly reading while there is so much chaos around him. 

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Dorothy Counts’ Experience At An All-White School

As one of the only four black students enrolled in an all-white and non-integrated school district, Dorothy Counts was 15-years-old when this photograph was taken in 1957. At Harry Harding High School in Charlotte, North Carolina, Dorothy is seen being teased by her white male classmates. 

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Now an American civil rights activist, Dorothy Counts-Scoggins received a public apology in 2006 from those members of the crowd who harassed and taunted her. The person who apologized was one of the boys in the famous photo. 

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The Boy Who Hears For The First Time

Pictured in this photo is a young boy who looks startled and surprised. He isn’t quite sure what’s happening or how. The boy’s authentic reaction was him hearing for the first time – no longer enshrouded in a world of silence. It was probably scary, exciting, and confusing all at the same time. 

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Named Harold Whittles, his little eyes opened with a miraculous sense of wonder and curiosity. Harold’s world just became so much bigger after getting a hearing aid fitted into his ear. 

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The First Woman To Complete The Boston Marathon

1967 was a monumental year for Kathrine Switzer, the first woman to finish the Boston Marathon. Race organizers attempted to thwart her finishing the race and Jock Semple, a race official, went so far as to grab her bib. He was pushed to the ground by Tom Miller, Switzer’s boyfriend who was running next to her. 

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Unfortunately, it wasn’t until 1972 that females were able to officially participate in the Boston Marathon. Katherine acknowledged the gravity of her brave accomplishment and participation in the race. 

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New Shoes Made This Boy’s Day

This is the kind of photo that makes us smile instantly. Taken by Gerald Waller, the focus of the image is an Austrian boy named Werfel after the war in 1946. He’s sitting outside on the steps of an orphanage in Austria with a brand-new pair of shoes in his hands. 

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The elation on his face shows how ecstatic he is after receiving shoes from the American Red Cross. On December 30, 1946, the photo was first printed in LIFE Magazine. 

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Civil Rights Activist Casey Hayden

In the 1960s, American student activist and defender of civil rights Sandra Cason “Casey” Hayden was an integral figure in the civil rights movement. She is most well-known for her staunch advocacy and prompt action against racial segregation. 

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Hayden was a young recruit to Students for a Democratic Society in 1960. She was also a strategist and organizer for the 1964 Freedom Summer in Mississippi along with the assistance of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. This photo is of her mugshot from the Jackson arrest. 

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Satchmo’s Serenade

If this image were from today, it definitely would have gone viral on social media. Snapped in 1961, the stunning photo is of pioneering jazz trumpeter Louis Armstrong playing a number for his wife, Lucille, while at the Pyramids. The Great Sphinx of Gaza is on perfect display in the background. 

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That might be one of the most romantic things we’ve ever seen! For five decades (spanning from the 1920s to the 1960s), Armstrong was among the most influential and legendary jazz figures to ever live. 

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The Earth Rising

Identifying the moment when history completely changes isn’t a simple task. However, when we see humanity’s first moment of grasping the beauty, isolation, and delicate nature of our very existence, we know in that exact moment. On December 24, 1968, everything changed.

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Following the Apollo 8 spacecraft lift off and as its members were en-route to the moon, it became the first human-crewed mission to orbit the moon. This extraordinary photograph captured the first full color sighting of our glorious Earth from afar. Ostensibly, it helped humans realize how insignificant and small they felt in comparison to the vastness of the universe. 

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Jewish Liberation In 1945

Behind the newly liberated women and the little girl is the train that led Jewish prisoners to freedom. The photo was taken on April 13, 1945, near Farsleben, Germany. These prisoners were freed by members of the 743rd Tank Battalion from the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. 

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The lady at the center of the image contains a mix of emotions on her face, ranging from sadness to complete relief and joy. No words can truly describe what the liberated prisoners must have been feeling that day, but the photo captures it perfectly. 

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Right Move Or Wrong Move?

While we’ve all heard of D-Day, it’s likely nobody probably knows about Dagen H (Swedish for H Day). On September 3, 1967, Sweden made the decision to change driving on the left-hand side to the right side of the road. H stands for Högertrafikomläggningen or the Right-Handed Traffic Diversion. 

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Based on the events of this photo, it’s clear that the switch was not easy and caused lots of problems. Sweden’s decision to move traffic to the opposite side of the road wasn’t received positively. In fact, the idea had actually been voted against repeatedly in the decades before. 

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Mona Lisa Was Returned

On August 25, 1944, the Allies liberated Paris. Germany unconditionally surrendered on May 8, 1945, and Europe’s war was finally over. As a result, the Louvre’s works that were seized started to go back to the museum during its extensive renovation between 1945 and 1946. 

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Two years after Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa was stolen from Paris’ Louvre Museum, the iconic painting was recovered. It was inside the hotel room of Vincenzo Peruggia, an Italian waiter, in Florence. On June 16, 1945, the Mona Lisa was brought home. 

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The Beach Police

Women’s swimming costumes in the early 1900s were cumbersome and uncomfortable. They consisted of high necks, long sleeves, skirts, pants, and were often made of wool. 20 deputies in 1919 were assigned the special task of monitoring the swimwear of the women at Rockaway Beach in Queens, New York. “Sheriffettes” were the names of these deputies. 

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The battle between women and beach authorities endured. In this image, the Sheriffettes measured bathing suits and would fine women if they were too short.

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The Man Behind The Messy Desk

You probably couldn’t guess who this messy desk belonged to… Well, it belonged to the notorious genius and brilliant man named Albert Einstein. This photograph was snapped of Einstein’s study at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton University. In fact, it was taken not long after Einstein’s sudden passing on May 18, 1955.

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He quoted, “If a cluttered desk is the sign of a cluttered mind, of what, then, is an empty desk a sign?” Wise words, indeed, from Mr. Einstein. 

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The Young Street Performers

A young and then-unknown Robin Williams was performing his mime act with a friend in New York’s Central Park. In 1974, the image was snapped by Daniel Sorine, a photographer who just happened to walk past the duo. Clearly, he had no idea that Williams was well on his way to becoming a massive Hollywood actor. 

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When Sorine rediscovered the photo years later, he realized who he had captured in such an organic way. He recalled in an interview, “What attracted me to Robin Williams and his fellow mime, was their unusual amount of intensity, personality, and physical fluidity.” 

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Martin Luther King Jr.

Out of all the photographs taken of Martin Luther King Jr., this is probably one of the most powerful and chilling ones of him. King is captured swiftly removing a burnt cross that somebody had hammered into his lawn, and his son stands beside him watching. 

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The photo is haunting and mesmerizing at the same time. On April 4, 1968, MLK was assassinated, yet his words, actions, and deeds continue to live on decades later, and his influence will never be forgotten.  

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Together Forever

The two clasped hands in the photo connected across a wall belonged to a Catholic woman and her Protestant husband who weren’t allowed to be buried together. This caused quite a bit of controversy and division among the people in the city of Roermond. The couple was married for 38 years. 

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In 1880, the colonel died and was buried on the Protestant side of the cemetery’s wall. His wife (who died in 1888) decided not to be buried with her family but on the other side of the wall. This decision was the only way she could get as close to her husband as possible. Truly, they will be together forever. 

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The Berlin Wall

In this remarkable photograph taken in 1961, we get a small yet profound glimpse of what life was like for the people who were divided by the Berlin Wall. Families lift their children up to see their grandparents who live on the eastern side of the wall, which represented a bleak outcome of the post-war world. 

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Overnight, life was transformed in Berlin, Germany. Streets, subway lines, bus lines, tramlines, canals, and rivers were subsequently divided, as well as family members, friends, lovers, colleagues, and schoolmates, among others. Separation was seen in every aspect and every walk of life. 

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Prisoners Leaving Alcatraz

In this eerie photo, a line of prisoners is captured leaving Alcatraz, America’s most infamous prison. Alcatraz had a harsh reputation and housed some of the most terrifying and ruthless inmates in the country. 

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Alcatraz held some 1,576 federal inmates over the years within its walls. Wouldn’t the prisoners – considered by many as the world’s most fearsome – feel happy to be released? That isn’t the case in this photograph because their heads hung low as they somberly walked out of the prison.  

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JFK And Jackie’s Iconic Wedding

On the morning of September 12, 1953, John F. Kennedy and Jackie Bouvier were married in a Roman Catholic Church in Newport, Rhode Island. The ceremony would include a Catholic mass which wasn’t a surprise to the 800 and counting guests (many of whom were famous individuals). 

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Jackie decided to wear an ivory dress made of chiffon silk with a fitted bodice, short sleeves, a portrait neckline, and an embellished bouffant skirt with more than 50 yards of ruffled bands. 

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Boxing On Top Of A Ship

This rare photograph shows what a sailor’s life was like in the U.S. Navy in 1899. In the photo, two naval seamen are enjoying a tame boxing match as the crowd of other seamen watch them. 

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Presumably, this image was captured on the Battle of Santiago de Cuba’s first anniversary, which took place on July 3, 1898. Thus, America’s victory was sealed in the Spanish-American War, allowing them to achieve another step towards independence for Cuba from the Spanish dictatorship. 

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Climbing The Eiffel Tower

If you’ve had the opportunity to travel to Paris or have aspired to go there, you probably are aware of the most iconic structure in all of France – the Eiffel Tower. In this photo taken in 1932, we see a crew of workers painting the Eiffel Tower by hand. 

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The process (which happened every seven years) was painstaking and tedious, in which painters applied 60 tons of paint to the tower. Millions upon millions of tourists come from all over the globe to witness the grand beauty of the Eiffel Tower. 

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Frida Kahlo And The Self Portrait

Considered one of Mexico’s most celebrated artists, Frida Kahlo developed her obsession with self-portraiture from an early age. In this rare photo, an almost unrecognizable Frida appears as androgynous, rebelling against convention by donning a man’s suit and slicked-back hair. It’s evident that she wasn’t afraid to go against the status quo. In fact, she embraced it. 

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By 19 years old, Frida was already an intriguing and celebrated individual. Since that, she would use personal dress as theatre throughout her expansive and inspirational career.

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Gloria Steinem’s Playboy Era

In this 1963 photo – captured months before she published A Bunny’s Tale – Gloria Steinem poses as a Playboy bunny waitress in one of Hugh Hefner’s New York nightclubs. She may appear “happy,” but she had a hidden agenda during a time when Playboy was an established name and boasted millions of subscribers. 

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Steinem went on to make a well-known name for herself as a journalist and author. She exposed the not-so-glamorous reality of being a Playboy bunny working in a gentleman’s club. 

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Shocking Reactions To A Shocking Situation

On January 28, 1986, the inconceivable happened that caused these shocking reactions in the photograph. 73 seconds after the 10th Space Shuttle Challenger flight took off, it began breaking apart, exploding like a nuclear bomb in the air. 

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Later on, an investigation launched by NASA disclosed that the crew may have made efforts to recover control after the first explosion. Astronaut Christa McAuliffe was one of the crew members on the flight. She would have been the first American teacher in space after winning the elementary school educator contest. 

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The French Reaction To Coca-Cola

In 1950, the Coca-Cola company decided that France was ready for the unmatched, crisp taste of Coke. It’s a well-known fact that the French have always been hard to please, which the photo shows. 

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These Parisians stare at the foreign black liquid, unsure if the Americans can make something that good. It’s bizarre to think that Coca-Cola was once an outsider in the soft drink world when now, people in 200+ countries drink 1.9 billion servings of Coke each day. 

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Otto Frank Standing Alone

Otto Frank, the father of Anne Frank, stands in the attic where his family was hidden. He was the only survivor. In the summer of 1945, after Anne’s death was confirmed, her diary was given to Otto Frank by Miep Gies.

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Otto didn’t read it for quite some time but eventually started transcribing them for his relatives in Switzerland. He was persuaded that Anne’s writing would lend some perspective on the experiences of the people who suffered and endured persecution during the war. It was through this that he was also urged to publish it. 

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Jesse Owens: The Fastest Man Alive

It was evident that the 1936 Summer Olympics were going to be controversial. Ohio-born Jesse Owens was at the center of attention in August of that same year when he won the gold medal in the 100-meter dash. Owens set a new record for that race the day prior.

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At the same Olympics, Adolf Hitler hoped it would showcase Aryan supremacy. Owens proved him wrong. He also won four more gold medals in track and field events, standing up to Hitler. 

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Muhammad Ali Saves A Boy’s Life

This photo is proof that world-famous boxer, Muhammad Ali, convinced a young man to step down from a ledge and not take his own life. On January 19, 1981, photographer Boris Yaro heard reports of a jumper at risk on the radio, so Yaro drove over. He found a young black man perched on the fire escape on the ninth floor of an office building. 

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Howard Bingham, Ali’s friend, was there and he phoned Ali who lived close by. Later on, Bingham told reporters, “Ali comes driving up.” Yaro snapped these touching photos of Ali saving the boy’s life. 

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The Very First Mobile Phones

Most people may not even know that the first mobile phone dates all the way back to Kentucky in 1908 when a patent was issued for a wireless telephone. The first mobile phones were bulky and not portable.

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Everything changed, however, on April 3, 1973. It was that year when an executive at Motorola made the first handheld cell phone call. The phone only weighed just below 2.5 pounds and its battery lasted a measly half-hour. We’ve certainly come a long, long way since then. 

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Teen Pregnancies In The 1970s

Teen pregnancies were a worldwide issue by the 1970s. The continual worry and alarm over adolescent pregnancies were based on the tremendous impact that teen pregnancy could bear on the lives of younger women and their children. 

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In such countries as the United States, studies reported that teen pregnancy results in lower educational achievement and elevated ratios of poverty for children of teen mothers. This was in comparison to the children of adult women. In the 1971 photograph, a teen mother is at a school in Azusa, a southern California town. 

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A Working Woman’s World

Many male workers joined the army during World War I, just as women started to enter the workplace. They were employed in many different roles, such as blacksmiths, welders, and electricians. 

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The war created incredible work opportunities for women to step into jobs that hadn’t ever before been occupied by them. In this image, female employees are seen at a railway works office in Horwich, Lancaster, England in 1917. It was revolutionary for women to work and be seen as valuable. 

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The Second Man On The Moon

On the evening of July 20, 1969, Buzz Aldrin stood on the moon’s surface. He didn’t care too much about being the second man on the moon, although it may have not been Aldrin’s most memorable feat. He was dealing with a different type of immortality. 

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It was Neil Armstrong who carried the crew’s 70-millimeter Hasselblad camera and he was responsible for taking all of the photos. So, this means that the only moon man we would see clearly would be the one who took the second step. 

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Kissing In Times Square, 1945

Photography captures fleeting moments of every emotional range. On August 14, 1945, when World War II ended, a photographer went on the New York streets and found himself in the wildly joyous atmosphere of Times Square. 

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As one of the most famous and frequently replicated photos of the 20th century, this image holds a monumental weight. It stands as cementing the basis of our collective memory of a transformative and transcendent moment in world history. 

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Gandhi And The Spinning Wheel

From 1932 to 1933, Mahatma Gandhi was held prisoner by the British in Pune, India. The nationalist leader created his own thread with a portable spinning wheel called a charkha, a practice that stemmed from a source of personal comfort during captivity. It turned into the foundation of his campaign for Indian independence. 

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Gandhi encouraged his countrymen to spin their own cloth at home rather than buying British goods. This remarkable photo became an important touchstone of the civil disobedience movement, portraying Gandhi as a man of peace. 

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The Depression’s Migrant Mother

No such photograph did more to humanize the devastating effects of the Great Depression than this one taken by Dorothea Lange. The story goes that as Lange was driving past the “Pea-Pickers Camp” sign in Nipomo, north of Los Angeles, the photographer couldn’t ignore something. 

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She spotted Frances Owens Thompson and her children looking worn down from worry, resignation, and hopelessness. As Frances looks past the camera with her children turned away, the “Migrant Mother” photo has remained one of the most iconic images of the Great Depression. 

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Europe’s First Bananas

In this photo, we see one of the first-ever banana shipments sent to Norway. It’s quite unimaginable to think about what life was like before global trading turned into the giant that it is today. 

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This batch of bananas weighed 3,000 kilos and came shipped in crates and boxes. One of the people in the photograph, Christian Matthiessen, is the founder of Bama, Norway’s biggest fruit importer. Norway was the second country to ever import bananas to Europe. Before that, people usually didn’t see or buy products that weren’t made locally. 

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Vast Changes In America

Some photos say all that they ever could in just one shot. This is one of those photographs. Taken in 1868 in the Nevada desert, a Native American man stands at the bottom of the image. He is observing the newly-completed and expansive section of the Transcontinental Railroad, just 435 miles from Sacramento, California. 

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The image was snapped by Alfred Hart, an official photographer of the Central Pacific Railroad. He spent five years documenting the construction of this legendary railroad from Sacramento to Promontory Summit, Utah. 

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Lights, Camera, Action!

Taken in 1928, this amazing photo shows how MGM’s opening credits were made. Initially, Leo, the Lion was still a famous logo for the film company before eventually being transformed into a moving image. 

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The lion was silent early on in the days before sound existed in film. But, the grand rumbling of Leo’s roar was added to movies in this iconic reshoot. Since then, Leo the Lion has become an iconic and recognizable figure in the motion picture industry. 

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Beating The Beatles?

When a photo has more than one iconic figure in it, that means it’s worth taking a second or even third glance at. This photographic example is a perfect snapshot of two colossal forces in the world coming together: the Beatles and Muhammad Ali

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The influential music group and the most famous boxer alive were at the height of their fame in the late 1960s. The Beatles were from Liverpool, England, and had the pleasure of meeting and greeting the biggest boxer of all time. Ali playfully threw a punch at George Harrison, creating a domino effect on the other Beatles.

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Eerie Times Square

Certain photos have the magical ability to capture the eeriness of a precise moment and how much things have changed over time. In this eerie photo, we’re looking at Times Square in 1911, an iconic New York area that is now the main spot for commercialism. It’s also a city that never sleeps and is often packed with tourists.

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Although, at one point, there was a period when Times Square wasn’t so popular. Only a few carriages could be spotted at night.

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Barack Before He Was President

A lot of people don’t realize that the world leaders and inspirational figures in these images came from modest beginnings. Naturally, they had many years of important growth before they gained such notoriety and fame. But, it shouldn’t be too challenging to figure out who the young man in the center of this photo is – yes, it’s Barack Obama.

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Before he became the President of the United States, Barack was simply an ordinary boy in high school who wanted to play basketball with his friends. Little did he know what was ahead of him!

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The Start Of A Revolution

In this photo are the first people behind what would become the most successful tech companies of the modern era. We’re talking about Google. The earliest days of the company consisted of around 40 people, and co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin were positive that they were onto something massive.

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This photo was one of the very first ones taken in 1999, only a year after the company got off the ground. These days, it’s the most popular website in the world and boasts around 190,000 employees.

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Lunch At Disneyland

This photo taken in 1961 of Disneyland’s staff in a cafeteria draws the line between bizarre and charming. Disneyland opened its grand doors on July 17, 1955, in Anaheim, California, and was initially invite-only for guests and paparazzi.

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Nowadays, Disney theme parks exist in different parts of the world, although this one was the first! It appears as if the staff were pretty content with their lunch. Among other smiling people, we see Snow White and Goofy waiting in line, too.

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An Elephant Water Skiing

Did you immediately think of the British term “swimming trunks” when seeing this photo? We did! One elephant (we wouldn’t necessarily call him lucky, though) was made to try out water skiing.

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It was a risky move, one in which a crazy stunt organizer decided to strap the huge animal onto the skis. Two women skied alongside him, gliding across the water. He may have been having the time of his life or was simply hanging on for dear life.

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Mr. America, Arnold Schwarzenegger

At one point in time, Arnold Schwarzenegger was one of the most well-known actors in the world. But, he didn’t even live in the United States – he is actually from Austria. This man is behind classic films such as Predator and Terminator.

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He traded in the hilly and beautiful landscapes of his birthplace for the glitz and glamor of Hollywood. Clearly, “The Governor” was excited to become an American icon, proudly donning the country’s iconic red, white, and blue colors.

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JFK’s Daughter Was Daddy’s Little Girl

Some photos out there reveal the inner side of people and this is a wonderful example of that. We see John F. Kennedy, the U.S. president at the time, having a tea party with his young daughter, Caroline.

Source: Twitter

This heartwarming picture shows two sides of JFK. The first being that he was a compassionate man and aimed to help others in life and the second being that he was a devoted family man. It proves that even great world leaders can make time for their loved ones.

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Job Hunting In The 1930s

The Great Depression was one of the most devasting periods in the history of the United States. Banks collapsed, businesses failed, families lost everything, and unemployment levels jumped to around 25%. 

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Suddenly, men had to travel far from home to find any type of work. This resulted in unbearably long unemployment lines and being in competition with one another for basic jobs with meager pay. As the sole breadwinner, the husbands and fathers of the Depression could barely put enough food on the table for their families. They also struggled with severe emotional depression.

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The Deadly And Explosive Collateral Damage

This horrifying and chilling image encapsulates the exact moment that America dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The photo was snapped only 20 minutes after the explosion happened, as the mushroom cloud looms over Nagasaki.

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Claiming the lives of over 129,000 citizens, the damage was catastrophic. To this day, these attacks remain the only use of nuclear weaponry in the history of warfare. Hopefully, this will never happen again for the sake of humanity.

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Even Geniuses Need Rest

Albert Einstein was undeniably one of the greatest thinkers and physicists of the modern era. He was famous not just for his wild hair and eccentric behavior but also for his monumentally impactful study of the theory of relativity.

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Source: Imgur

In this photo, Einstein is having a rare moment relaxing with David Rothman. Rothman, a department store owner, lent Einstein some sandals to wear. Needless to say, he seems pretty content with the gift! It just goes to show that even geniuses need to have some downtime once in a while.

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