Rare Photos That Captured Historical Moments

There is no denying the fact that the 19th and 20th centuries were the most eventful and path-defining eras in the world’s history. From civil wars to world wars, the emergence of new continents and new countries on the world map, unprecedented advancements in medical science, transportation, and media, and the dawn of digital communication and the internet all happened during this timeframe.

The past century has been particularly action-packed. Today we will share some of the rarest historic photographs that encompass a key moment from the era gone by. Let’s travel back in time and revisit famous events, personalities, and incidents that altered the course of history one way or the other. And, how can we forget moments of productive and some not so productive social changes, demolished structures, and the early stages of some of the biggest social movements in the world?

Here you see the stunning Playboy Pink. The actual name of this model is the 1969 Shelby GT500 Fastback Mustang Convertible 351C, but it got famous as Playboy pink because this car wasn’t created for men at all. This is the only limited-edition car in the history of automobiles that was specially designed for Playboy cover girls.

You see the gorgeous Playboy Playmate Connie Kreski flaunting this beauty in the photo. Since 1954, Playboy Magazine has followed a tradition of introducing a Playmate of the Year Car every year. This one was created in pink shade. The magazine announced the Playmate of the Year and gifted the model the car. Interestingly, this car was a Mustang only in 1964 and 1969. In 1969, Kreski was declared the Playmate of the Year and was gifted this Mustang.

Who doesn’t know Marilyn Monroe? The gorgeous sex symbol and the most in-demand actress of her time lived a pretty average life before she was discovered. We know her by her screen name, but her real name was Norma Jeane Dougherty. She was married to a Marine named Jim Dougherty. Her marriage happened at a very young age when she was just 19.

When Jim left for World War II, Norma found it hard to live alone, so she decided to work in a factory where defense and military-related equipment were produced. It was a norm back then that women would contribute to the war by working in the factories. In April 1944, when she was working in Radioplane Munitions Factory in Van Nuys, a drone assembling facility, she was discovered by photographer and documentary maker David Conover while he was taking pictures for Yank magazine.

Whether you like it or not, women can be great boxers and fight it off when facing a difficult situation. At least that’s what this picture proves. Since the 1930s, there have been female boxers. Americans are basically boxing lovers, so it isn’t a gender-specific activity in this part of the world. In fact, female boxing has remained a norm since the 1920s.

We have learned that boxing was so popular back then that joint boxing sessions for males and females were held. This photo shows one such lesson. It was held on the rooftop of a building in Hollywood’s Paramount lot. Another fact that this photo depicts is that society in the 1930s wasn’t as strict for women, and many stereotypes were broken, one of which you see in this photo.

The Islamic Revolution in 1979 changed the way Irani people lived their lives completely. Before the revolution, Iran was a very modern, progressive society. But post-revolution, Iran was nothing like it. Women were arrested for not wearing appropriate clothing and headgear, called Hijab in the local language.

In the 1930s, the Shah of Iran had prohibited the women from using a veil and the cops used to remove hijab in case they saw someone wearing it. Such as the pre-revolution Iranian society. The photo you see here shows how carefree and free-spirited women in Iran used to be. By the 1980s, Irani society had taken a drastic shift. Women couldn’t decide what to wear anymore as the fundamentalist regime had introduced a dress code for females, and western clothing was strictly banned in public places.

Just look at the setting? Can you work in a similar place? Thankfully the new generation is blessed to benefit from so many advancements in the print media and publishing industry. But back in the 1940s, things weren’t as sophisticated and compact. This photo is proof of that.

The print catalog were a huge thing in that era. The first-ever catalog was published by an Italian humanist, educator, and scholar known as Aldus Prius Manutius. Aldus established a printing firm in Venice, The Aldine Press. He wanted to print the first editions of Greek and Latin classics for future generations and sell his books for Venetians; therefore, he decided to publish a full-fledged catalog of all the books he wished to print

The date was 22 November, and the year was 1968. This wasn’t any ordinary day because it was when a historic incident took place on the T.V. screens in America. It was when American television history’s first-ever inter-racial kiss was shown. The couple you see in this photo are two sci-fi genre’s most celebrated characters Lt. Nyota Uhura and Capt. James T. Kirk (played by Nichelle Nichols and William Shatner).

This is the kiss that brought forth exceptional improvement and changes in the way white Americans behaved with other races and normalized relationships between people from different races at a time when racism was one of the biggest issues the country was tackling, and the civil rights movement was in full swing. This kiss was path-defining as it opened doors for more racially integrated content on national T.V. and expanded the boundaries for content creators. This kiss was important also because it took place one year after the country’s Supreme Court had legalized inter-racial marriage.

Loving Vs. Virginia wasn’t an ordinary lawsuit- it went on to symbolize change. In 1958, a Virginia Richard Perry Loving resident was white who married Mildred Delores, a Portuguese Cherokee female with African origins.

It was a difficult time in the history of the USA as inter-racial marriages were prohibited by law in Virginia and were considered a crime. Loving had to drive eighty miles to Washington D.C. only to marry Delores to avoid legal issues by violating the state’s Racial Integrity Act of 1924. However, the couple was arrested as soon as they returned from Washington the same day. Thus, began a legal battle that eventually paved the way for legalizing inter-racial marriages.

The only way to realize the gravity and seriousness of issues people faced during World War II is through photos like this one. In this picture, you can see infants, but what makes it a haunting image from the past is that the young kids are wearing such heavy gas masks. That’s how hugely wars can impact and even disrupt life for an average citizen.

The British government had provided all families with gas masks in 1938 as a preventive measure. Wondering what was the need to wear these masks? Believe it or not, not just adults but children were forced to wear them to survive and stay unaffected from the poisonous gases of the gas bombs German forces threatened to drop over Britain. The photo is displayed at the Imperial War Museum of London with this caption:

 “Three nurses carry babies cocooned in baby gas respirators down the corridor of a London hospital during a gas drill. Note the carrying handle on the respirator used to carry the baby by the nurse in the foreground.”

Today, beauty pageants are about flaunting gorgeous dresses, fit and tones bodies, and ladies trying to prove how confident they are. But, that wasn’t the original concept behind holding beauty pageants. In the 1920s, the event was not as high-profile and coveted at all, and things were extremely minimalist and somewhat low-key.

And, back then, organizing an event like this wasn’t a big deal. Today, millions of dollars are spent on the event, but pageantry was much less of an ordeal during its initial days and attitudes regarding the pageant were also pretty different. Participants weren’t as conscious about their bodies or looks; they focused on proving their worth for the title. Do you know when the first Miss America Pageant was held? It was in 1921. the event was held to attract tourists to stay after Labor Day. Atlantic City organized the first Miss America Pageant and laid the foundation of a tradition that continues to date.

In the early twentieth century, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police had to accompany missionaries and traders. The land where the Inuit tribe resided was not as sought-after, and many even dreaded passing through those areas. However, things started changing when the Inuit community settled in diverse lands, and the tribe multiplied very quickly. By the 1920s, they had settled in the outskirts.

By that time, almost the entire Inuit community had contacted traders, government agents, and missionaries, and in 1939, they were categorized by the Canadian Supreme Court as Indians. Afterwards, they fell under the jurisdiction of the federal government. Later on, this tribe disappeared from their native inland settlements and got settled in the coastal areas.

The Hasanlu Lovers are famous worldwide because of the extent of their affection towards each other. The remains of two humans that you see in this photo was probably a couple. These skeletons were discovered in the same posture in 1972 in Teppe Hasanlu, Iran, and it was later identified that the remains were at least 2,800 years old. So, this means the kiss is thousands of years old.

Many claim that the remains could be much older than this. But this photo claimed headlines not because of the age of the remains but because of the pose. The two skeletons seem to be sharing a kiss, indicating how two lovers breathed their last. The University of Pennsylvania’s crew of archaeologists led by Robert Dyson made this discovery.

We bet you may never have seen such signage where children are offered for sale. We all are pretty familiar with billboards showing various things on sale, from real estate to animals but back in the 1940s, people were so desperate to make ends meet that they had to sell their kids.

As saddening as it may sound, we cannot help wonder how can someone even think about selling their young kids? But, as they say, photos never lie, and this particular photograph proves that this used to happen in the past. This picture was clicked in 1948 in Chicago, and the mother is hiding her face in shame as she knows how unethical this entire act is. The kids are pretty confused. This signage featured in almost all newspapers, one of which published it with this caption:

Can you believe that in a country as liberal and progressive as the USA, things were so messed up in the 1950s that even the zoos were segregated? This photo is of the Memphis Tennessee Zoo, where whites were banned from entering the zoo one day a week, and this day only blacks could visit it.

Ernest Withers clicked the picture and the gate shows this particular sign:

Isn’t it sad that white Americans were so discriminatory towards other races that they didn’t want blacks to enter the zoo when they visited it and dedicated one day to enjoy the place?

The most infamous couple in American history, Bonnie and Clyde, was a huge threat to Texas’s government and law enforcement agencies. In 1930, Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow met and together, they committed around thirteen murders and countless robberies.

The two were fond of violent and unlawful activities and had an entire gang that committed many crimes during the Great Depression. What makes this photograph a rare one is that it is the couple’s last photo before cops gunned them down. It is evident that both shared a close and strong bond and loved each other a lot. Interestingly, this photo surfaced pretty recently, in December 2017 and is touted as the infamous criminals’ final photo. Between 1930 and 1934, aka the public enemy era, the couple featured in newspapers.

There’s no doubt that the hardest thing for a woman is to bid her husband farewell as he leaves to participate in a war. And when it was World War II, this farewell would have been even harder and heartbreaking. These emotions are captured very well in this historic photo.

Here you see the wives of marines sharing their final kisses and bidding farewell to their better halves as they board the vessel. This photo indicates that everyone, from the families to the photographers were so deeply involved in the process. Photographers had the massive responsibility on their shoulders to capture every moment of the war perfectly to make it possible for historians to document the events and future generations to understand the calamities and collateral damages that follows a war.

Would you believe that parents used to send their young children from one city to another via mail during the early twentieth century? That’s true, and this photo proves that child courier service was available back in the early 1900s. Actually on 1 January 1913 the U.S. Post Office introduced a parcel courier service called Parcel Post service.

Millions of Americans used this service to send off all kinds of stuff, but they went a step ahead and started sending children instead of other items. And, you might find it absurd that it was entirely legal for parents to send their young children through the mail. This photo is of a 4-year-old girl Charlotte May Pierstorff. It was clicked on 19 February 1914, and she was mailed 73 miles away to her grandparent’s place from her parents’ house in Grangeville, Idaho. This photo received much attention and was even adapted for a book named Mailing May.

Lynch also explained the reason behind the discontinuation of this service.

anti-alcohol advocates have resented the use of alcohol since the time the first batch of grapes was crushed. But, during the 1800s, this movement g  of the prohibitionist movement that took America by storm back then.

The Prohibition Movement started in 1820 as Temperance Movement. Women started it because alcoholism among men made them abusive and domestic violence was rising. Hence, women of that era decided to protest against the use of alcohol and this paved the way for other movements such as the Abolitionist and Perfectionist movements. This photo shows a troop of pro-prohibition ladies urging men to stop drinking, and their fierce demeanor is enough to compel anyone to avoid drinking and leave alcohol for good.

Have you ever heard of bootlegging? It means the unlawful manufacturing, sale, and distribution of recordings, alcohol, and other items. A factory was illegally manufacturing beer, and when law enforcement authorities learned about this, they did. This particular photo showcases how bootlegging can go wrong.

The photo shows authorities spilling the beer on the streets of Detroit. This scene wasn’t a novel occurrence during Prohibition as authorities frequently used to waste alcohol on the streets as a symbolic act to prevent people from drinking. The movement, which started on 17 January 1920 from Michigan and spread to the entire USA, came to its logical end in the U.S. on 5 December, now known as the Repeal Day.

After the passing of the 18th Amendment to the United States Constitution, the production, selling, and supply of intoxicating beverages was banned. This kicked off the Prohibition era in the USA. In 1919, all U.S. states ratified the new law, and it was formally implemented in January 1920 after the passing of the Volstead Act.

Initially, the new law prevented people from indulging in drinking successfully. But problems started emerging when cops began arresting intoxicated individuals. By the 1930s, the alcohol consumption rate had decreased by 30%. However, those who couldn’t or didn’t want to stop drinking found innovative ways of fulfilling their desire. This started the trend of bootlegging.

Moreover, illegal drinking areas popped out quickly, which locals referred to as speakeasies. And, gang violence and other kinds of crimes increased significantly. Support for the Prohibition movement faded considerably, and Congress proposed a resolution to the 21st Amendment in 1933 to repeal the 18th Amendment. Eventually, Prohibition was formally ended after ratifying the 21st Amendment on 5 December 1933.

Draft beer, also known as Draught beer, was actually a marketing strategy used to refer to canned or bottled beers. The entire strategy was focused on promoting the concept that canned beers will have the same taste and effect as beers served in a cask or keg.

This term became much popular in the 1950s as during those days the general perception about how beer should be served and consumed was pretty different from today. In fact, the public view on workplace ethics was also quite different. Tired factory workers were provided with whiskey or beer dispensing machines to energise them. This normalized workplace drinking to a great extent, generating safety issues.

Women in the U.S. had started protesting to gain their right to vote in the early 19th century. This turned out to be a long battle as it spanned several decades. Finally, they received their legal right to vote after passing the 19th Amendment to the Constitution. It was passed in June 1919 by Congress and ratified in 1920.

This picture was taken on 28 August 1917. It shows Suffragists getting arresting for picketing in front of the White House. Female protestors started picketing at the White House daily from 10 January 1917 and were joined by at least one thousand females from all over America. They were trying to put pressure on the government and the country’s president Woodrow Wilson to support Anthony Amendment proposed by Congress as it guaranteed their right to vote.

For over sixty years now, Jews and Muslims have had severed ties, and there is ample animosity between the two communities. But things weren’t as violent or resentful back in the early 1900s. At that time, the biggest threat to the Jewish community’s survival was the Nazis, and they had good ties with the Muslims.

This photo shows how empathetic and protective the Jews and Muslims were towards each other. Here a Muslim woman wearing traditional gear is trying to protect a Jewish lady from the Nazis. The photo was taken in 1941 in Sarajevo. It is amazing how the woman is trying to cover the Star of David on the lady’s dress. Fiyaz Mughal, Faith Matters charity’s director and co-author of the book The Role of the Righteous Muslims, believes that Jews and Muslims shared solid ties during WWII and hopes that things get better and the two communities make amends and become friendly again.

There’s no doubt that alligators are pretty dangerous to be around, let alone dining at a place surrounded by these lethal creatures. However, back in the 1920s, people weren’t as hesitant of being in the company of alligators, and this photo proves it. This picture was taken at a farm in Los Angeles called the California Alligator Farm, which was operational between 1907 and 1953. This place was famous for its friendly and loving alligators. Visitors could enjoy some quality time at the lake and mingle with the farm’s well-trained alligators at a meagre price of $0.25. More than one thousand alligators hosted grand lunches and dinners as the visitors spent the day there, and the owner Francis Earnest became quite rich through this risky strategy. This place remained the focus of attention of picnickers and adventure lovers for around half a century, and not a single mishap or accident occurred

During the 1950s, Afghanistan wasn’t the kind of place it is today. It was a highly progressive society full of open-minded people. This photo definitely proves that women in Afghanistan were never forced to wear burqas and were allowed to dress as they liked. The timeframe of 1950 and 1960 was probably the most productive period in the country’s history. People followed a western lifestyle and had a liberal outlook towards life, much different from what they have today. But, one thing that cannot be overlooked is that Afghan women never crossed the boundaries of modesty, maybe because the Soviet Union influenced this society more than the U.S

Today we face a rare kind of threat where physical interactions are deemed unsafe for our health, and we are constantly living under the threat of a deadly virus. Wouldn’t it be better to re-introduce the bookmobile service in such a scenario?

If you are clueless about what it is, check out the photo from 1928. It was taken at the hospital of the Los Angeles Public Library. It shows a bookshelf comprising lots of books, hence the name bookmobile. This was a significant landmark of the eras gone by when there wasn’t any concept of tablets and smartphones. Patients made the most of their time at the hospital by reading books. This trend was followed for a long time after being introduced in the early 1900s.

one thing that may never change in the world is a mother’s undying love and affection for her children. No matter how progressive or advanced we become, nothing holds a mother back from caring for her children. This photo showcases a similar emotion and is universally regarded as one of American history’s most iconic images ever.

The woman you see in the photo is holding a baby and two kids and she is wearing ragged clothing. The kids are hiding their faces behind her. Their mother facial expressions and lines show how depressed she is as she cannot help her children get shelter and food. This photo appeared in a newspaper in March 1936 and symbolized the desperation American families faced during the Great Depression. Dorothea Lange clicked this photo in Nipomo, California, in a migrant farmworkers camp.