Pictures can be a very powerful thing and some of the pictures that have been taken throughout history can really put into perspective some of the horrible or some of the beautiful events that have happened throughout history. Solid photographs have only been around for about 150 years or so now. Therefore, that’s about as far back as these images can take us. However, that doesn’t stop of us younger folk really taking these images and seeing what effect events had on the normal person throughout history. Anyway, let’s have a look at these incredibly powerful photographs from history.
Woman With A Gas-Resistant Pram, England, 1938
This was a gas-resistant pram used back in England in 1938 to allow a mother to walk with her child.
The Testing of the new bulletproof vests, 1923
We can’t imagine this is how modern day bulletproof vests are tested… on real-life human subjects!
Annette Kellerman promotes women’s right to wear a fitted one-piece bathing suit, 1907. She was arrested for indecency
Isn’t it crazy this was indecent exposure for women back in 1907?
The original Ronald McDonalds, 1963
I don’t want to be the one to say it, but that’s one scary looking clown! I wouldn’t have bought any food off of him!
Little girl with her doll sitting in the ruins of her bombed home, London, 1940
A heartbreaking image of a little girl sitting where her house used to be, holding ehr favourite doll.
Construction of the Berlin Wall, 1961
This image is so powerful it’s unreal!
Walter Yeo, one of the first to undergo an advanced plastic surgery and a skin transplant, 1917
Thank god Bruce Jenner wasn’t around back in those days!
A man measuring a woman’s bathing suit. If the suits were too short, they’d be fined, 1920’s
Another image showing just how strict men were on how much skin women could show. Imagine if a woman from today had walked across a beach in a bikini back then!
Mother hides her face as she’s forced to put her four children up for sale, Chicago, 1948
The McDaniel family were forced to sell their children as the mother had a new boyfriend who didn’t want them and who were both jobless.
A space chimp posing with a smile after his successful trip to space, 1961
Anyway, on a lighter note, look how happy this chimp is that he managed to get to space and back!
The first morning after Sweden changed from driving on the left side of the road to the right, 1967
This one is brilliant! This is what happened after Sweden switched roadsides. Some people clearly forgot!
Christmas dinner during the Great Depression: turnips and cabbage, 1930’s
Families were so poor during the Great Depression that this is the extent of what Christmas dinner was like for a lot of families.
Martin Luther King and his song pulling out a burnt cross from their front yard, 1960
Martin Luther King had a lot of people that disagreed with him and would burn crosses on his lawn.
Diamond standing up to his father for abusing his mother in a time where kids would be beaten for such, 1987
Back in the 80s, to stand up to your parents was often received with very negative responses. However, when this boy rung up the police to report his father abusing his mother, he was seen as a hero and this image was reported as one of the most powerful images in the world at the time.