#1 London's First Black Police Officer, PC Norwell Roberts, On Point Duty Near Charing Cross Station, 1968
#2 Stoney First Nation Member, Samson Beaver With His Wife Leah And Their Daughter Frances Louise, 1907
#3 1945: The Day Daddy Came Home
“Photographs bring history to life in an immediate and visceral way,” Lisa Yaszek, a Regents Professor of Science Fiction Studies at Georgia Tech told us in a previous interview. Yaszek who researches and teaches science fiction as a global language crossing centuries, continents, and cultures argues that exploring history through written sources is very different than looking at historical photos.
“When we read books, we get lots of detailed information about historical events: who was involved, where the event happened, what factors led to and resulted from it, and so on,” the professor argues.
“Sometimes such information can be vividly detailed and prompt us to imagine what historical events might have looked like in ways that make us feel more connected to them, but sometimes we are so overwhelmed with dry or technical details that we actually feel more removed from the event than ever before.”
#4 An American Serviceman Shares His Rations With Two Japanese Children In Okinawa, 1945
#6 Dorothy Counts, 15, Is Taunted And Harassed By White Students As She Makes Her Way From Harding High School As The Only Black Student At The Newly Desegregated School. Charlotte, North Carolina. 1957
On the other hand, photos rarely have this problem. “Even when shot by the most amateur of photographers, images of people living in and through various moments in history provide a sense of immediate emotional connection—we think, ‘wow, so that’s what it would feel like to experience that moment of history!’” Yaszek explained.
#8 Ukrainian Restaurant In The U.S. Celebrates The Death Of Joseph Stalin, 1953
#9 New Zealand Māori Battalion Performing A Haka Ceremonial Dance In Egypt, 1941
Moreover, images of people from the past connect us to history in another, related way as well. “Once we feel an emotional bond with the people in historical photos and perhaps even begin to imaginatively empathize with them—we forge new intellectual connections to history itself, asking ourselves: ‘Why are the people in this photograph in this situation in the first place? What happened leading up to this photo—and what happened afterward?’”
In this way, we begin to actively research and share what they know about events and people represented in specific photos.
#14 Former Slave, Author And Activist Frederick Douglass With His Musician Grandson Joseph Douglass In 1894
#16 Mailman Poses With His Heavy Load Of Christmas Mail And Parcels. Chicago, USA. 1929. Colorized
#17 The Swedish Warship Vasa
#19 Remember That Photo Of The Construction Workers Having Lunch On A Unfinished New York Skyscraper? Well Here's The Photographer Charles Ebbets. 9/20/1932
