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It is a bit surreal to think that while we can’t physically experience history because we’re born in a particular place and time, the power of technology has empowered us to see it, understand it, and make conclusions from it.
Historical Capsule is a dedicated community that pretty much empowers people to do just that. Join us as we take a journey through time in this listicle of iconic historical photos below.
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#1
100,000 Iranian Women March Against The Hijab Law, Tehran, 1979
Ray Ceeya (RayCeeYa) 7 months ago
In 1979 Muslim fundamentalists overthrew the secular monarchy of Iran and the new Theocrats immediately began dehumanizing and subjugating women. I hope anyone in the USA who reads this is taking notes because it might be happening here in 2025.
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#2
Elizabeth Eckford Ignores The Screams Of Students On Her First Day Integrated Into A Little Rock High School, 1957
#3
Two Little Kids Dancing On The Streets Of New York City, C. 1940
So, Historical Capsule is a subreddit that’s a “step into the past”. It’s an online depository for old and vintage photographs that tell stories from significant events and moments in history.
The subreddit is home to 50,000 members, being ranked in the top 3%, and encourages open discussion and celebration of all things history.
#4
Anne Frank’s Father Otto, Revisiting The Attic Where They Hid From The Nazis. He Was The Only Surviving Family Member
#5
Ruby Bridges, The First African-American To Attend A White Elementary School In The Deep South, 1960
TheRealRobertWhite 7 months ago
This is literally what flipped the South from Dixicrats to Republicans. Never forget that the GOP was (and still is) for apartheid.
#6
A Former Slave Named Gordon Shows His Whipping Scars. Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 1863
On the surface, history might sound like a dull and boring discipline. However, if you dig deeper into what it’s all about, you begin to understand just how much essence it has and how much it has to offer in general.
After all, history might be something that’s all about the past, but you’d be surprised just how transformative it might be.
#7
Lonnie Johnson, Inventor Of Super Soaker, 1992
#8
A Lesbian Couple In Semi-Drag Wedding Attire. Kingdom Of Hungary, Budapest, 1920
#9
Following A 23-Hour (Successful) Heart Transplant, Dr. Religa Keeps An Eye On His Patient's Vital Signs. In The Corner, His Assistant Is Sleeping, 1987
Turnip and a Frog 7 months ago
The patient lived for 30 more years and outlived the doctor by 8 years. After retiring from active practice, Religa went on to become a politician. He was a good man.
History professor Mary Jo Festle wrote a piece on how history as a discipline transforms students. In it, she explained that since there isn’t realistically any empirical evidence of this hypothesis, she took it upon herself to figure it out.
She asked nearly 60 of her students across 8 different sections of the small research seminars they hosted to give open-ended responses to prompts reflecting upon the change.
#10
Reporters Who Exposed The Watergate Scandal Watch President Nixon Resign, 1974
Ray Ceeya (RayCeeYa) 7 months ago
Woodward and Bernstein. They did an amazing thing. A very corrupt man was elected to the highest office in the land and they, using nothing more than information, took him down.
#11
While Cleaning Up From The World Trade Centers Falling, Crews Found A Shipwreck 7ft Below The Foundation That Dated Back To 1773
#12
A Blind Muslim Named Muhammad Carrying His Best Friend A Paralyzed Christian Who Suffers From Dwarfism Named Samir, Damascus, Ottoman Syria, 1889
The Original Bruno 7 months ago
If I've learned anything from science fiction movies, it's to make sure these guys are on your side.
One of the main prompts was asking students to describe how their understanding of what history is changed during their studies.
A third of the students provided some form of “I now understand history is not just facts about names, dates, or a chronology of events.”
#13
Remember That Photo Of The Construction Workers Having Lunch On The Unfinished Empire State Building? Well Here's The Photographer Charles Ebbets Taking That Photo, 1932
#14
A Man Browsing For Books In Cincinnati's Cavernous Old Main Library. The Library Was Demolished In 1955
#15
George Mclaurin, The First Black Man To Be Admitted To The University Of Oklahoma In 1948, Was Forced To Sit In A Corner Away From His Classmates
keyboardtek 7 months ago
Which is why white Republicans have been in favor of anything that dismantles our public education system. They do not want people to learn how to think logically or be exposed to people of other races and cultures.
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Ray Ceeya (RayCeeYa) 7 months ago (edited)
What? Were they afraid they might catch "Teh Blackishness"? Racists are always at their hearts cowards. In this case, they're scared shiteless that a POC may be proven as capable as they are.
Michael Largey 7 months ago
They were hoping that if they treated him badly enough he'd leave the school.
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agermanhome 7 months ago
The worst thing about this is not even that this decision was made by some authority of that university. The worst thing is that apparently not a single one of his fellow students said "if he is sitting there, I will be sitting there, too". THAT would have been the moment to climb onto some tables in real life!
Insomniac 7 months ago
The first female university students in Canada had to come in 5 minutes late, sit at the back, not speak, leave 5 minutes early, and wear veils over their faces. It took a long time for the world to realize that education wasn't just for yt dudes.
PostState Globe 7 months ago
But yet, today privileged Global North women nowadays don't want to do their part to ensure inclusivity and justice for all.
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Elisabeth Chai 7 months ago
I'd rather not. And this picture breaks my heart
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Insomniac 7 months ago
My best friend is of Indo-Pakistani heritage, and his skin is dark enough that people sometimes think he's of African descent. Yet I'm still glow-in-the-dark pasty, burn after a few minutes in the sun. It's not contagious enough.
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Conservatives of the time would have said it's "woke" to allow minorities to go to school
Marie Clear 7 months ago
Don't tell Florida or they'll encourage Oklahoma to charge his descendents for the nicer desk he got to use.
LeMurierBonjour 7 months ago
Segregation is also completely illogical, irrational and moronic. Yet Americans accepted it as normal for years.
PostState Globe 7 months ago
Indeed, it is a huge complicated fragmented country with a lot healing to do
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Paul Brown 7 months ago
I don't understand this kind of prejudice. I can't even begin to imagine how this man must've felt.
Hume 7 months ago
I always saw this as him getting the best desk, I mean, I'd love to have his place compared to sitting in the rows. And no, I'm not trying to be funny, I do understand this picture and the discrimination/ racism about it, I just sometimes like to look on the bright side of things, I guess, like dark humour in a way.
T J R 7 months ago
I had the same thought process. They thought they were punishing him, but he didn't have to sit like a canned sardine in a super cramped classroom, that most likely had no air conditioning. Instead, he could listen to the lesson nice and comfortable.
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Susie Main 5 months ago
I never "get" why people care about different skin colour but are perfectly ok with different eye colours and/or hair colours. Imagine if we grey-eyed folks suddenly found ourselves ostracized because our eyes weren't blue, brown or green. Humans are so f'ing stupid far too many times.
Yenny Tjiamudjaja 7 months ago
oh but he got his own table. i'd like that. nevermind the corner
ERMAHGERD DINOSAURS 7 months ago
As a proud OU alum, our country and my school disappointed me on a cosmic level just now.
Stella Goldfish 7 months ago
He was a smart and brave man, and a successful plaintiff in an important civil rights case against OU. He went on to get a master's (Univ. of Kansas) and was a professor at a predominantly black college, Langston University. In 2014, Oklahoma U, named an annual conference after him. The George McLarin Male Leadership Conference. In 2020 a book was published; Breaking Down Barriers - George McLarin and the Struggle to End Segregated Education by David W. Levy
Jenifer Halpern 7 months ago
I am white, and when I look at this I am so f**king ashamed at what my supposed ancestors/relatives did! If I met these relatives today I would first tell them how ashamed I am of them, and then I would slap them upside the head exclaiming, how could you, you piece of s**t!
Cybele Spanjaard 7 months ago
Ignorance pure ignorance. I hope he made the finals higher marks than all the others
Daddy’s Girl 7 months ago
I have the hardest time believing humans cannot like other humans because of the color of their skin. SMH
Sue Phillips 7 months ago
Am I wrong to laugh at the fact that racism resulted in him getting a better desk than anyone else? Also, he got to sit closest to the exit, which is the seat I wanted most in college. Racists are just so stupid. This is off-topic, but I will never get over the fact that the leader of the proudboys was Latino. Who was more stupid, the Latino who associated with people who thought he was inferior to them, or the proudboys who elected a Latino as their leader?
TennesseeHomesteadUSA 7 months ago
He had the privilege of more space and a far nicer desk and chair. Try to look at it that way...
Kim Lorton 7 months ago
At least he got in. But the fact that he was ostracized, his race denigrated, is awful. In the bastions of learning? No one seemed to have learned anything, going by what still goes on today.
Michelle C 7 months ago (edited)
That he was even able to go to the University says those who were trying to bar him from higher education knew they were wrong in their hearts! Good. I hope his contemporaries learned a lot more than a bunch of facts that day.
The answers verified the idea that the interpretive nature of history is a crucial lesson that can be considered a threshold concept.
One student elaborated that they realized how much power historians actually have, i.e. the power to construct the past. History is dynamic and a point of debate as a lot of the unknown in it can be argued.
#16
A Father Looking For His Two Missing Sons That Went Missing During The Kosovo War In 1999
#17
A Starving Boy And A Missionary In Uganda, 1980. Mike Wells Took This Powerful Photograph Of A Catholic Missionary Holding The Hand Of A Starving Ugandan Boy
#18
Sharpshooter Annie Oakley Shooting Over Her Shoulder Using A Hand Mirror, Circa 1899
BoredBranzino 7 months ago
She has said: When men make shots similar to mine, others call it skill. Every time I do it, they call it luck.
Another point to mention is that students didn’t see themselves as books full of facts and figures in history. It’s these same activities of interpreting and analyzing sources, conducting research, looking for influences and biases and challenging what has been read from a critical, multifaceted standpoint, that makes all the difference in the discipline.
#19
Cudjoe Kazoola Lewis: The Last Known Survivor Of The Atlantic Slave Trade Between Africa And North America. (Photo From The Early 1900s)
#20
A Skateboarder Zipping Through Central Park In The 1960s
#21
A 1912 Photo Shows A Woman Plugging In Her Electric Car
Another student pointed out that, before their studies, they enjoyed watching documentaries and furthering their knowledge that way. After them, however, it was an eye-opening experience to understand that they can now discover history for themselves, see how the evidence works and the puzzle pieces fall into place. There’s more of a hands-on approach than meets the eye.
#22
A Filipino-American Family Posing For A Family Portrait, Philippines, 1912
Ray Ceeya (RayCeeYa) 7 months ago
Back when The Philippines were still an American Colony BTW. Just adding some context.
#23
Allied Soldiers Mock Hitler Atop His Balcony At The Reich Chancellery, 1945
Ray Ceeya (RayCeeYa) 7 months ago
Too bad they never caught him or Gobels alive. An easy death was to good for them.
#24
Joseph Goebbels, The Main Propagandist Of The Nazi Regime, Upon Finding Out His Photographer Was Jewish
If anything, the mini study concluded that in 70% of all cases, history topics were personally challenging in terms of values and assumptions about the world. Among these were themes and topics like gender and sexuality, religious history, the Holocaust as well as Nazism. A number of them touched upon issues of race and foreign policy, civil war and ideology.
#25
Greenpeace Tries To Stop Radioactive Waste From Being Dumped In The Ocean, 1982
#26
Rat Pack At The Sands In Las Vegas, Circa 1960
Ray Ceeya (RayCeeYa) 7 months ago
They're all gone. The Sands is gone. The Venetian stands there now.
#27
A Chinese Lady Whose Feet Were Bound From Childhood. Photo From The Late 1800s
This ultimately led to some openly expressing how challenging topics have made them better human beings. One pointed out how Islam studies brought to light racist assumptions. Another changed their opinion on same sex marriage after investigating sources from LGBTQIA+ people. It gave them perspective. Perspective that made them rethink what they thought before.
#28
An Unemployed Man Holding A Troubling Sign During The Great Depression, 1932
Anyone-for-tea? 7 months ago
I hope he got help. And work in calligraphy, the handwriting is beautiful.
#29
Greasers In New York City, 1950s
RabidChild 7 months ago
That was my Uncle Bobby. The hair, the cigarettes, the leather jacket & jeans! He & my mom grew up in Brooklyn, teens in the 50s.
#30
A True Friend. Taken In A New York Bus Terminal Just Before They Left For The Worsening Situation In The Pacific, 1941
So, what are your thoughts on any of this? Has history changed you, and if so how? Or mayhaps you have an interesting historical story to tell that might fit this listicle. Whatever the case, share your takes and commentary in the comment section below!
And there’s plenty more historical content where that came from.
#31
A Us Marine Gives A Cigarette To A Japanese Soldier Buried In The Sand. Iwo Jima, 1945
#32
An Undercover Police Officer Apprehends A Mugger On The New York Subway, 1985. Photo By Bruce Davidson
#33
Northumbrian Miner Sits Down To Eat His Evening Meal, 1937
Bouche and Audi and Shyla, Oh My! 7 months ago
My grandfather was a coal miner. He died of black lung when Mom was 11.
#34
In 1963, Wives Say Goodbye To Their Loved Ones In The Navy
#35
Navajo Youth Tom Torlino As He Entered The Carlisle Indian Industrial School In 1882, And Again 3 Years Later
SammyLawrence27 7 months ago
Those schools are easily one of the worst parts of history. [Audible shudder]
#36
View Of Boston, The Oldest Surviving Aerial Photograph Ever Taken. October 13th, 1860
Amanda Rose 7 months ago
Hot air balloons were used by both Union and Confederate troops during the Civil War. It must have made for a very interesting sight!
#37
The Microsoft Staff, 1978
#38
Last Four Couples In A Dance Marathon, Chicago, Circa 1930
#39
The Rarely Seen Back Of The Hoover Dam Before It Was Filled With Water, 1936
#40
Former Beauty Queen, Miss Wyoming Winner Joyce Mckinney Being Arrested By Police
After kidnapping Mormon missionary Kirk Anderson from his church, forcing him to be her sex slave for 3 days. 1977
#41
An Unknown Woman Stands Close To A Tornado To Take A Photo, 1989
Helena 7 months ago
You live in the middle of the US, you get a little desensitized. Like tornado sirens go off, you go out on the lawn and look for it. On a clear day, with so visible a tornado, my guess is they knew how far off it actually was and snapped a quick picture before standing on their porch or the opening of a cellar to see if they'd need to go in and close the door.
#42
Soviet Peasants Listen To The Radio For The First Time, 1928
#43
What Is Now The Fully Developed Las Vegas Strip, 1955
Ray Ceeya (RayCeeYa) 7 months ago
Vegas was once a desert and I'm fairly certain that it will be a desert again someday.
#44
Photo From The Restaurant Windows On The World, Which Sat Atop New York City's World Trade Center's North Tower, 1976
#45
A Young Private Waits On The Beach During The Marine Landing At Da Nang, 1965
#46
The Storyville Jazz Club, Copenhagen, Denmark, 1952
#47
Lenin After His Third Stroke, 1923. This Picture Was Prohibited In Ussr At The Time
Marie Clear 7 months ago
Looks like Manson in a snuggie. Crazy eyes (unless the photo was touched up for his eyes, but I don't think so).
#48
Women In Bathing Suits Posing With A Prize Bull, Vancouver, 1927
Ray Ceeya (RayCeeYa) 7 months ago
OK I grew up on a cattle ranch and that is a BIG EFFING BULL!!! That thing is huge! I have honestly never seen one so big.
#49
Anti British Propaganda, Japan 1941
Becky Samuel 7 months ago
Ironically, with the level of cigar smoking and whisky drinking going on, he would definitely have smelled highly offensive to the modern person.
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