The past was not actually black and white.

Colorized photos:

*Mark Twain was actually a redhead, 1870.*

*Faroese fishermen onboard a steamer on their way home from Icelandic fishing, 1898*

*Italian immigrants at Ellis Island, 1905.*

*Lenin addressing a raucous crowd during the October revolution, 1917.*

*An old French couple greeting soldiers of the 308th and 166th Infantries*
*upon their arrival during the American advance. November 6, 1918*

*English boys learning to swim without water, 1920.*

*Ernest Hemingway and his son Gregory, Sun Valley, Idaho. October, 1941*

*American troops on board a landing craft heading for the beaches*
*at Oran in Algeria during Operation ‘Torch,’ November 1942.*

*A Sicilian farmer showing to an American soldier where the Germans retreated, August 1943*

*A Women Air Force Service pilot during World War 2*.

*A young woman embraces a US soldier at a train station in New Hope, Connecticut, 1945.*

*German prisoners of war in an American camp, photographed as they’re forced to watch a film about the German concentration camps, 1945.*

*16-year old German soldier crying after being captured by the Allies, 1945.*

This girl, who grew up in a concentration camp, was asked to draw “home,”
while living in a residence for disturbed children. Warsaw, Poland in 1948.

*Tailoring students at a trade school. Sweden, 1955*

*Clint Eastwood, Eli Wallach, and Lee Van Cleef during the filming of “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly”, circa 196*7.

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4 Responses to The past was not actually black and white.

Kitten WAW says:

May 30, 2021 at 01:24

A useless observation: Mark Twain was a bit of a hottie! Moreso than most of the actors I’ve seen portraying him.

The faces of Poverty and Privilege have their wrinkles in different places.

I’m moved by the young German soldier, and his American counterpart, who looks to the same age, in the center of the landing craft. Did the German, earlier, have that look of bravado, and did the horrors of war later reduce the American to tears? And what the hell are children doing fighting wars anyway? Has anyone ever come up with an acceptable answer for that question?

Meanwhile, stepping off my soapbox for a lighter observation – If there’s no water, why do they have to wear swimsuits? Are they waiting for the tailoring students to finish their Tuxedos? Back on the soapbox for a second. This is what pictures of children should look like.
gayle says:

May 30, 2021 at 09:24

I’m fascinated by how our brains interpret B&W photos as ‘that was a long time ago’ and color photos as ‘that is recent’ – and the dissonance set up by the colorizing of the oldies.
kimsdee says:

May 30, 2021 at 09:45

I have a colorized photo of Abraham Lincoln hanging in my den. It’s where I can look at it no matter where I am in the room.
marijo1951 says:

May 30, 2021 at 11:00

I’m quite haunted by the faces of the 16-year old German ‘soldier’ and the little girl who had been rescued from a concentration camp. He is so utterly lost and distressed and her eyes vividly convey something of the extreme trauma she must have suffered. I’m glad he was evidently arrested by American or British troops. If he’d been taken by the Russians, it probably would have meant years in a gulag. I hope they both subsequently achieved some fulfilment and happiness in their lives.