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This powerful photo from the Holocaust captures the immense relief of Jewish prisoners freed by the U.S. Army in April 1945. They were being transferred to the Theresienstadt ghetto and concentration camp in the final days of World War II when they were suddenly set free. U.S. Army Photo
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On a May 1969 episode of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, Fred Rogers soaked his feet in a kiddie pool with his frequent guest star, “Officer” François Clemmons. The moment may seem unremarkable today, but it came across as a brave and firm stance during the American Civil Rights Movement when integrated public swimming pools were seen as controversial. YouTube
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The all-Black Harlem Hellfighters fought longer than any other unit during World War I. Although they were celebrated in their own time, especially in France, their legacy has since gone too often overlooked. This photo shows them in 1919, just after they were awarded the Croix de Guerre in France for gallantry in action. Getty Images
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Hippies at the original 1969 Woodstock festival sell LSD for just one dollar. Yesterday Today/Twitter
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On Feb. 4, 1912, Austrian inventor Franz Reichelt plummeted to his death from the Eiffel Tower. He launched himself from the tower hoping to show off his new low-altitude parachute, which failed. Public Domain
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Arctic explorer Peter Freuchen stands next to his third wife, Dagmar Freuchen-Gale, in 1947. The fearless Freuchen is wearing a polar bear coat made from a bear he killed himself. Irving Penn/The Irving Penn Foundation
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Joseph Goebbels, Nazi minister of propaganda, glares up at the camera. He just learned that the photographer, Alfred Eisenstaedt, was Jewish. Alfred Eisenstaedt
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"Stagecoach Mary", a six-foot-tall woman who was born into slavery, was said to have a temper "like a grizzly bear." In the late 1800s, she became the first Black postwoman in the United States. Public Domain
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Mark Twain in Nikola Tesla's lab circa 1894. The writer and the inventor were friends — Tesla had read Twain's books, and Twain was fascinated with technology. Public Domain
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Theatrice Bailey, the brother of the owner of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, scrapes blood from the balcony following Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination.Henry Groskinsky/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
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This rare and compelling photo from the American frontier shows John "Grizzly" Adams with a bear in 1856. Adams captured, trained, and frequently wrestled with grizzly bears. During one bout, a grizzly struck him in the head, dislodging his scalp and leaving him with permanent head trauma. Public Domain
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Bonnie and Clyde goof around with a rifle. The outlaws left a camera with a number of photos like this at a crime scene, feeding the appetite of newspaper readers following their crime spree. FBI
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New Yorkers pause in Times Square to watch the last episode of Seinfeld. The popular "show about nothing" ran for nine seasons and ended in 1998. Reddit
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A group of beaming Soviet snipers during World War II. The Soviet Union trained about 2,000 women as snipers. One of them, Lyudmila Pavlichenko, killed 300 people single-handedly. Yesterday Today/Facebook
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Inventor Chester E. MacDuffee stands next to one of the first atmospheric diving suits, circa 1911. The suit weighed 550 pounds. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
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The last photo ever taken of eccentric inventor Nikola Tesla, on January 1, 1943. Although he produced a number of impressive inventions during his life, Tesla died penniless and alone.PBS
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A very bored Prince Charles stands between his grandmother, the Queen Mother, and his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, at the latter's 1953 coronation. Prince of Wales
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When gay rights activist David Kirby revealed his hom*osexuality to his family, they cast him out. But Kirby's family returned to his side as he lay dying of AIDs, as captured in this poignant photo from 1990. Therese Frare
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During World War II, a Polish unit adopted a bear named Wojtek into their unit. Wojtek drank beer, smoked cigarettes, and even had his own rank and serial number. Imperial War Museum
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Colonel Sanders, best known today as the mascot character for Kentucky Fried Chicken, was based on KFC's real-life founder, Harland David Sanders. Sanders started serving fried chicken at his Kentucky gas station in the 1930s. KFC
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Is this a death photo of President Abraham Lincoln? Some historians think so, believing it was taken the night of his assassination at Ford's Theater in April 1865. Others are skeptical. Discovery
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In 1981, boxer Muhammad Ali heard about a man threatening to commit suicide near his home. Ali jumped in his car and sped to the scene, where he coaxed the distressed man back indoors. Los Angeles Public Library
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On Aug. 6, 1945, hell rained from the heavens in Nagasaki, Japan. In the waning days of World War II, the United States dropped a nuclear bomb on the Japanese city, killing at least 70,000 people in the blink of an eye. This photo shows the devastation around the Urakami Cathedral in the city. Bernard Hoffman/The LIFE Picture Collection
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In December 1983, American actor Mr. T visited the White House to play Santa Claus. But, to his frustration, no one would sit on his lap. That is, until First Lady Nancy Reagan settled in, and gave him a smooch on the forehead for good measure. White House Photo
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In a moment that captures the rage of the Troubles in Northern Ireland, a young Irish teenager screams at two fully armed British troops on August 14, 1989. Reddit
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This crumbled car, smashed against the side of a Paris tunnel, carried Princess Diana to her death. On August 31, 1997, the beloved "people's princess" died in a catastrophic car crash while being pursued by paparazzi. Jake Guez/Getty Images
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The guillotine seems like a relic from a past era. But the French continued using this execution method long after the French Revolution. This photo depicts the last public execution in France using the guillotine, which saw serial killer Eugen Weidmann put to death on June 17, 1939. The French used the guillotine until 1977. Roger-Viollet/The Image Works
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On Nov. 14, 1960, six-year-old Ruby Bridges went to her first day of school — tailed by a federal agent. Bridges, the first African-American child to desegregate the all-white William Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans, was met by a screaming mob. U.S. Department of Justice
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A small crowd poses in front of a California sequoia tree named "Mark Twain" in 1892. The U.S. Army cut down the 1,300-year-old, 331-foot-tall tree the previous year. Library of Congress
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In 1863, a slave named Gordon ran away from his Mississippi plantation and found refuge among the Union Army. Photos of the shocking scars on his back quickly circulated throughout the country and became a rallying cry against slavery. Library of Congress
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Blonde bombshell Marilyn Monroe beams in a series of pictures taken in June 1962 by George Barris. But Monroe's movie star smile hid a deep agony, and she died of an overdose on Aug. 4, 1962. George Barris
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Jubilant crowds pack Times Square in New York City following the end of World War II. Bettmann/Getty Images
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Martin Luther King Jr. spent his life advocating for the rights of Black Americans. But in his downtime, he was also a talented pool player. Here he is making a trick shot in 1966. AP Photo
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The enormous heads of Easter Island have long fascinated historians and archeologists. But there's more there than meets the eye — since 1914, archeologists have investigated the "torsos" of these incredible statues. UCLA
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Two artillery soldiers, William E. Thomas and Joseph Jackson, prepare "easter eggs" on March 10, 1945, during the last weeks of World War II. The ammunition reads: "Easter Eggs For Hitler" and "Happy Easter Adolph."Department of Defense/National Archives
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This photo allegedly shows a 28-foot-crocodile shot in Australia. Some claim, however, that the size of the crocodile is due to the forced perspective of the camera. Hart Collection
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These skeletons, apparently wrapped in an eternal embrace, were discovered in northern Iran in 1972. Although their relationship to each other remains a mystery, archeologists suspect they died during a violent invasion in 800 B.C. The University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology
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The shaky-looking interior of an airplane, circa 1924, complete with lightweight wicker seats and curtains on the windows. Reddit
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Renowned sharpshooter Annie Oakley takes aim in a hand mirror in 1899. She could easily land a bullseye on targets behind her back. Public Domain
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Unharnessed workers scale the heights of New York City's Woolworth building in 1926. Ovadia & Sons/Tumblr
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On April 5, 1976, a Black lawyer named Ted Landsmark unknowingly wandered through an anti-busing protest in Boston. The mob, livid at the thought of desegregation, pounced on him. In a Pulitzer-prize winning photo titled "The Soiling Of Old Glory" one man even tries to impale Landsmark with an American flag. Stanley Forman/The Boston Herald American
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Although histories of World War II tend to focus on Europe, the war raging in the Pacific Theater was just as devastating. Here, a group of emaciated Australians drink tea after their release from a Japanese camp in September 1945. Pictoral Press
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In 1925, people in Nome, Alaska started rapidly catching diphtheria. Dog teams brought the lifesaving antitoxin to Nome, including one led by the now-famous Siberian Husky named Balto. This photo, however, shows musher Leonhard Seppala with his sled team led by Togo (far left), who ran farther than any other sled dog during the serum run for Nome.Carrie McLain Museum/AlaskaStock
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In 1961, a 19-year-old East Germany border guard named Conrad Schumann suddenly bolted — and leapt into the West. His flight, captured on camera, became known as the "Leap Into Freedom." Sadly, Schumann struggled with his newfound fame and died by suicide in 1998.Library of Congress
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In 1963, a young Bill Clinton shook the hand of President John F. Kennedy.Arnold Sachs/Getty Images
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Belgian coal miners are crammed into elevators following their shift, c. 1920.Reddit
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Daryl Davis, left, has spent decades befriending members of the Ku Klux Klan — and convincing them to leave the organization. Daryl Davis
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This is the last-known photograph taken of Edgar Allan Poe, taken in September 1849, mere weeks before he died under mysterious circ*mstances in a manner befitting his fiction. Swann Auction Galleries/Public Domain
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A young boy eagerly takes a hammer and chisel to the Berlin Wall, which fell on Nov. 9, 1989. The wall had divided East and West Germany for 28 years. Pool CHUTE DU MUR BERLIN/Getty Images
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In 1918, 18,000 soldiers in Des Moines, Iowa, formed a "human Statue of Liberty" to sell war bonds during World War I. Public Domain
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A poignant wartime goodbye captured on film. The soldier pictured is setting off from the 34th Street bus terminal in New York City on Dec. 7. 1941 to fight in World War II after his leave was terminated following the attack on Pearl Harbor. A fellow soldier helpfully holds his girlfriend so they can have one last kiss. Bettmann/Getty Images
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Two girls deliver ice in Manhattan in September 1918. In the United States, women had never before worked jobs like these until World War I caused a shortage of men. Corbis/Getty Images
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Some of the fiercest women warriors in the world were Japanese samurai. Called Onna-Bugeisha, they fought with a lightweight sword called a naginata. Pinterest
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Lion tamer and animal trainer Jack Bonavita poses with his lions. An esteemed circus performer in turn-of-the-century New York, Bonavita was eventually killed by one of his animals in 1917 — though it wasn't a lion, but instead a polar bear. The Circus Blog
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This remarkable 1899 photo is the first picture ever taken underwater. Louis Boutan/Public Domain/via Wikimedia Commons
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Jacob C. Miller was shot in the face during the Civil War. Incredibly, he survived, but bore an open wound for the rest of his life. Public Domain
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Selfies are ubiquitous today, but they've been popular for decades. Here, a 23-year-old Frank Sinatra snaps a bathroom selfie in 1938.Sinatra Family Archive
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At a Ku Klux Klan rally in Gainesville, Georgia in 1992, a toddler in KKK robes broke away from the crowd. Enchanted by the police shields, he went to touch one — and seemingly didn't even notice the Black state trooper holding it. Todd Robertson/Southern Poverty Law Center
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Pictured here is the preserved body of a member of the Franklin Expedition, a doomed 1845 mission to find the Northwest Passage. Instead, its crew got trapped in the Arctic and perished en masse.Brian Spenceley
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Civil rights activist — and later congressman — John Lewis holds his head during an attack on "Bloody Sunday," March 7, 1965. Lewis and others had just crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, when state troopers attacked their peaceful protest. AP Photo
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In April 1993, approximately 1 million people descended on Washington D.C. to participate in the the 1993 March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay and Bi-Equal Rights and Liberation. Among them were this young man, Michael Szymansky, and his supportive mother. University of Southern California
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Johnny Cash settles in to perform during his famous Folsom Prison concert on Jan. 13, 1968. AP Photo
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Armed with a fish-eye lens and a curiosity about Eastern culture, George Harrison set off for India in 1966. Here, the Beatle takes a selfie in front of the Taj Mahal. George Harrison
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In 1948, a retired professor named George McLaurin became the first Black student to be admitted to the University of Oklahoma. But because the school was segregated, McLaurin was kept strictly away from his white classmates. Library of Congress
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Before his presidency began, John F. Kennedy was just an underdog candidate hoping to somehow win. Here, he campaigns in West Virginia in 1960. Reddit
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A worker gazes over the first cables of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, California, c. 1935. Golden Gate Bridge and Highway District
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This stunning photo demands a second look — and an explanation. Although it looks elegant and even perhaps romantic, the so-called "Kiss of Life" photo actually depicts a life-saving rescue in 1967. Rocco Morabito/Jacksonville Journal
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A well-dressed group walks down the streets of Harlem, New York, in the 1970s. Pinterest
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In a startling juxtaposition, a number of Ku Klux Klan members engage in some lighthearted fun at a local carnival in Cañon City, Colorado, 1926. The Royal Gorge Regional Museum and History Center
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In a picture that encapsulates the 1990s, drag queen RuPaul holds a crying Frances Bean, whose father, Kurt Cobain, stands smiling on the right while backstage at the 1993 MTV Video Music Awards. Jeff Kravitz/Filmmagic
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As the Hindenburg descended in a ball of flames, a radio announcer perfectly captured the moment by crying, "Oh, the humanity!" This 1937 disaster ended the era of zeppelin travel for good. Murray Becker/Public Domain/via Wikimedia Commons
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This mummy is more than 2,000 years old. Called Lady Dai, she's a remarkably well-preserved mummy from China who still has blood in her veins. Public Domain
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In 1943, a Yugoslavian teenager named Lepa Radić was condemned to hang for her sabotage efforts against the Nazis. She was offered a pardon if she revealed the names of her compatriots, but Radić refused to the very end, saying: “I am not a traitor of my people. Those whom you are asking about will reveal themselves when they have succeeded in wiping out all you evildoers, to the last man.”Public Domain
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The Beatles' John Lennon searches for a guitar pick he lost inside his instrument in India, 1968. Pinterest
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While under threat both from the FBI and the Nation of Islam in 1964, Civil Rights icon Malcolm X peers out the window of his home while holding a gun.Ebony Collection
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The so-called "Lion Man" — whose real name was Stephan Bibrowski — was a popular sideshow attraction in the early 20th century.Brooklyn Public Library
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Jazz great Louis Armstrong plays the trumpet as his wife (and the Sphinx) watch and listen in Egypt in 1961. AP Photo
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