80 Fascinating Photos From The US Past You Need To See

In 1776, the United States of America as we know it declared independence. And from the 18th century to today, the country has had a packed, complicated history, full of events that were inspiring, shocking, and heartbreaking. But reading about the past doesn’t always make it click the way a photograph can.

That’s why we’ve rounded up some curious photos shared on the US History subreddit. From everyday slices of life to major turning points captured on camera, scroll down to check them out. They might make you view America’s history in a new light.

#1 In 1969, When Black Americans Were Still Prevented From Swimming Alongside White People

Mr. Rogers decided to invite Officer Clemmons to join him and cool off his feet in a pool, breaking a well-known color barrier.

#2 In November 1945, Frederick C. Branch Became The First Black American Officer In The Marine Corps

There’s something special about looking at photographs from American history. These images let us see what life actually looked like decades or even centuries ago, capturing moments that would otherwise be lost to time.

Naturally, none of these photographs would exist without the invention of photography itself and its arrival in America. Inventor Samuel Morse happened to be in Paris just as the daguerreotype craze was blooming and met with Louis Daguerre twice in March 1839.

The first daguerreotypes in the United States were made on September 16, 1839, by D.W. Seager, just four weeks after the announcement of the process. Back in New York, Morse set himself up to teach others how to make these images.

#3 This Is Something I Would Fight For

#4 A Young Jimmy Carter, In His Naval Uniform, With Wife Rosalynn. They Were Married For 77 Years

Photography took off pretty fast in America. By 1853, an estimated three million daguerreotypes per year were being produced in the United States alone.

The daguerreotype process created images on polished silver-plated copper sheets, and each one was a unique photograph that showed extraordinary detail when viewed in proper light. Cities like New York had hundreds of photographers competing for customers by the late 1850s.

#5 A Civil War Veteran With His Grandchildren

#6 First African American To Serve In The US Senate

Hiram Revels of Mississippi became the first African American to serve in the U.S. Senate—just five years after slavery was abolished.

#7 George McLaurin, The First Black Man Admitted To The University Of Oklahoma In 1948, Was Forced To Sit In A Corner Away From His White Classmates

But his name remains on the honor roll as one of the university's top three students.

These are his words:

"Some colleagues looked at me as if I were an animal, no one gave me a word, the teachers seemed like they weren't even there for me, nor did they always take my questions. But I dedicated myself so much that later, they started looking for me to give them explanations and clarify their questions."

Before photography, getting a portrait painted was expensive and out of reach for most people. Daguerreotypes changed that.

According to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, these photographs were affordable enough that seamstresses, carpenters, and miners could have them taken. For the first time, regular folks could own an actual image of themselves or someone they loved.

#8 Man Looking For A Job During The Great Depression. 1934

#9 Frederick Douglass

“I therefore hate the corrupt, [...], women-whipping, cradle-plundering, partial and hypocritical Christianity of this land…I look upon it as the climax of all misnomers, the boldest of all frauds, and the grossest of all libels.”

#10 During The Civil War, Frances Quinn Disguised Herself As A Man And Enlisted 5 Different Times

Each time she was discovered to be a woman and was dismissed. She served in both infantry and cavalry. She was wounded at the Battle of Stones River in 1862.

Mathew B. Brady set himself the task of photographing the nation’s leading figures after opening his first studio in 1844, capturing everyone from presidents to stage performers. When the Civil War started, Brady wanted to document it photographically.

But his poor business skills and love of attention drove away his best employee, Alexander Gardner, who went on to become one of the top Civil War photographers himself.

#11 First Social Security Recipient 1940

LUDLOW, Vt. - Seventy-five years ago, the government cut 65-year-old Ida May Fuller a check. It was numbered 00-000-001 - the first Social Security payout.

#12 The Shape Of The Statue Of Liberty Formed By 18,000 Soldiers Standing In Formation At Camp Dodge, Des Moines, Iowa, 1918. (Photo By Mole And Thomas, Chicago, Illinois)

#13 President John F. Kennedy's Flag-Draped Coffin In Washington, DC, 1963

Two days after the Battle of Antietam, Gardner became the first of Brady’s photographers to photograph those who had fallen on the battlefield. These photos shocked the public.

The New York Times wrote that Brady brought home the terrible reality of war. The images made it feel real in a way words never could.

#14 The State Of Massachusetts Passed The First School Vaccination Law In 1855, Followed By New York (1862) And Connecticut (1872).

December 15, 1827 – The city of Boston, Massachusetts, the School Committee voted to require, effective 1 Mar 1828, that public school students show that they had been vaccinated against smallpox prior to the school entrance

#15 One Of The Only Known Photos Of Presidents Theodore And Franklin Roosevelt Together In Person, 1915

#16 The Mississippi River, Frozen Solid In St Louis, Missouri, 1905

George Eastman made photography much easier in 1888 with the Kodak camera. His advertising showed women and children using the camera, and he came up with a catchy slogan: “You press the button, we do the rest.”

The camera came loaded with enough film for 100 photos. When you finished, you mailed the whole thing back to Rochester, New York. They developed your pictures, put in new film, and sent it all back. Just ten years later, over 1.5 million of these cameras were out there in people’s hands.

#17 Theodore Roosevelt’s Diary Entry On The Day His Wife And Mother [Passed Away]

#18 A Delegation Of Sixteen Arapaho Indians LED By Chief Old Eagle Arrives In Paris, Capital Of France, To Beg The League Of Nations To Ask The United States Government To Recognize Indians As U.S. Citizens

#19 Teddy Reasoning

When color photography arrived, it changed how people saw the world. Kodachrome film came out in 1935. It was the world’s first commercially successful color film, known for its sharpness, archival durability, and vibrant yet realistic colors.

National Geographic magazine photographers used the film extensively in the 1950s and ‘60s, with their images of exotic destinations inspiring readers. The film was also used to capture Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation in 1953 and Edmund Hillary’s climb to the top of Mount Everest that same year.

The film stayed popular for decades because the colors didn’t fade. Many Kodachrome photos from the 1940s through 1960s still look bright and fresh today.

#20 Construction Of Boulder Dam, Boulder City, Nevada -Rigger On Cableway Headtower During Construction- 1934

#21 Helmet Graffiti

#22 Former Enemies, One Nation — Gettysburg, 1913

From those first daguerreotypes in 1839 to the color films of the mid-twentieth century, photography transformed how Americans understood their own history. What started as a complex process requiring long exposure times became something anyone could do with the push of a button.

Today, we can take photographs in seconds with our phones, a convenience we often take for granted. But that doesn’t diminish their importance. These images still capture meaningful moments, and there will surely be many more to come that help define American history for future generations.

#23 This Is A Human Zoo In Coney Island, New York, 1905. White Americans Bought Tickets To See A Filipino Girl Tied To A Pole And Had Peanuts Thrown At Her

#24 The Real Iwo Jima Flag Raising

#25 Women Of The Toledo Shipbuilding Co. Responsible For Building The Icebreaker Mackinaw - Toledo, OH (1944)

During the 1940s, women played a vital role in shipbuilding across the Rust Belt as World War II created an urgent demand for industrial labor and thousands of men left for military service; in cities along the Great Lakes, women stepped into skilled positions as welders, riveters, electricians, and draftspeople, helping keep shipyards operating at full capacity. At the Toledo Shipbuilding Company in Ohio, women were an essential part of the workforce that constructed naval and Coast Guard vessels, including the icebreaker Mackinaw (WAGB-83), a massive and technologically advanced ship designed to keep Great Lakes shipping lanes open year-round for wartime transport of iron ore, coal, and other critical materials. Built with the combined efforts of male and female workers, the Mackinaw symbolized both industrial innovation and social change, demonstrating how women’s labor in Rust Belt shipyards directly supported the war effort while permanently expanding opportunities for women in American manufacturing.

#26 Lieutenant Colonel R. D. Garrett, Chief Signal Officer, 42nd Division, Testing A Telephone Left Behind By The Germans In The Hasty Retreat From The Salient Of St. Mihiel. Essy, France. - 1918

#27 The Battle Of The Running Bulls

On January 11, 1937, striking General Motors workers battled Flint police at GM's Fisher Body No. 2 in a bloody night of fighting and a turning point in the Sit-Down Strike.

Known as the "Battle of the Running Bulls," the fight triggered the mobilization of the National Guard by Michigan Gov. Frank Murphy the next day.

"On Jan. 11, violence began outside of Fisher Body 2 when company police shut off the heat, locked the gate to the plant and removed the ladder used to supply food to the strikers," according to the book "The Flint Sit-Down Strike of 1936-37: Witnesses and Warriors."

"When the sit-downers forced the gate open, the company police called in the Flint police for help and they responded with tear gas and bullets," the book says.

Car parts and water from fire hoses were launched at the police. Law enforcement fired buckshot and tear gas at the strikers.

Fighting ended with strikers controlling the gates to the plant and with the police retreating. Governor Frank Murphy sent in the National Guard to maintain peace and order but refused to direct them to act with force against the workers.

"In the morning Chevrolet Avenue looked like a battlefield of the industrial age," recalled Victor Reuther. "Smashed and overturned vehicles, broken windowpanes, shattered bottles, stones, hinges, splintered picket signs, used tear-gas canisters, and everywhere the ice formed by the water that had served so effectively as a defensive weapon."

#28 January 15, 1919 – The Great Molasses Flood: A Wave Of Molasses Released From An Exploding Storage Tank Sweeps Through Boston, Massachusetts

#29 The Lincoln Memorial In Washington, DC In 1917

#30 Harvard Historians' Ranking Of US Presidents From A 1948 Life Magazine

#31 Private William “Edward” Black Began His Military Career When He Was Just Eight Years Old. His Father, Lieutenant George Black, Joined The 21st Indiana Volunteers With His Son, William, Accompanying Him As The Regiment’s Drummer Boy

His father, Lieutenant George Black, joined the 21st Indiana Volunteers with his son, William, accompanying him as the regiment’s drummer boy.

During the 1862 Battle of Baton Rouge, Confederates captured William and imprisoned him at Ship Island. Union troops eventually liberated the prisoners, leading to William’s discharge in September 1862. In February 1863, he re-enlisted and became the youngest Civil War soldier injured on active duty when a shell damaged his left hand and arm. He remained with his unit until he was mustered out of service in January 1866. His wartime drum was passed through generations of his family until it was eventually gifted to the Indianapolis Children’s Museum.

#32 LRV Fender Repair - Apollo 17 Moon Mission - Clamps & Duct Tape

From NASA:

A close-up view of the lunar roving vehicle (LRV) at the Taurus-Littrow landing site photographed during Apollo 17 lunar surface extravehicular activity. Note the makeshift repair arrangement on the right rear fender of the LRV. During EVA-1 a hammer got underneath the fender and a part of it was knocked off. Astronauts Eugene A. Cernan and Harrison H. Schmitt were reporting a problem with lunar dust because of the damage fender.

Following a suggestion from astronaut John W. Young in the Mission Control Center at Houston the crewmen repaired the fender early in EVA-2 using lunar maps and clamps from the optical alignment telescope lamp. Schmitt is seated in the rover. Cernan took this picture.

Technical information: Rear View from Station 2, Lunar Roving Vehicle LRV, taken during the second Extravehicular Activity EVA 2 of the Apollo 17 mission. Original film magazine was labeled C, film type was SO-368 Color Exterior, CEX, Ektachrome MS, color reversal 60mm lens with a sun elevation of 27 degrees.

#33 Mugshot Of Famous Outlaw Butch Cassidy, Taken In 1894

#34 1936 Map Shows The Depth Of Franklin Roosevelt's Popularity

OwlEyes00: Fun fact - in 1936 FDR won South Carolina with 98.57 percent of the vote. Landon only received 1,646 of the almost 120,000 votes cast there. It's the most lopsided result in a contested state in any US presidential election (on a few occasions early in US history some states were completely uncontested, with only one candidate, who naturally got 100 percent of the vote).

#35 Payday On A U.S. Navy Cruiser, 1942

#36 A Daguerreotype Of John Armstrong Jr With His Dog, 1840. Armstrong Was The Last Surviving Delegate To The Continental Congress. He Is The Only Delegate To Have Been Photographed

#37 Republican Election Poster From 1926

#38 Future 32nd President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 1884

In this picture, a two-year-old Franklin is unbreeched. Breeching” was the occasion when a small boy was dressed in trousers for the first time. Before this, young boys were often dressed in gowns or dresses until they first wore breeches, typically between the ages of two and eight. Franklin Delano Roosevelt was born on January 30, 1882, to James Roosevelt I and his second wife, Sara Ann Delano. James was 54 at the time, 27 years older than Sara, and his eldest child from his first marriage was actually older than his new wife. Franklin grew up deeply privileged. He played tennis and golf, traveled frequently to Europe, and benefited from substantial family wealth on both sides, as well as his father’s successful business and political career. James often brought young Franklin along to meetings, including one with President Grover Cleveland. During that meeting, Cleveland famously told the boy, “My little man, I am making a strange wish for you. It is that you may never be President of the United States.” But Franklin’s childhood wasn’t defined by privilege alone; it was also marked by affection. Though James was a reserved patriarch in the style of the era, he was more involved with his son than many men of his status. Sara, meanwhile, utterly doted on Franklin. Unlike many wealthy parents of the time, she personally educated and cared for him rather than relying entirely on servants. Franklin returned her devotion, and the two remained close throughout her life. This upbringing shaped Franklin into an optimistic, confident young man, though one also insulated by privilege and lacking broader empathy early on. That perspective would only change after his later diagnosis with polio.

#39 January 12, 1888 - The “Schoolchildren’s Blizzard” Brings Tragedy To The Northwest Plains

#40 Down The Ramp Of A Coast Guard Landing Barge Soldiers' Storm Toward "Omaha" Beach During The "D-Day" Landings, 6 June 1944

#41 An Air Transport Command Plane Flies Over The Pyramids In Egypt. Loaded With Urgent War Supplies And Materials, 1943

#42 Ice Skaters In Central Park In New York City, With The Dakota Apartment House Visible In The Background. 1898

#43 December 21, 1891 - First Game Of Basketball, Based On Rules Created By James Naismith, Is Played By 18 Students In Springfield, Massachusetts, Celebrated Today As World Basketball Day

#44 Snow In North Dakota, 1966

#45 In 1943, Soldiers Of The 36th Infantry Division Enjoy Bottles Of Coca-Cola During The Italian Campaign

#46 An American Punches A Vietnamese Man Away As People Go To Blows For Space On A Helicopter Out Of South Vietnam As The Communists Close In, 1975

#47 The US Army Was Founded June 14, 1775

Poland’s Pulaski and Kosciusko helped mastermind it. Pulaski as father of US Cavalry and Kosciusko being the founder of West Point. Also; look up the crazy gay Prussian General Von Steuben who hosted no pants parties. No joke.

#48 80 Years Ago The Empire Of Japan Surrendered To The United States Of America, Bringing A Definitive End To World War II

#49 Eisenhower At West Point. He Graduated In The Class Of 1915, The Class That Stars Fell On

Out of 164 students that year 59 of them became Generals. Two Five stars, two four stars, 7 three stars, 24 two stars and 24 one-star Generals.

#50 10th Of January 1776. Thomas Paine Published The First Edition Of Common Sense, A 47-Page Pamphlet That Became A Catalyst For The American Revolution

Published anonymously in Philadelphia, the work challenged British authority in plain language accessible to the average colonist.

#51 Just Looked At Jimmy Carter's Electoral Map From 1976 And Was Amazed. The Dems Won Texas And The GOP Won California

#52 American Soldier Wearing Crown Of Holy Roman Emperor, 1945

#53 Tokyo Goes Up In Flames, 1945. There Were At Least 100,000 Casualties

#54 On This Day, November 19th, In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln Delivered The Gettysburg Address. This Is One Of Only Two Confirmed Photographs Of Lincoln At Gettysburg

#55 General Patton During A Welcome Home Parade In Los Angeles

#56 December 31, 1904 - First New Year's Eve Celebration Held In Times Square (Then Longacre Square), In New York City

#57 The USS Enterprise - The Most Decorated US Warship

#58 Last Image Of Sean Flynn And Dana Stone, American Journalists During The Vietnam War. In 1970, They Took Off On A Motorcycle Trip Into Cambodia To Document The Ongoing Coup And Were Never Seen Again

#59 1773 - Boston Tea Party

252 years ago, American colonists in Boston carried out the Boston Tea Party, one of the most famous acts of protest leading up to the American Revolution. In defiance of British authority, members of the Sons of Liberty boarded ships in Boston Harbor and dumped large quantities of tea into the water.

The protest was directed against the Tea Act, which allowed the British East India Company to sell tea directly to the colonies while maintaining Parliament’s right to tax them. Colonists opposed the measure not because tea was expensive, but because it reinforced the principle of taxation without representation.

Disguised as Mohawk Indians, the protesters destroyed 342 chests of tea, worth a significant sum, while carefully avoiding damage to other cargo or ships. The action was organised, symbolic, and deliberately nonviolent toward people, yet it represented a direct challenge to British rule, and inflamed tensions in the years preceding the Revolutionary War.

#60 Found This 1929 Indian Reservation Liquor Prohibition Poster In My Grandfather's (B. 1918) Belongings

#61 Oyster Fleet In Baltimore Harbor - Maryland (1885)

#62 Men Load A Steam Ship With Steel From Carnegie Steel Co. - Pittsburgh, PA (1918)

#63 First Syrians To Immigrate To The United States, 1878

#64 Soldiers Walk During Armistice Day Celebrations After The First World War - Kalamazoo, MI (C. 1919)

#65 Dec. 25, 1868. The Civil War Is Over, But Post-War Tensions Are Still There. In An Attempt To Restore Unity, Andrew Johnson Pardons All Confederate Troops

#66 San Francisco Earthquake Of 1906 - Area North Of California Street In The Vicinity Of Grant Avenue Showing Telegraph Hill In The Distance. The Church Standing On The Right Is Saint Mary's Church

#67 Construction Of The U.S. Steel-Mellon Building (525 William Penn Place) - Downtown Pittsburgh, PA (June 1950)

#68 I Found An Undocumented American Ghost Town With No History Online

So, I was traveling America on the backroads, trying to find some old buildings/communities that haven't changed since their incorporation, and I found it ! This is Richwoods, Missouri, a town with a industrial past that started in the 1830s. That's about all the history that existed online, so I decided to park and walk around town and talk to locals and hear the stories of this old town.

#69 December 27, 1900 - Carrie Nation's First Public Smashing Of A Bar (Carey Hotel, Wichita, Kansas)

#70 January 14, 1882 - The Nation's First Country Club Established (Boston)

#71 A Sign For Technocracy Inc. In Josephine County, Oregon, 1939

#72 At Ford’s Willow Run Plant, B-24 Liberator Production Reached Astonishing Levels By November 1943, A New Bomber Was Rolling Out Every Hour

#73 Thomas Jefferson Writes To The Baptists (Jan. 1, 1802)

#74 Martin Pbm Mariner Patrol Bomber Is Hosed Down After It Was Hauled Up A Ramp At Naval Air Station - Banana River, Florida - 1943

#75 Swan Creek Mine Common Housing (Michigan’s Last Coal Mine) - Saginaw County, C. 1946

#76 Original Public Square - Downtown Cleveland, Oh (1927)

#77 Detroit Industrial Expressway And Ford River Rouge Plant - Detroit, MI (1940s)

#78 The White House Wasn’t Always Named As Such. In Fact, It’s Had Many Names Over The Years, Including The “President’s Palace,” “Executive Mansion,” And Simply The “President’s House”

#79 General George Patton, Despite Being A Self-Proclaimed Devout Christian, Was A Staunch Believer In Reincarnation, And He Believed That He Had Lived Many Lives As Great Warriors

togetherweserved says:

His extensive understanding of historical battles also made the great general a staunch believer in reincarnation, believing he had been a soldier in many previous lives and a quote that is credited to him reads; “So as through a glass and darkly, the age-long strife I see, where I fought in many guises, many names, but always me.”

"Among the many warriors, Patton thought he had been in a former life was a prehistoric mammoth hunter; a Greek hoplite who fought the Persians; a soldier of Alexander the Great who fought the Persians during the siege of Tyre; Hannibal of Carthage whose brutal tactics enforced loyalty among his troops and power over his enemies; a Roman Legionnaire under Julius Caesar who served in Gaul (present-day France, Luxembourg, Belgium, most of Switzerland, parts of Northern Italy, as well as the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the west bank of the Rhine); the Roman Soldier who pierced Jesus’ heart with a spear; an English knight during the Hundred Years War; and a Marshal of France under Napoleon."