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The organization boasted a membership of 3 million nationwide, including prominent community leaders from coast to coast. The growth was fueled by the 1915 release of the silent film Birth of a Nation, which portrayed members as heroes, coinciding with the widespread xenophobia following the devastation of World War I. During this period Klan membership was not something many members chose to keep secret. As historian Ibram X. Kendi has noted, “You had many members of the KKK who were politicians – senators, congressmen, statehouse representatives and that only encouraged members to appear publicly without their hoods....

In the world of British innovation, there’s a fascinating collection of ideas that, while incredibly creative, never quite made it into everyday life. These inventions, captured in pictures from the last century, reveal a time when people dared to dream big. Chris Hodge, an amateur historian from Chislehurst in southeast London, has dedicated more than ten years to gathering over 250,000 images. Among them are snapshots of inventions that were truly ahead of their time, like what looks to be an early version of a videophone, an amphibious Lambretta scooter, a Land Rover that doubles as a hovercraft, and even a bicycle with wings....

In addition, all Japanese-American men of draft age, except those already in the armed forces, were classified as 4-C, enemy aliens, forbidden to serve their country. Then, in early 1943, Washington reversed its policy on military service. The Japanese government had been making effective propaganda in Asia out of the internment of Japanese Americans in the U.S.; the camps appeared to confirm their depiction of the war as a racial conflict....

These photos include old advertisements that preyed on women’s need for marital security in order to sell products in the mid-20th century and are collected by Andrew Heisel. It’s no surprise advertisers pay attention to consumers’ emotions in order to sell products. Their job is to convince people to purchase, and they’re completely justified in seizing emotional opportunities. Moreover, advertisers targeted women because research showed they were responsible for 80 percent of household purchases....

Although 28,000 people attended the event, only about half of those were invitees, the rest having purchased counterfeit tickets, or even sneaked into the park by climbing over the fence. A reporter noticed all the construction still ongoing and asked Walt Disney if Disneyland would ever be finished. Disney replied in what has become an often quoted quote: “Disneyland will never be completed, as long as there is imagination left in the world....

This photo was taken during an inspection of invasion defenses near Hartlepool, on July 21, 1940. The interesting thing about this picture is that both the British and the Germans used it for propaganda purposes. The British photoshopped some soldiers out of the frame to make him more statesmanlike, while the Germans depicted him as an American gangster or a criminal. It’s an example of how the media can change your outlook on the world....

Three days later, Hitler’s troops crossed the Meuse River and struck French forces at Sedan, located at the northern end of the Maginot Line, an elaborate chain of fortifications constructed after World War I and considered an impenetrable defensive barrier. On June 14, German forces entered Paris; a new government formed by Marshal Philippe Petain (France’s hero of World War I) requested an armistice two nights later. From the end of 1940 through the summer of 1941, the conflicts among nations grew into true World War....

The 29-year-old Englishman left behind his wife and three children to become one of roughly 100 foreigners living in the late Qing dynasty’s capital, taking his camera along with him. Unlike his contemporary photographers, Child chose to remain in China rather than return home and publish his photographs for instant renown. This meant that his own works went somewhat under the radar; it also means, however, that as a fluent Mandarin speaker and known resident in Peking, Child was able to get access to events and people his contemporaries were not....

American commanders noticed that the Soviets had special anti-tank grenades for such a scenario. Army technicians offered five different prototypes of their own. “Since a regulation size football weighs 14 ounces, it was considered feasible to make a shaped charge grenade within this weight limitation”, according to the official test report. “In addition, most U.S. troops are familiar with throwing footballs”. The prototype inserted the tank-busting charge inside a hollowed-out Nerf football....

In addition to the name autogyro, they have been known as gyrocopters, gyroplanes, and autogiros. They were the first rotary wing aircraft to fly successfully with sufficient control. Autogyro was invented to solve the main issue: How to design an aircraft that won’t crash from the engine stalling? This question was prompted by the failure of Cierva’s previous projects. In 1919, Cierva entered an aircraft design contest producing a large three-engine bomber, piloted by Captain Julio Ríos Argüeso, crashed in its initial flight due to the engine stalling....

She died at Auschwitz-Birkenau in German-occupied Poland and is among those memorialized in the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum indoor exhibit called ‘Block no. 6: Exhibition: The Life of the Prisoners’. (Here you can check a heartbreaking photo collection of the Holocaust). Czeslawa was a Polish Catholic girl, from Wolka Zlojecka, Poland, who was sent to Auschwitz with her mother in December of 1942. She was deemed a political prisoner for living in Zamosc, the location of a future German colony....

In 1987, Berlin celebrated its 750th anniversary, and the city was abuzz with excitement. The Communist East German government, which ruled the eastern half of the city at the time, wanted to mark the occasion with a grand parade that showcased the country’s achievements. As the parade made its way through the city’s streets, it was clear that the East German government wanted to show off its technological prowess. The parade featured a platoon of women in high heels and bikinis, desktop computers on wheels, and other oddities....

Rommel arrived, looked over the situation, and immediately ordered a tremendous upgrading of the fortifications on all of the English Channel beaches. As late as it was, Rommel’s program of emplacing beach obstacles between high and low tide so alarmed Allied planners that they changed the timing of the landings from high to low tide, which considerably increased the vulnerability of those making the initial landing — especially on Omaha Beach....

Soldiers returning home after a war incident (or after the whole war was over) carried more than battle scars. They brought home new styles which were invented by necessity during combat. Military trends that silently became a part of everyday style. The reason for their success was more than aesthetic. It was due to the function. Any clothing item worn by troops has to be comfortable, sharp, and functional. The first ready-to-wear garments were manufactured in bulk to dress soldiers in standard sizes and proportions to adapt to men with different physiques....

The father, Willy Finder, then prepares to make the jump himself. Pictures taken from the booklet “A City Torn Apart: Building of the Berlin Wall”. These photographs were taken around the same time the Berlin Wall was being erected. The Soviet occupation zone in Germany (and Berlin) suffered from serious movements of educated individuals from their sectors toward the West throughout the 1950s. This brain drain encouraged the Soviet Union to begin construction of a “Fascist Protection Wall” that would keep East Germans protected from “Fascism” that the Western Allies had “not eradicated in their sectors “....

This set of photographs is taken in 1935 when a group of Padaung women visited London. In the 1930s, circuses and shows were extremely popular in the United Kingdom and these women, advertised as “giraffe women”, were star attractions, drawing huge crowds. In their most distinctive custom, beginning at about five years of age, many Padaung girls have their necks wound with spirals of brass. (In earlier days, copper and gold were used as well....

During the Victorian era, mothers weren’t striving for social media-worthy pictures, but they did put in effort to capture the images they desired. The antiquated cameras of that time necessitated extended exposure times, making it essential for mothers to keep their young children still for significant durations. One technique was for the mother—sometimes the father, a nanny, or the photographer’s assistant—to be hidden within the frame, often behind curtains, under cloaks, or disguised as chairs....

Yeah, you heard it right, it was legal to mail a baby in the United States and it happened more than once and by all accounts. In 1913, The United States Postal Service introduced parcel posts. Before then, all packages sent by mail had to weigh 4 pounds (1.8 kg) or under. With the commencement of the parcel service, people could now ship anything below 50 pounds (23 kg). But almost immediately, it had some unintended consequences as some parents tried to send their children through the mail....

In this article, we’re looking back at some of the great cars from the 1980s that many people might have owned at least once. These were not fancy or expensive cars; they were the ones everyday people drove. One of the most distinctive features of 1980s cars was their boxy and angular designs. From sedans to compact cars, the aesthetic favored a straightforward and functional appearance. Models like the Toyota Corolla, Honda Civic, and Chevrolet Cavalier became staples for individuals and families seeking economical transportation....

To remedy this, city prefect Rambuteau ordered the construction of public urinals – phallic-looking structures with inbuilt plumbing that allowed Paris’s male population to urinate with relative dignity. Having a simple cylindrical shape, built of masonry, open on the street side, and ornately decorated on the other side as well as the cap, they were popularly known as ‘colonnes Rambuteau‘ (‘Rambuteau columns’). To save his name from being associated with urinals, Rambuteau suggested the name ‘vespasiennes‘, in reference to the 1st century Roman emperor Titus Flavius Vespasianus, who placed a tax on urine collected from public toilets for use in tanning....