From Malcolm X and Albert Einstein to the Civil War and the Great Depression, these colorized old photographs bring history to life like never before.
Olive Oatman was abducted by the Native Americans who'd just clubbed her family to death before her eyes while traveling through presentday Arizona in 1851. After the attackers traded her to the Mohave people, she spent four years in captivity before being returned to white society — still bearing the face tattoo she'd been given while imprisoned.
24 Stunning Colorized Photos That Breathe New Life Into The Past
President Abraham Lincoln stands on the battlefield at Antietam, Maryland with Allan Pinkerton (the famed military intelligence operative who essentially invented the Secret Service, left) and Major General John A. McClernand (right) on Oct. 3, 1862.
African-American Union soldiers at Dutch Gap, Virginia in November 1864.
Portrait of Marilyn Monroe taken by Richard Avedon, considered by some to be the most honest picture of her ever taken.
Albert Einstein in 1921.
President Abraham Lincoln stands on the battlefield at Antietam, Maryland with Allan Pinkerton (the famed military intelligence operative who essentially invented the Secret Service, left) and Major General John A. McClernand (right) on Oct. 3, 1862.
Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels gives the Heil Hitler salute as he watches over his daughters while they do the same during a state Christmas party in Berlin in 1937.
Al Capone after being arrested as he was trying to enter Miami, Florida. He was caught by city police who were trying to keep the notorious gangster out. 1930.
Wild West showman Buffalo Bill Cody with several of his Pawnee and Sioux performers in Staten Island, New York in 1886.
A portrait of a Greek Orthodox priest immigrant taken at Ellis Island, New York. Circa 1910s.
The German airship Hindenburg bursts into flames in Manchester Township, New Jersey, on May 6, 1937 after static electricity ignited the hydrogen gas used to keep the craft afloat.
A pair of African-American troops pose by artillery during World War II. 1944.
Iron White Man, a Sioux Indian from Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show.
A staged photo of the samurai's suicide-by-disembowelment ritual known as seppuku. Circa 1880-1890.
Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife, Sophie, leave the Sarajevo Guildhall on June 28, 1914. Five minutes later, they were assassinated. Their assassination precipitated Austria-Hungary's declaration of war against Serbia which later kicked off World War I.
Men and women stand in an alley known as "Bandit's Roost" off Mulberry Street in Manhattan. Circa 1887-1890.
Bar patrons hold up their glasses and toast the end of Prohibition. December 1933.
A British cavalry sergeant major instructs an American soldier in bayonet charging at Texas’ Camp Dick.
After the Civil War, the American West was in large part settled by freed slaves who sought to both distance themselves from their past but also to seek a better future in a place where the established and rigid prejudices of the East held less power over their lives.
A London fireman wearing a smoke helmet. 1908.
Alfred Hitchcock directing on the set of The Birds, released in 1963.
Soviet soldiers charge during the Siege of Leningrad. 1943.
Children lick a massive block of ice in order to stay cool on a hot day. New York City. July 6, 1912.
The young son of a farmer walks amid the dust in Cimarron County, Oklahoma during the Dust Bowl. April 1936. Advertisements
