February 1, 1960: Four Black College Students Start the Greensboro Sit-ins

At 4:30 in the afternoon on February 1, 1960, four black college students — Joseph McNeil, Franklin McCain, David Richmond and Ezell Blair Jr. — sat down at a whites-only lunch counter at an F.W. Woolworth’s in Greensboro, N.C., and politely asked for service. They weren’t served. They nevertheless stayed there until the store closed that evening.

Earlier, the four freshmen, who were enrolled at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, had purchased toothpaste and various school supplies. One of them told UPI: “We believe, since we buy books and papers in the other part of the store, we should get served in this part.”

Clarence L. Harris, the store’s manager, said, “They can just sit there. It’s nothing to me.” But when a larger group of students returned the next day, wire services picked up the story. Civil rights groups began to spread the effort to other college campuses. In the next two weeks, students in 11 cities held lunch counter sit-ins. Additional students joined them over the succeeding weeks and months as sit-in protests spread from North Carolina to other Southern states.

By August 1961, the sit-ins had involved more than 70,000 interracial participants and generated some 3,000 arrests. They continued until the 1964 Civil Rights Act outlawed segregation at lunch counters and other public facilities such as movie theaters.

On July 25, 1960, after sustaining nearly $200,000 in losses ($1.8 million today), store manager Harris asked three black employees to change out of their work clothes and to order a meal at the counter. They were the first African-Americans to be served at the Greensboro Woolworth lunch counter. Most of the chain’s stores in the South were soon desegregated, though in some Tennessee cities, notably Nashville and Jackson, Woolworth’s continued to be segregated until 1965, despite multiple protests.

The Greensboro Four: (left to right) David Richmond, Franklin McCain, Ezell A. Blair, Jr., and Joseph McNeil.

While the Greensboro sit-in proved to be the most influential and significant sit-in of the civil rights movement, it was not the first. In August 1939, black attorney Samuel Wilbert Tucker organized a sit-in at the then-segregated Alexandria, Va., library. In 1942, the Congress of Racial Equality sponsored sit-ins in Chicago, as they did in St. Louis in 1949 and Baltimore in 1952. Also, a 1958 sit-in in Wichita, Kan., successfully ended segregation at every Dockum Drug Store in the state.

(via Politico)

33 Vintage Photographs Capture Everyday Life in Morocco in 1960

In July 1960, Allan Hailstone traveled to Morocco. From Casablanca and Tangier to Agadir and Fez, Hailstone took numerous pictures of the country, then 4 years independent since 1956 and under the reign of Mohammed V. He also witnessed the aftermath of the earthquake that destroyed Agadir in February 1960.

For more fascinating vintage photographs, visit Hailstone's brilliant Flickr site.

Tangier

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On January 31, 1961 Ham Became the First Chimpanzee in Space

On the morning of January 31, 1961, in south Florida, a 5-year-old chimpanzee dubbed “Ham” by his handlers ate a breakfast of baby cereal, condensed milk, vitamins and half an egg. Then the unassuming 37-pound primate went out and made aeronautic history: Aboard a NASA space capsule, traveling thousands of miles an hour almost 160 miles above the Earth, he became the first chimp in space. The success of Ham’s flight helped ratchet up even further the already frantic contest for scientific and space supremacy between the U.S. and the Soviet Union and briefly made Ham something of a star.

Ham the chimp poses with a newspaper announcing his successful trip to space, 1961.

Beginning in July 1959, the two-year-old chimpanzee was trained under the direction of neuroscientist Joseph V. Brady at Holloman Air Force Base Aero Medical Field Laboratory to do simple, timed tasks in response to electric lights and sounds. During his pre-flight training, Ham was taught to push a lever within five seconds of seeing a flashing blue light; failure to do so resulted in an application of a light electric shock to the soles of his feet, while a correct response earned him a banana pellet.

The results from his test flight led directly to the mission Alan Shepard made on May 5, 1961, aboard Freedom 7.

On January 31, 1961, Ham was secured in a Project Mercury mission designated MR-2 and launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on a suborbital flight. Ham’s vital signs and tasks were monitored by sensors and computers on Earth. The capsule suffered a partial loss of pressure during the flight, but Ham’s space suit prevented him from suffering any harm.  Ham’s lever-pushing performance in space was only a fraction of a second slower than on Earth, demonstrating that tasks could be performed in space.  Ham’s capsule splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean and was recovered by the USS Donner later that day.  His only physical injury was a bruised nose. His flight was 16 minutes and 39 seconds long.

On April 5, 1963, Ham was transferred to the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. where he lived for 17 years  before joining a small group of chimps at North Carolina Zoo on September 25, 1980.

After his death on January 19, 1983, Ham’s body was given to the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology for necropsy. Following the necropsy, the plan was to have him stuffed and placed on display at the Smithsonian Institution, following Soviet precedent with pioneering space dogs Belka and Strelka. However, this plan was abandoned after a negative public reaction. Ham’s remains, minus the skeleton, were buried at the International Space Hall of Fame in Alamogordo, New Mexico. Colonel John Stapp gave the eulogy at the memorial service. Ham’s skeleton is held in the collection of the National Museum of Health and Medicine.

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We’re Thankful These Vintage Hellmann’s Mayonnaise Recipes Went Away!

When it comes to mayonnaise, people have strong feelings. Some of you can’t stomach the mere thought of it and others of you love it so much you even add it to your PB&J. Regardless of where you stand on the mayonnaise issue, we’re sure that when it comes to the Hellmann’s mayonnaise vintage recipes, everyone, mayo lovers and haters alike, can agree that they’re an assault to all that is good and right about food, if not the world in general.

Lucky for the planet, most of these vintage recipes died out with the close of the decades that produced them. And lucky for Hellmann’s, the company has stopped trying to be a culinary game changer, and have quit trying to convince us to eat mayonnaise with our fruit, because we’re not sure the world would have supported it much longer. Behold, the worst vintage recipes ever made:

1. Skippy & Hellmann’s

2. Hellmann’s Cake

3. Hellmann’s Treasure Chest Salad

4. Cranberry Candle Salad

5. Cranberry Surprise

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Funny Photos of Knobbly Knees Contests in England From the Past

A knobbly knees competition (or knobbliest knees) is a parody of a beauty contest, in which the winner is the person judged to have the knobbliest, or most misshapen, knees.

Such competitions were popular entertainments at British pre- and post-war era holiday camps such as Butlin’s and Pontins. The competitions became a byword for the holiday camp lifestyle.

A June 1947 knobbliest knees contest at Butlin’s Skegness camp was judged by Laurel and Hardy. The denouement of the 1973 British comedy-drama film The Best Pair of Legs in the Business—from which the film takes its title—relies on a character having participated in a knobbly knees competition.

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Zimbabwe in the Late 1960s Through Fascinating Photos

Zimbabwe is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozambique to the east. The capital and largest city is Harare. The second largest city is Bulawayo.

The state endured international isolation and a 15-year guerrilla war with black nationalist forces; this culminated in a peace agreement that established universal enfranchisement and de jure sovereignty as Zimbabwe in April 1980. Zimbabwe then joined the Commonwealth of Nations, from which it was suspended in 2002 for breaches of international law by its then-government under Robert Mugabe, and from which it withdrew in December 2003.

The sovereign state is a member of the United Nations, the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the African Union (AU), and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA). It was once known as the “Jewel of Africa” for its great prosperity.

These fascinating photos from lindsaybridge that captured street scenes of Zimbabwe in 1968.

Council Offices Main Street, Umtali (now Mutare), September 20, 1968

Customs House on the right, Umtali (now Mutare), September 20, 1968

African Motorways Coach at stop at Hartley, Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), on way to Beitbridge, September 29, 1968

Early morning at Salisbury railway station in Rhodesia, now Harare, Zimbabwe, Umtali rail motor standing awaiting departure, September 20, 1968

Gardens in Bulawayo, September 9, 1968

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Rare and Candid Photographs of a Very Young Eddie Van Halen From the Late 1960s and Early 1970s

Eddie Van Halen (January 26, 1955 – October 6, 2020) is generally considered to be, second only to Jimi Hendrix, one of the most influential, original and talented rock guitarists of the 20th century.

Van Halen was born Edward Lodewijk Van Halen in Nijmegen, The Netherlands, where Eddie spent his early years. His family moved to the U.S in 1962 and settled near other family members in Pasadena, California where Eddie and his brother attended elementary school. Eddie and his brother, Alex Van Halen, both took piano lessons at an early age. And both became accomplished piano players. The influence of the piano clearly was the foundation of the musical careers of the two Van Halen brothers.

The invasion of the British rock movement in the late 1960s mesmerized the two Van Halen brothers. They abandoned their pianos and began playing drum and guitar. Initially, Eddie was the drummer and Alex was the guitar player. However, shortly thereafter the two brothers switched instruments, a wise move because Alex became better at the drums than Eddie, and Eddie’s prowess and fame as a rock guitarist is legendary history.

In 1974, the Van Halen brothers hooked up with vocalist David Lee Roth and bassist Michael Anthony to form Van Halen. Within a few years, the band, on the back of Eddie's signature guitar sound and Roth's equally unique vocals, had become hugely popular in the Los Angeles rock scene.

Eddie Van Halen not only was one of the top guitar players of his era, but he also was actively involved in the development of the electric guitar. During his professional career he played on custom-built guitars that were either designed and/or built by him or were modifications of existing guitars. During the early years he did a lot of experimentation himself but in later years he traveled with a guitar technician who worked on Eddie’s guitars under Eddie’s direction.

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30 Kodachrome Slides of San Francisco in the Early 1960s

In the aftermath of World War II, the United States experienced an unparalleled growth in wealth that facilitated the rise of the American middle class and a rapid increase in the birth rate. However, the generation borne out of this era developed belief systems distinct from those of previous generations, and in many ways, outright rejected many traditional values.

What became counterculture ideals—peace, free love, experimentation, and racial equality—crystallized around the burgeoning hippie movement. Thanks to cheap housing and a relatively open social environment, San Francisco became the nexus of hippie culture in the 1960s.

The San Francisco of this decade was a cauldron of drugs and communal living that fostered an explosive creative environment and became home to tens of thousands of newcomers seeking the hippie dream.

These Kodachrome slides were found by @CitroenAcadiane that show street scenes of San Francisco in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

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A Beautiful Photo Series of Audi F103

Audi F103 is the internal designation for a series of car models produced by Auto Union GmbH in West Germany from 1965 to 1972. To signify the change from a two-stroke to four-stroke engine, the DKW marque was dropped in favor of Audi, a name that had been dormant since before the Second World War.

The F103 bodyshell was a development of the earlier DKW F102. The engine compartment had to be extended so that the new four-cylinder engine could be accommodated. The front and tail were also cosmetically revised: Audi F103s sold in Europe all featured quasi-rectangular headlamps which were becoming fashionable at the time, whereas the F102 had used round headlamp units.

All Audi F103 models were offered as sedans with two and four doors. The two-door saloon/sedan, however, was not sold in markets such as Italy and Britain with little demand for two-door cars of this size.

During the early 1960s, Auto Union was in commercial retreat: the Audi F103 was a relative success when compared with recent Auto Union products, even if its commercial success was trumped by subsequent Audi models. In July 1967, it was reported that 100,000 Audis had been completed: production of the F103 had by now built up to a rate of almost 40,000 per year and the company was moved to deny speculation that another new Audi model would be presented at the Frankfurt Motor Show in the Autumn / Fall of 1967.

Fascinating Photos of People Cooling Off in New York’s Overflowing Public Pools

In order to pull the United States out of the Great Depression, the New Deal, a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations, was enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt between 1933 and 1939. After the construction of highways, the largest share of New Deal spending went to the creation of public parks and recreation areas.

McCarren Park Pool, 1937

In New York City, Robert Moses was appointed the sole commissioner of the Parks Department by Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia. Moses assembled an army of designers, engineers and construction supervisors. In just a few years, hundreds of playgrounds, 53 recreational buildings, 10 golf courses and three zoos were created.

In the sweltering summer of 1936, the city opened 11 enormous outdoor pools with an average capacity of 5,000 people, to the great relief of New Yorkers. “Here is something you can be proud of.” Said the Mayor at the opening of the Thomas Jefferson Pool. “It is the last word in engineering, hygiene, and construction that could be put into a pool.”

Take a look at the ecstatic crowds that flocked to these urban oases through these 20 fascinating black and white photographs below:

Wading pool, Carmansville Playground, 1935

Astoria Park Pool, 1936

Astoria Park Pool, 1936

Swimming contest, Astoria Park Pool, 1936

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20 Stunning Portraits of Sharon Tate Taken by Orlando Suero in 1965

Sharon Tate (January 24, 1943 – August 9, 1969) is remembered as one of Hollywood’s biggest style icons during the 1960s and memorable film actresses; her marriage to controversial director Roman Polanski, her impeccable style and timeless beauty, and eventually her horrific, untimely murder at the hands of the Manson family in 1969.

When considering ’60s style, Tate should come to mind. From her blonde locks falling over her famous turtlenecks to her quintessential Mod era makeup, Tate’s style was simple yet effortlessly unique and always chic.

Below is a collection of 20 beautiful portraits of Sharon Tale taken by famed Hollywood photographer Orlando Suero in 1966. The acclaimed photographer also captured some of the most famous Hollywood faces including Brigitte Bardot, Jack Nicholson, Dennis Hopper, Natalie Wood, Faye Dunaway, Kirk Douglas, Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Julie Andrews, Tony Curtis, Diana Ross, and Bob Hope.

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