The Bigger the Better: 18 Vintage Photos of African Women With Their Traditional Lip Plates From the Early 20th Century

The Mursi, Chai and Tirma are probably the last groups in Africa amongst whom it is still the norm for women to wear large pottery or wooden discs or ‘plates’ in their lower lips. The lip-plate (dhebi a tugoin) has become the chief visible distinguishing characteristic of the Mursi and made them a prime attraction for tourists.

A girl’s lower lip is cut, by her mother or by another woman of her settlement, when she reaches the age of 15 or 16. The cut is held open by a wooden plug until the wound heals, which can take around 3 months. It appears to be up to the individual girl to decide how far to stretch the lip, by inserting progressively larger plugs over a period of several months.

It is uncertain how this bizarre custom came into being. One theory is that lip plating originated as a deliberate disfigurement designed to make women and young girls less attractive to slave traders. Some researchers claim that the size of the lip plate (the bigger the better) was a sign of social importance or wealth within the tribe. Another analysis indicated that the bigger the size of the lip plate, the bigger the dowry a bride would receive on her wedding day. For example, the larger the lip plate, the greater number of cows the bride’s father can demand in his daughter’s dowry. But some researchers dispute this theory, arguing that marriage of most tribal girls, as well as the size of their dowries, is prearranged long before their lips are cut. Others suggest that lip plating is simply an ornamentation meant to symbolize a woman’s strength and self-esteem. The practice is also described as being a sign of social maturity and reaching reproductive age, thus indicating a girl’s eligibility to become a wife.

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Amazing Color Photographs of the Blackfoot and Their Homelands in Northwestern Montana

Pittsburgh native Walter McClintock graduated from Yale in 1891. In 1896 he traveled west as a photographer for a federal commission investigating national forests. McClintock became friends with the expedition’s Blackfoot Indian scout, William Jackson or Siksikakoan. When the commission completed its field work, Jackson introduced McClintock to the Blackfoot community of northwestern Montana.

Over the next twenty years, supported by the Blackfoot elder Mad Wolf, McClintock made several thousand photographs of the Blackfoot, their homelands, their material culture, and their ceremonies.

Like his contemporary, the photographer Edward Curtis, McClintock believed that Indian communities were undergoing swift, dramatic transformations that might obliterate their traditional culture. He sought to create a record of a life-way that might disappear. He wrote books, mounted photographic exhibitions, and delivered numerous public lectures about the Blackfoot.

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Moko Kauae: 30 Incredible Portraits of Maori Women With Their Tradition Chin Tattoos From the Early 20th Century

For New Zealand Maori women, the moko kauae, or traditional female chin tattoo, is considered a physical manifestation of their true identity. It is believed every Maori woman wears a moko on the inside, close to their heart; when they are ready, the tattoo artist simply brings it out to the surface.

The Maori are indigenous people that originated in New Zealand. They have a form of body art, known as moko but more commonly referred to as Maori tattooing. The art form was brought to the Maori from Polynesia and is considered highly sacred.

Since the Maori people consider the head to be the most sacred part of the body, the most popular kind of Maori tattoo was the facial tattoo, which was composed of curved shapes and spiral like patterns. Often this tattoo covered the whole face and was a symbol of rank, social status, power and prestige.

For Maori, tattooing was (and for some, still is) a rite of passage, which meant it was highly revered and ritualised. The tattooing would begin usually during adolescence.

The great thing about Maori tattoos is that to this day, no two tattoos are alike. Maori tattoos are one of a kind. They are always highly intricate and detailed and display the craftsmanship and artistry of not only the artist but of the Maori culture.

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Incredible 19th Century Portraits of Native Americans Are Brought to Life in a Series of Colorized Pictures

Incredible portraits of Native Americans from up to 120 years ago have been brought to life in a series of colorized pictures.

The stunning series of images include Iron White Man from the Sioux tribe — who traveled with Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show wearing the police uniform he would have performed in — and a Native American on the Flathead Indian Reservation in Western Montana clutching a rifle. Contrasting spectacular pictures show Plain Owl of the Crow tribe wearing a traditional dress and holding a tomahawk in his lap.

The amazing pictures were colorized by French artist Frédéric Duriez from Angres, Pas de Calais.

“I see that there is a lot of humanity and quietness in the Native Americans’ faces, in their attitude there is a spirit of freedom,” he said. “I think that they look fantastic, they are very proud people.”

“When I colourize, I look at people’s faces and I research the fashion period, in fact, I imagine myself painting a picture.” Frédéric added.

Peter Tall Mandan, Grandson of Long Mandan of the Sioux tribe in 1905.

Porrum and Pedro, a pair of Ute men wear brightly colored dress in a picture from 1899.

Rose Bompard Bird, of the Crow tribe, looks directly at the painter in a early 1900s red and green ankle-length dress.

Salish of Flathead Indian Reservation poses with a weapon in Western Montana in 1907.

A Native American from the Blackfeet tribe, that lived in Idaho and Montana.

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Fascinating Vintage Photographs Capture the Diversity of Those Living in the Russian Empire During the 1870s and 1880s

The Russian Empire stretched from eastern Europe, across Asia to include parts of North America. Ruling this vast area was the Tsar – or emperor – who governed an incredible range of people that may come as a surprise to some.

Explorer George Kennan, from Ohio, collected hundreds of cartes de visites — picture postcards which display the wide variety of the emperor’s subjects during the 1870s and 1880s.

In 1864, he secured employment with the Russian–American Telegraph Company to survey a route for a proposed overland telegraph line through Siberia and across the Bering Strait. Having spent two years in the wilds of Kamchatka, he returned to Ohio via Saint Petersburg and soon became well known by his lectures, articles and a book about his travels.

In his book, Tent Life in Siberia, Kennan provided ethnographies, histories and descriptions of many native peoples in Siberia, that are still important for researchers. They include stories about the Koraks (modern spelling: Koryaks), Kamchatdal (Itelmens), Chookchees (Chukchis), Yookaghirs (Yukaghirs), Chooances (Chuvans), Yakoots (Yakuts) and Gakouts. During 1870, he returned to St. Petersburg and travelled to Dagestan, in the northern Caucasus region, which had been annexed by the Russian Empire only ten years previously. There he became the first American to explore its highlands, a remote Muslim region of herders, silversmiths, carpet-weavers and other craftsmen. He travelled onward through the northern Caucasus area, stopping in Samashki and Grozny, before returning once more to America in 1871. These travels earned him a reputation as an "expert" on all matters pertaining to Russia.

This Afro-Karabakh mountaineer from the Caucasus region is one of those few might associate with Russia.

A woman from Georgia, then part of the Russian Empire.

This image from between 1870 and 1886 shows an Arab from Jerusalem, taken in Russia.

This man, named as Dikofski, is a prisoner dressed in his convict clothing in Odessa, modern Ukraine.

This photo, taken between 1870 and 1886 shows a Kazakh or Buryat man.

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Rare Photos Show Members of the Osage Indian Tribe That Were Being Killed Off One-by-One After Oil Was Discovered Underneath Their Land

Rare images have revealed the intriguing murder mystery that captivated a nation as the FBI stepped in for the first time in history to solve a case. The black and white pictures show the Native American tribe that were being killed off one-by-one after oil was discovered underneath their land.

The Osage Indian nation in Oklahoma, USA were the richest people per capita in the world in the 1920s and had built mansions, rode in chauffeured automobiles and sent their children to study in Europe.

The true-life murder story, which became one of the FBI’s first major homicide investigation, is chronicled in a new book, Killers of the Flower Moon, by David Grann and published by Simon and Schuster.

The killings began in May 1921, with 25-year-old Anna Brown. Her decaying body was found by hunters in a ravine. Police suspected alcohol-poisoning — until a coroner found she had been shot between the eyes. The same day, her cousin Charles Whitehorn’s body turned up — and two months later her mother Lizzie Kyle died, her death blamed on whiskey.

Then in early 1923, Brown’s cousin Henry Roan was shot in his car. The next month Brown’s sister Rita Smith and her husband Bill died when their house exploded.

But the murders went far beyond just one family. The FBI estimated 60 Osage Indians died violent or suspicious deaths. A mother was found dead on her lawn. A sympathetic local lawyer was thrown from a speeding train and a white oilman who travelled to Washington D.C. to report on the crimes was stabbed 20 times.

By 1923, as local police seemed unwilling to investigate, the tribe demanded justice. Luckily, the then fledgling FBI was looking for cases to earn them publicity, so from 1923 to 1925 they quizzed more than 150 people in relation to the Osage killings. FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover asked Tom White to unravel the mystery. Mr White put in place an undercover team, who alongside the Osage, exposed a chilling conspiracy.

In its undercover investigation, the FBI found that several murders in one family were found to have been committed by a gang led by William "King of Osage Hills" Hale. His goal was to gain the oil royalty headrights and wealth of several tribe members, including his nephew's Osage wife, the last survivor of her family.

Three men were convicted and sentenced in this case, but most murders went unsolved. The investigation also uncovered extensive corruption among local officials involved in the Osage guardian program.

As a result of the Reign of Terror, as it was known, and the subsequent investigation Congress changed the law to prohibit non-Osage from inheriting headrights from Osage with half or more Native American ancestry.

Mollie Burkhart, right, with her sisters Anna and Minnie. They were part of the Osage Native American tribe, who were killed one by one in a murder mystery.

Mollie became a prime target after it was revealed her people were living on land where there was oil underneath.

The Osage tribe were among the richest people in the world and often rode in chauffeur-driven cars.

The fourth sister Rita with servant.

The killings began in May 1921, when 25-year-old Anna Brown’s decaying body was found by hunters in a ravine.

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Major General Horatio Gordon Robley With His Collection of Tattooed Maori Heads, 1895

Horatio Gordon Robley (1840-1930) was a British army officer and artist who served in New Zealand during the New Zealand land wars in the 1860s. He was interested in ethnology and fascinated by the art of tattooing as well as being a talented illustrator.

He wrote two books relating to his time in New Zealand, Moko or Maori Tattooing in 1896 and Pounamu: Notes on New Zealand Greenstone. In the first book, as well as demonstrating and explaining the art of Māori tattooing, he also wrote chapters on the dried tattooed heads or Mokomokai. Robley decided to acquire as many examples of Mokomokai as possible, and at length built up a unique collection of 35 heads.

Major General Horatio Gordon Robley with his collection of tattooed Maori heads, 1895

Robley would have obtained these heads from a market and traded for them. The trafficking of the items would have likely lead to murder and foul play since they were sought after items that had value. One account recalls a market seller telling the story of a slave who was being tattooed with the intention of being executed and sold as a Maori, however he escaped. The heads would have also been traded for firearms that certain tribes would have used during the musket wars.

In 1908 he offered them to the New Zealand Government for £1,000; his offer, however, was refused. Later, with the exception of the five best examples which Robley retained, the collection was purchased by the American Museum of Natural History, New York, for the equivalent of £1,250.

Photographer Documented More Than 1,000 Intricate Afro Hairstyles in Nigeria During the 1960s and 1970s

In Nigeria, it’s not just hair!

Widely regarded as one of the greatest 20th century African photographers, J.D. Okhai Ojeikere earned international acclaim through his Hairstyle series; a personal project begun in 1968, which grew to encompass 1,000 photographs spanning 40 years.

Ojeikere elevates hair design from fashion to a fine art form through celebrating their intricate patterns, sculptural qualities, and abstraction. In contrast to the variety of complex hairstyles represented, Ojeikere's photography uses a consistent and understated visual language. In these literally back-to-front portraits, softly-lit hairstyles occupy the majority of the composition without distraction from props or backdrops.

“To watch a ‘hair artist’ going through his precise gestures, like an artist making a sculpture, is fascinating,” Mr. Ojeikere once said. “Hairstyles are an art form.”

The hairstyles Ojeikere presents range from being purely decorative to symbols with precise meanings. Some designs are paraded on social occasions or celebrations such as weddings or birthdays, whilst other styles are worn casually on a regular basis. Hairstyles can be reflective of social status and royalty may have unique family hairstyles passed down through generations. To Ojeikere, the hairstyles celebrate uniqueness and reflect the diversity of cultural traditions within Nigeria.

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45 Enchanting Portraits of Native American Teen Girls From Between the Late 19th to Early 20th Centuries

Natives Americans tribes believed that they originated from a woman and many of their legends and creation stories depict a “mother earth.” Agriculture was put under the women of the tribe’s trust, and they saw to the fields, both harvesting and cultivating the vegetables and plants for their people.

Tribal women like the Algonquians planted their fields meticulously and in a way that kept the land sustainable for future use. After planting seeds and piling on earth to protect it from the birds and harvesting until the soil lacked nutrients to continue on, women decided when to clear new fields and allow the used ones to regenerate. Women in the Iroquois tribes often controlled the distribution of food among their people. Their perceived position as beings of spiritual power gave women in some tribes the opportunity to be healers for minor injuries, as men were more commonly shamans, midwives, and herbalists.

The Native American people were known for having women sit in positions of political power beyond simply controlling the food or being “agricultural scientists.” Elder women in the Iroquois tribes gathered in clans to decide who would sit on the tribe or village council, even choosing the 49 chiefs sitting on the Five Nation Iroquois Confederacy.

There were women who learned skills in hunting, fishing, swimming and became a warrior for their people, like Queen Weetamoo. It was not usual for women to go into combat “there are numerous stories of women rushing onto the battlefield to protect or substitute for their fallen husbands or brothers,” some even earned titles and were allowed to sing and dance with their warrior brothers. Women who sat as leaders of their tribes, like Queen Anne and Weetamoo, were known for their participation in wars, as many tribal leaders were.

In many different tribes, like the Iroquois, the families were matrilineal, where the family line was continued through the women. Instead of women leaving their families to join their husbands, it was the opposite; men joined the families of the women they married and their sons left to join their wives’ families. The women and all of their descendants lived in what is called a “longhouse” together. While it was common for marriages to be arranged by fathers or the other male family, women controlled whether or not they wanted a divorce. They could simply move back in with their families or, as was common in Iroquois society, a woman could leave her husband's belongings outside their door to say she wanted a divorce.

In the Lakota tribes there was the legend of the “Double Woman Dreamer” who behaved in masculine ways and had special powers. This spurred on the concepts of warrior women or “manly hearted women” who acted like men in hunting and during warfare. There was the counterpart role for men of the “berdache” a role where a man could dress and take on the responsibilities of a woman.

Here are some enchanting vintage photographs of Native American teen girls captured from between the late 19th and until the turn of the 20th century.

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21 Fascinating Vintage Photographs That Capture Everyday Life of Siberia From the Early 1900s

Siberia is an extensive geographical region, and by the broadest definition is also known as North Asia. Siberia has historically been a part of Russia since the 17th century. With an area of 13.1 million square kilometres, Siberia accounts for 77% of Russia's land area, but it is home to just 40 million people – 27% of the country's population. This is equivalent to an average population density of about 3 inhabitants per square kilometre, making Siberia one of the most sparsely populated regions on Earth.

The origin of the name is unknown. Some sources say that "Siberia" originates from the Siberian Tatar word for "sleeping land." Another account sees the name as the ancient tribal ethnonym of the Sirtya (also "Syopyr"), a folk, which spoke a language that later evolved into the Ugric languages. This ethnic group was later assimilated to the Siberian Tatar people.

Here’s some pictures of the people of Yenisei province, Siberia from the early 1900s.

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