Muhammad Ali : Rare Photos

Bob Gomel—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images                                                                                                    

When 25-year-old Muhammad Ali, the heavyweight champion of the world and the world’s single most famous Muslim, refused induction into the United States Army in the spring of 1967 (“War is against the teachings of the Koran,” he said. “I’m not trying to dodge the draft [but] we don’t take part in Christian wars.”), there was little doubt in his or in anyone else’s mind that there would be hell to pay for such a principled, public stand.

Elvis Presley : Rarely Early Photos

Robert W. Kelley—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
It’s not that the magazine completely ignored the man who quickly became — and, in some very fundamental ways, has remained — the biggest rock and roll star of the 20th century; but one gets the sense that the magazine was sometimes more fascinated by what might be called the ancillary impact of Elvis, rather than by the performer, or by his music. Little kids getting Elvis haircuts? Teens trying to dance like their idol? That sort of thing can be found in the pages of the magazine — while Elvis himself appears somewhat rarely.

Black and White in colour : Segregation In 1956 South Carolina

 

Margaret Bourke-White—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images

Here, in striking color photographs that, at times, convey an unsettling intimacy, Bourke-White’s work opens a window on an era that, for better and for worse, helped define 20th century America. There is courage to be found here, and dignity and a cruelty that — in the guise of a patronizing benevolence — shaped the destinies of black and white America for decades, and still echoes in our national conversation today.