Barack Obama Dressed as a Pirate with his Mother Stanley Ann, 1960s

Barack Obama Dressed As A Pirate With His Mother Stanley Ann, 1960s. It was taken in the 1960s, and like the best archival images it needs almost no explanation — the frame tells its own story.

The 1960s moved fast: the space race put satellites and then astronauts overhead, television replaced print as the main source of news, and social change swept through music, fashion, and politics. Photojournalism was at its peak, with picture magazines and newspapers employing armies of photographers.

Most photography of the period chased celebrities and headlines, which makes surviving images of daily routine all the more precious. This is what the world actually looked like when nobody thought it was worth remembering.