Portraits of African-American former slaves

We honor 150 years since the abolition of slavery in the United States. On Jan. 31, 1865, Congress passed the Thirteenth Amendment, which abolished slavery and involuntary servitude in the country.

These portraits of black American men and women who had been slaves were taken in the late 1930s as part of the Federal Writers’ Project (FWP) of the Work Progress Administration (WPA). They are part of a group of 500, together with more than 2,000 first-person accounts of the experience of being a slave.

The Federal Writers' Project (FWP) operated during the Great Depression of the 1930s and tasked unemployed writers cross the USA with collecting the life stories of Americans across society. This particular set of pictures and testimonies was published in 1941 as the seventeen-volume "Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States from Interviews with Former Slaves."

1937-1938

Portraits of African-American former slaves

Photographs taken 70 years after the abolition of slavery in the U.S.

Photographer Captures the Ethereal Beauty of Pole Dancers Performing Underwater

Photographer Brett Stanley, in conjunction with the pole fitness supplier X-Pole New Zealand, has capturedthe ethereal beauty of talented pole dancers performing their gymnastic moves underwater in his series, “Underwater Pole Dance/Fitness.” According to Stanley, the dancers make it look much easier than it actually was.

BIOLUMINESCENT PLANKTON GLOW IN BLOOM ON HONG KONG'S SHORES

Glow-in-the-dark blue waves caused by a bioluminescent algal bloom have been spotted at night near Sam Mun Tsai beach in Hong Kong. Algal blooms occur when there is a sharp growth in algae population in a water system, and are considered harmful resulting in negative impacts on other organisms.

The tallest female in the World

Zeng Jinlian - 8 feet 1.75 inches (248.3 cm)

Zeng Jinlian (June 26, 1964 – February 13, 1982) was the tallest female ever recorded in medical history, taking Jane Bunford's record. She is also the only female counted among the 16 individuals in medical history who reached a verified eight feet or more. At the time of her death at the age of 17, in Hunan, China, she was 8 ft 1.75 in (248.3 cm) tall. However, she could not stand up straight due to a severely deformed spine.

Zeng Jinlian - The Tallest Person in the World

Nevertheless, she was the tallest person in the world at the time. In the year between the death of 8 feet 2 inch Don Koehler and her own, she surpassed fellow 'eight-footers' Gabriel Estavao Monjane and Suleiman Ali Nashnush. She was the second woman in recorded history to become the tallest person in the world. Jane Bunford was the first.

The Tallest Man in the World

Robert Wadlow - 8 feet 11.1 inches (272cm)

Robert Wadlow (Born Robert Pershing Wadlow on 22 February 1918 – died 15 July 1940) is the tallest person in medical history for whom there is irrefutable evidence. He is often known as the "Alton Giant" because of his Alton, Illinois hometown.

Robert Wadlow reached 8 feet 11.1 inches (272 cm) in height and weighed 490 pounds (220 kg) at his death. His great size and his continued growth in adulthood was due to hypertrophy of his pituitary gland which results in an abnormally high level of human growth hormone. He showed no indication of an end to his growth even at the time of his death.

Robert Wadlow - The later years

Robert Wadlow's size began to take its toll: he required leg braces to walk, and had little feeling in his legs and feet. Despite these encounters, Robert Wadlow was never confined to a wheelchair. On June 27, 1940 (eighteen days before his death), he was measured at 8 feet 11.1 inches (272 cm) by doctors C. M. Charles and Cyril MacBryde of Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

In his time, Robert Wadlow was among the most popular of American celebrities; he obviously was well-known due to his 1936 U.S. tour with the Ringling Brothers Circus. He continued participating in various tours and public appearances.


Robert Wadlow - His death

On July 4, 1940, while making a professional appearance at the National Forest Festival, a faulty brace irritated his ankle, causing a blister and subsequent infection. Doctors treated him with a blood transfusion and emergency surgery, but his condition worsened and on July 15, 1940, he died in his sleep. He was 22.

An estimated 40,000 people attended Robert Wadlow's funeral on July 19. He was buried in a half-ton coffin that required 12 pallbearers to carry, which was interred within a vault of solid concrete. It was believed that Robert Wadlow's family were concerned for the sanctity of his body after his death, and went to these lengths of security to ensure it would never be disturbed or stolen.

Robert Wadlow - Today

In 1985, a life-size bronze statue of Robert Wadlow by Ned Giberson was erected at the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville School of Dental Medicine. He is also featured in film and with a wax replica in the Ripley's Believe It Or Not! museum in Saint Augustine, Florida, Atlantic City, New Jersey, Niagara Falls, Ontario, Gold Coast, Queensland and Guadalajara, Mexico. A life-sized statue was part of the exhibits at the Guinness Hall of World Records in the Empire State Building in New York City.

World’s Littlest Giant: The Curious Case of Adam Rainer

by The Chirurgeon's Apprentice

I often write about rare medical disorders, but there is one extraordinary case which is so strange, that there is only one documented instance of it in medical history. It involves a man who was both a dwarf as well as a giant over the course of his lifetime.

Adam Rainer was born in Graz, Austria to average-sized parents in 1899. When WW1 broke out, Rainer tried to enlist in the army, but at 4’6.3’’ inches tall, he was deemed too short and weak. A year later, Rainer tried again, and although he had grown a full 2 inches, the army rejected him once more on the basis of his height. Standing 4’8.3’’ inches tall at the age of 19, Rainer was considered a dwarf, being nearly 2 inches below the cut-off (4’10’’).

Although he was short, medical reports from the period state that Rainer had abnormally large hands and feet for his height. When he first tried to enlist in the army, he wore shoes sized US 10 (EU 43). Three years later, his feet had doubled to a size US 20 (EU 53), though his height remained relatively static. To put this in perspective: US basketball player, Shaquille O’Neal, wears shoes sized US 23.

At the age of 21, all this changed.

Rainer suddenly began growing at an alarming pace. Over the next decade, he grew from just under 4’10’’ to a shocking 7’1’’. During this period, Rainer also began developing a severe spinal curvature.

What exactly was the cause behind this growth spurt?

Between 1930 and 1931, Rainer was examined by Drs A. Mandl and F. Windholz, during which time they discovered he was suffering from a condition known as acromegaly. In Rainer’s case, this was caused by a tumour on his pituitary gland which led to an overproduction of growth hormones in his body. This was the reason behind his strange appearance, for Rainer didn’t just have abnormally large hands and feet. He also had a protruding forehead and jaw, as well as thick lips set over widely-spaced teeth. Below are images of man with acromegaly – you can see the effects of this syndrome on his facial features as he ages:

The two doctors decided to operate despite believing the chances for success were small given the fact that the tumour had been growing for over a decade. A few months after surgery, Rainer was measured again. His standing height had remained the same, though his spinal curvature was more severe, indicating that he was still growing, albeit at a much slower rate.

Rainer’s health continued to deteriorate. He went blind in his right eye, and began suffering hearing loss in his left ear. Over time, his spinal deformity became so pronounced, Rainer was confined to bed.

He died, aged 51, measuring 7’8’’ – though some newspapers reported his height as 7’10”. He is the only man in history to be classified as both a dwarf as well a giant; and for me, he is a testament to the marvels of the human body.

Stanley Kubrick o lado fotografo que você não conhecia, 1946

Em 1946, com apenas 17 anos, Stanley Kubrick fotografou para a revista Look o dia-a-dia do metro de Nova Iorque. Diz-se que durante duas semanas intensivas tirou cerca de 15 mil fotografias.

Para dirigir obras primas do cinema, como Laranja Mecânica, O Iluminado e 2001: Uma Odisseia no Espaço, Stanley Kubrick não desenvolveu seu olhar e técnica a partir do nada. A luz, o ângulo, o mistério e o drama são elementos que ele aprendeu ao longos dos anos, boa parte deles enquanto fotografava para a revista Look, em Nova York.

Sua habilidade visual chamou a atenção dos editores da Look ainda em 1945, quando, aos 17 anos, vendeu para a revista a foto de um homem em uma banca de jornais, cercado por notícias da morte do presidente Roosevelt. Kubrick foi chamado para integrar o time de fotógrafos da revista, onde ficou até 1950, quando trocou a câmara fotográfica pela de vídeo.