In this project we had the opportunity to do whatever we wanted as long as it had something to do with U.S. History. Some groups Wrote poetry about women suffrage, others researched the history of baseball and laid out a baseball field and each base had a number of facts, dates etc. Deciding what to do for this project was challenging in the sense that we had very little restrictions, so anything was a possibility. When the time came to decide my partner Jacob Harris and I decided to take black and white iconic photographs from World War II and colorize the Main focus of them, and along with the pictures we wrote little descriptions explaining what was happening in that point in time. We chose to go down this route because it was a slick traditional option that could display World War II in a nice clean way.
Final Product: Colorized World War II Photos
Operation Doomsday
D-Day, also known as the Normandy landings, was a key event for the Allies on the Western front of the war. On June 6, 1944, 24,000 American, British, and Canadian troop landed on the beaches of Normandy in an attempt to capture major beachheads along the Atlantic Wall. The coast was divided in 5 sectors: Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword Beach. The capture of these military locations on D-day led to at least 10,000 Allied casualties while the German casualties were only about 1,000. It wasn’t until 6 days later that the 5 sectors were connected. The landing of the Allies on the beaches of Normandy is the largest seaborne invasion on record. |
The Holocaust
The Holocaust is considered to be on of the deadliest genocides in history. From 1941 to 1945, around 6 million Jewish people were killed. Originally, the Jewish community was excluded from German society. Around 2 million Jews were killed by Einsatzgruppen (labor force) prior to the establishment of the concentration camps. By 1942, millions of Jews were transported via train to concentration camps across Germany and Poland. The train were packed with people leaving little space to breathe or stand. Those who survived the journey were put to work within the camps and were killed within gas chambers. This picture was taken shortly after the Allies had liberated a concentration camp in 1945. |
The Battle of Iwo Jima
The Battle of Iwo Jima played an immense role in American history. From February 19 to March 26, 1945, United States Marines performed efforts to capture the island Iwo Jima from the Japanese Imperial Army. The island played a very important role in the positioning for the attack on Japan's main islands And allowed the United States to further their attack towards the Japanese. “Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima" is a historic photograph which was taken on February 23, 1945 by Joe Rosenthal. This picture shows six United States Marines planting and raising an American Flag on top of Mount Suribachi. Three of the Marines in the picture died in action, while the others became famous the day the photo was published. This picture was the first to win the Pulitzer prize for photography in the same year it was published and was considered the best photograph to portray the struggles of the war. |
Victory on Japan day in Times Square
On August 6, 1945 the United States dropped the first atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima, Japan. Three days later, a second bomb was dropped on the city of Nagasaki, Japan. These instances were the first the world had seen of nuclear weapons used in a time of war. Among both events, 246,000 people were killed. Six days later, Japan surrendered to the Allies thus ending the Pacific War. This iconic photograph was taken by Alfred Eisenstaedt on August 15, 1945 in Times Square, New York City. It depicts a United States sailor kissing a young nurse after hearing the news of Japan’s surrender to the United States during World War II. This picture became one of the most iconic World War II photos of celebration after it circulated the country in Life magazine, symbolizing the joy of being at peace because the war was over. |