Buddhist monk Thich Quang Duc sets himself ablaze in protest against the persecution of Buddhists by the South Vietnamese government. 

Year: 1963

Photographer: Malcolm W. Browne 

Country: Saigon, Vietnam 

Dorothy Counts, one of the first black students to enter the newly desegregated Harry Harding High School is mocked by whites on her first day of school. People threw rocks and screamed at her “Go back where you came from”. Walking beside her is Dr. Edwin Tompkins, a friend of the family and a professor at the black college Johnson C. Smith University. After a string of abuses, Dorothy’s family withdrew her from the school after only four days. Across the United States this week children had been enrolling for the new school year. In the south tension was particularly high for districts trying to comply with the Supreme Court’s ruling that states should integrate their schools “with deliberate speed”. 

Year: 1957

Photographer: Douglas Martin

Country: Charlotte, North Carolina, US

A German World War II prisoner, released by the Soviet Union, is reunited with his daughter. The child had not seen her father since she was one-year-old. 

Year: 1956

Photographer: Helmuth Pirath

Country: West Germany

A competitor tumbles off his motorcycle during the Motorcross World Championship at the Volk Mølle race course. 

Year: 1955

Photographer: Mogens von Haven

Country: Denmark