This photo collection documents turbulent times in America from 1960-1990 through photos taken by Jean-Pierre Laffont, including photos of Robert Kennedy campaigning in 1968, Muhammad Ali before a boxing match in 1974, abandoned cars used as playgrounds in 1966 Bronx, and people protesting at a KKK rally in 1976. The photos provide a glimpse of social and political events like the gay rights movement, women joining the military, and the energy crisis through everyday scenes and famous figures of the time period.

1. Presidential candidate and New York senator Robert Kennedy greets supporters on a campaign stop in Fort Greene, Brooklyn on 1 April, 1968.

2. Born in Algeria in 1935, Jean-Pierre Laffont attended high
school and college in Morocco where he graduated in 1955. Is
a photojournalist, based in New York.
From the KKK to gay kissing: the man who photographed
America's most turbulent times .
Photographer's Paradise: Turbulent America 1960-1990 by Jean-
Pierre Laffont

3. Muhammad Ali finger-pointing during the weigh-in before his
second boxing match with Joe Frazier on 23 January, 1974, in New
York. Ali won the fight and regained the title.

4. On Fox Street in the Bronx, an abandoned Plymouth Savoy becomes a jungle gym for kids to play on in the summer of 1966.

5. Two men ‘flip the bird’ at the Central Park crowd that’s formed as they compete in the kissing contest during New York’s inaugural Gay Pride celebration on
28 June 1970.

6. A fist raised in protest from behind the bars
at Toms Prison, Manhattan, on 28
September, 1972.

7. Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo, Texas on 7 May, 1977.

8. Manhattan, New York City, New York / May, 1980 A prostitute leans playfully on a cop car on 42nd Street Times Square. The police struggled to keep up
with the onslaught of crime in the area, and at times seemed to be playing a friendly game of cat and mouse with the hookers.

9. Manhattan, New York City, New York /
October, 1975 Two homeless men squat in
the shadow of the recently completed
World Trade Center. New York City was on
the verge of bankruptcy and the World
Trade Center sat largely vacant, unable to
find companies to fill its large office
spaces.

10. Guam Island / June 1972 A member of the US Air Force loads bombs onto a B-52 in preparation for bombing missions over Vietnam during Operation Arc
Light. This photo, published as a double page in The New York Times, will become an iconic photo

11. The empty streets of Amarillo, Texas on 7 May, 1977.

12. Watkins Glen, New York / July 28,
1973 A young couple kisses as the
chaos of the crowd whirs around
them with an estimated 600,000
rock fans. The Summer Jam at
Watkins Glen was a 1973 rock
festival which once received the
Guinness Book of World Records
entry for “Largest audience at a
pop festival.”

13. Fort Dix, New Jersey / May, 1980 Men and women finally equal in the American Army. In 1980 the US allows women to actively serve in the military.
Here, women take part in basic training against atomic radiation.

14. August 13, 1969: A ticker-tape shower for Neil
Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Mike Collins after
their return from the moon.

15. Dry Branch, Arkansa, December 1980. Mr Roc Mc Tigert is 80 and lives alone on his farm. He can no longer afford to buy gas so he uses a horse like in the old
days.

16. A Ku Klux Klan meeting in Dunham Springs, LA, December 1976.

17. Plains, Georgia, December 1976: this family were the nearest neighbours to Jimmy Carter’s family home at the time of his election as US president.

18. May 2, 1970: Yale students rally in support of the Black Panthers.

19. Valerie Mayers shows off her biceps backstage before winning the Ms Empire State Competition in New York, 20 June 1981.

20. An unnamed New York couple (summer
1967)

21. President Richard M. Nixon and his wife levying the White House in a helicopter, going to their home in San Clemente, Calif., after resigning his office in the
wake of the Watergate scandal. Washington, D.C. Aug. 9, 1974.

22. New York City, New York / April 26,
1984 When the Statue of Liberty has
a face-lift, major restoration is
required. It lasted four years and cost
$62 million

23. The renovation of the Statue of
Liberty, which lasted four years and
cost $62 million, 1984

24. A subject showing off falsies (New York, 1967)

25. Hippies at the Summer Jam in New York State carry a woman who has fainted, 1973

26. Transvestite prostitutes in New York,
1967

27. A man fixes his makeup during Gay Pride in Central Park (June 1971)

28. The second annual Gay Pride Week in New
York City (June 1971)

29. April 14, 1974: New York's AT&T switchboard operators at work, on the day before automated switching replaces them.

30. A transvestite prepares himself for a night of
work (summer 1967)

31. June 20, 1971: Linotype operators typeset the next day's New York Times, during a surge in newspaper sales owing to the publication of the Pentagon Papers.

33. Bronx, New York / July 20, 1972: Members of the New York street gang Savage Skulls
strike a pose reminiscent of West Side Story. The trademark of the primarily Puerto
Rican gang was a sleeveless denim jacket with a skull and cross- bones design on the
back. Based in the South Bronx neighborhood of Hunts Point, the gang declared war on
the drug dealers that operated in the area as well as running battles with rival gangs

34. May 30, 1973: As the Arab oil embargo causes a
spike in gasoline prices, VW Beetles are unloaded
in the port of New York.

35. Manhattan, New York / 1977: Boys gone wild at New York's legendary Studio 54, where debauchery, sex, drugs and disco ruled from 1977 until 1981, when
amidst scandal and legal action, the nightclub was sold by founders and creators Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager

36. March 16, 1974: Brooklyn Wiccans dance
in celebration.

37. January 25, 1984: Apple's new Macintosh computers come off the production line.

38. July 4, 1986: Watching Operation Sail's tall
ships from a West Side building.