Boat of No Smiles (1977) – Eddie Adams

The situation of refugees back in the day was similar to what they are experiencing now. In 1977, a boat carrying around 50 South Vietnamese people arrived in Thailand, hoping for a reprieve post-Vietnam War. Seeing the group, Eddie Adams boarded the watercraft, but Thai authorities ordered him to disembark.

Adams managed to get this gut-wrenching shot and send it, along with a report, to Associated Press. This photo tugged the hearts of those in Congress, and over 200,000 Vietnamese refugees were welcomed to the United States in 1978. As what’s been happening in Syria, millions of refugees try their hardest to escape their war-torn country.