8. This Sad Clown Was Putting Out a Fire
Circuses have a reputation nowadays for being inhumane, for making a spectacle out of people who do not fit in, and for using animals in ways that deprive them of their fundamental rights. However, they have also been notoriously unsafe, as epitomized by a fire at a Ringling Brothers Circus in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1944. This picture is of “Weary Willie,” a clown persona created by Emmett Kelly, who performed for a crowd of 6000 people when the circus tent caught on fire. He rushed to begin helping people escape and then helped put out the fire. Yet 168 people still lost their lives that day.