Inspirational graffiti adorns an abandoned building on Auburn Avenue in Atlanta, Georgia, around the corner from Martin Luther King, Jr.'s, birthplace. This photo appeared in the July 1988 issue, as Atlanta prepared to host that year's Democratic National Convention.
PHOTOGRAPH BY JIM RICHARDSON, NAT GEO IMAGE COLLECTION
A surfing contest turns into a sunbathing session at Camp Pendleton, Virginia Beach. This U.S. military-owned strip of beach adjoins more than seven miles of public beaches.
PHOTOGRAPH BY KAREN KASMAUSKI, NAT GEO IMAGE COLLECTION
A May 1995 story documented Oman's efforts at modernizing. Here, a Bedouin woman participates in an adult literacy class while her granddaughters look on.
PHOTOGRAPH BY JAMES STANFIELD, NAT GEO IMAGE COLLECTION
A clinic in Pokrovskoye, Russia, transforms into a fourth-grade classroom after the local school's heating system broke. For a lake-front town in Siberia, heat is not optional.
PHOTOGRAPH BY SARAH LEEN, NAT GEO IMAGE COLLECTION
A story in the December 2015 issue explored how cultures across the world revere and celebrate the Virgin Mary. Here, dancers in Haiti prepare for a midnight ceremony in honor of Ezili Danto, the Black Madonna.
PHOTOGRAPH BY DIANA MARKOSIAN, NAT GEO IMAGE COLLECTION
A teacher explains molecular construction to a room of students in Conakry, Guinea. This story from the August 1966 issue tracked the West African nation's progress after declaring independence from France in 1958.
PHOTOGRAPH BY JAMES P. BLAIR, NAT GEO IMAGE COLLECTION
A Hasidic Jewish man in Ukraine immerses himself before Rosh Hashanah in a quarry pool that serves as a mikvah, a body of water used for spiritual cleansing.
PHOTOGRAPH BY JOHN STANMEYER, NAT GEO IMAGE COLLECTION