13 powerful portraits of women throughout the decades

• National Geographic's powerful photography collection is highlighting women all over the world through photos drawn from the infamous National Geographic archive.
• Here are 13 portraits that capture women's strength and perseverance throughout the decades.

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Excerpted from "Women: The National Geographic Image Collection" by National Geographic and Susan Goldberg with permission from National Geographic. Copyright 2019.

1890s: Journalist and civil rights activist Ida B. Wells rallied against injustices faced by people of color until her death in 1931.

Source: Chicago Historical Society, 1890s

1900s: An Ouled Nail woman in Algeria displays her dowry of gold coins.

Source: Lehnert & Landrock, 1905

1910s: Three Japanese women dressed in traditional kimonos pose behind cherry blossoms.

Source: Eliza R. Scidmore, 1918

1920s: Roller skaters stop traffic as they take to the streets in Washington, D.C.

Source: Fred Schutz, 1929

1930s: A group of colorful dancers perform at the Mississippi State College for Women in Columbus.

Source: J. Baylor Roberts, 1937

1940s: Travelers find fields of wildflowers in bloom along Route 99 in the San Joaquin Valley, California.

Source: B. Anthony Stewart, 1942

1950s: A woman walks her dachshund along the Copacabana Promenade in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Source: Charles Allmon, 1955

1960s: A Tahitian woman stands in profile.

Source: Luis Marden, 1962

1970s: A woman walks across a sidewalk in Toronto, Canada.

Source: Sam Abell, 1978

1980s: Two women take a break to share a laugh while working in the rice paddies in Honshu, Japan.

Source: Paul Chesley, 1981

1990s: Veiled actress Benedetta Buccellato performs as la Corifea, the female protagonist in Prometheus Bound, at the Greek Theater of Syracuse in Sicily.

Source: William Albert Allard, 1994

2000s: A woman in Florence, Italy, takes a moment to herself to read a greeting card designed as a newspaper.

Source: Jodi Cobb, 2005

2010s: Members of the Palmer Society, a campus women’s organization, enjoy graduation day at Whittier College, one of the most diverse universities in the United States.

Source: Karla Gachet and Ivan Kashinsky, 2017