One of the most interesting things we learned about this unit, was when we compared the ages of men and women in america from the 1800’s to the 1900’s. It was interesting to see the difference of male lifespan versus female lifespan. In the 1800’s men had a longer lifespan than women, but in the 1900’s, women began to have a longer lifespan. This might be because of the world wars we went through, as men were off fighting, and the women had to stay home.
One other thing that was interesting was looking at the obituaries of people in Washington state who had died earlier. It was sad to see all of the people who had died, and to think about all the families who were mourning, but I was glad to see they all lived rather long lives. The average age ranges have definitely increased over time, as in the 1800’s the average age at death for both male and female was 42, in the 1900’s the average age at death was 71 years, and now, at least in Washington, the average age at death is 84 years.
This was an interesting pattern to see over the years, and is something I might want to spend more time analyzing and looking over.
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