Death and Dying
In Two Mid-19th Century Communities

About | K-12 Objectives | Materials Needed | Procedures | Assessment | Standards

Procedures:

1. Brief students on background material as necessary.

2. Divide class into four groups.

3. Each group will search a different newspaper.

4. Further divide each group into teams of 2-4 students each.

5. Each team must have its own computer.

6. Students should connect to the student activity page and follow the directions given.

7. After students have completed the task to your satisfaction, have students share their observations in a whole-class discussion. Since each group searched a different newspaper, not all students will will have the same findings.

Discussion questions:

• What did you find that surprised you?
  
  
• What appeared to be the most common cause of death for adults?
  
  
• What appeared to be the most common cause of death for children and infants?
  
  
• What impact might the frequency of childhood deaths have had on family life?
  
  
• What are common causes of death today? For children? For adults? What accounts for the change?
  
  
• In addition to learning about common causes and ages of death in ante-bellum America, what else have you learned about America in the late 1850s and early 1860s?