For this assignment I wanted to take a look at how enslaved males did in relation to free males in terms of reaching 100+ years old.
I am extremely impresses with the results since I was not expecting the enslaved males to do so much better. When we think of the daily lives of the slaves, nothing leads us to believe that they would, in fact, live to be over 100. When we take into account how they ate, where they lived, and how they were treated, I would even be impressed if they made it to over 60. However, even though it was not that common, there were a few that got to 100+. With that in mind, maybe they had access to a “healthier diet” since they did not have access to sugar and other commodities that are known to harm our health.
On the other hand, one would think that with the access to better medical care, the free men would be able to reach the 100 years old mark with better ease than the enslaved did.
Another interesting thing when looking at the map is that most of the enslaved men that lived to be over 100 lived in the southern parts of the United States, while the free men lived in the north. There is also a strong concentration of both free and enslaved men around the upper east coast. That could be due to the weather being less harsh in those areas.
Overall, this map shows us that even though you may think that the odds are stacked against you, you may still prevail in the end.
This is a fantastic data map and a great research question! The population visualizations definitely come as a bit of a surprise and it’s difficult to find a conclusion for these numbers. I think it’s important to add that anyone living to be over 100 had to be incredibly rare in 1840, and I wonder about the extent to which enslaved people knew their exact age. Birth dates were often not recorded or remembered, leaving us with questionable records. Perhaps some elders just assumed that they were “over 100.” Nevertheless, to have 34 enslaved people over 100 in Charleston County, SC, raises significant questions. I agree that the immediate assumption would be that because of the violence and horrific working conditions, enslaved people probably had shorter life expectancies. At the same time, we also know that enslaved people carried medical knowledge and practiced medicine with a lot of success, and that deserves some recognition as well. Great work and visualizations!!