Death rates in the 20th century 1 year old. In 1999, at the end of the century, the infant mortality rate in the United States declined more than 90% to 7.2 deaths per 1,000 live births. Similarly, maternal mortality rates declined almost 99% to less than 0.1 reported deaths per 1,000 live births. There are a variety of causes for this steep decline in death rates in the 20th century: Despite these tremendous decreases in infant mortality and maternal mortality, the 20th century experienced significant disparities between minority death rates compared to death rates for white mothers. In the 1900s, black women were twice as likely
American social dancing in the 20th century as swing dancing are still done, but are not necessarily well known or popular. Ragtime and jazz dance were both iconic dances of the 20th century. Both of them contained syncopated rhythms and dance steps that were very different from the polite and proper dance steps from centuries before. The new technology that came with the century made way for new ways of thinking, which in turn brought new music and exciting new dances. Ragtime music was at the height of its popularity from 1895 to 1918. Soon there were also dance moves created to go along with the music.