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"The White Man's Burden" (1899), by
Rudyard Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work. ...
, is a poem about the
Philippine–American War The Philippine–American War or Filipino–American War ( es, Guerra filipina-estadounidense, tl, Digmaang Pilipino–Amerikano), previously referred to as the Philippine Insurrection or the Tagalog Insurgency by the United States, was an arm ...
(1899–1902) that exhorts the United States to assume colonial control of the
Filipino people Filipinos ( tl, Mga Pilipino) are the people who are citizens of or native to the Philippines. The majority of Filipinos today come from various Austronesian ethnolinguistic groups, all typically speaking either Filipino, English and/or other ...
and their country.Hitchens, Christopher. ''Blood, Class, and Empire: The Enduring Anglo–American Relationship'' (2004) pp. 63–64 Originally written to celebrate the
Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria The Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria was officially celebrated on 22 June 1897 to mark the occasion of the 60th anniversary of Queen Victoria's accession on 20 June 1837. Queen Victoria was the first British monarch ever to celebrate a Diamond ...
(22 June 1897), the
jingoistic Jingoism is nationalism in the form of aggressive and proactive foreign policy, such as a country's advocacy for the use of threats or actual force, as opposed to peaceful relations, in efforts to safeguard what it perceives as its national inter ...
poem was replaced with the sombre " Recessional" (1897), also a Kipling poem about empire. In "The White Man's Burden", Kipling encouraged the American
annexation Annexation (Latin ''ad'', to, and ''nexus'', joining), in international law, is the forcible acquisition of one state's territory by another state, usually following military occupation of the territory. It is generally held to be an illegal act ...
and colonisation of the
Philippine Islands The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...
, a Pacific Ocean archipelago conquered in the three-month
Spanish–American War , partof = the Philippine Revolution, the decolonization of the Americas, and the Cuban War of Independence , image = Collage infobox for Spanish-American War.jpg , image_size = 300px , caption = (clock ...
(1898). As an
imperialist Imperialism is the state policy, practice, or advocacy of extending power and dominion, especially by direct territorial acquisition or by gaining political and economic control of other areas, often through employing hard power (economic and ...
poet, Kipling exhorts the American reader and listener to take up the enterprise of empire yet warns about the personal costs faced, endured, and paid in building an empire; nonetheless, American imperialists understood the phrase "the
white man White is a racialized classification of people and a skin color specifier, generally used for people of European origin, although the definition can vary depending on context, nationality, and point of view. Description of populations as ...
's burden" to justify imperial conquest as a
civilising mission The civilizing mission ( es, misión civilizadora; pt, Missão civilizadora; french: Mission civilisatrice) is a political rationale for military intervention and for colonization purporting to facilitate the Westernization of indigenous pe ...
that is ideologically related to the continental expansion philosophy of
manifest destiny Manifest destiny was a cultural belief in the 19th century in the United States, 19th-century United States that American settlers were destined to expand across North America. There were three basic tenets to the concept: * The special vir ...
of the early 19th century.


History

"The White Man's Burden" was first published in ''The Times'' (London) on 4 February 1899, and in ''The New York Sun'' on 5 February 1899. On 7 February 1899, during senatorial debate to decide if the US should retain control of the Philippine Islands and the ten million
Filipinos Filipinos ( tl, Mga Pilipino) are the people who are citizens of or native to the Philippines. The majority of Filipinos today come from various Austronesian ethnolinguistic groups, all typically speaking either Filipino, English and/or othe ...
conquered from the
Spanish Empire The Spanish Empire ( es, link=no, Imperio español), also known as the Hispanic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Hispánica) or the Catholic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Católica) was a colonial empire governed by Spain and its prede ...
, Senator
Benjamin Tillman Benjamin Ryan Tillman (August 11, 1847 – July 3, 1918) was an American politician of the Democratic Party who served as governor of South Carolina from 1890 to 1894, and as a United States Senator from 1895 until his death in 1918. A whit ...
read aloud the first, the fourth, and the fifth stanzas of Kipling's seven-stanza poem as arguments against ratification of the
Treaty of Paris Treaty of Paris may refer to one of many treaties signed in Paris, France: Treaties 1200s and 1300s * Treaty of Paris (1229), which ended the Albigensian Crusade * Treaty of Paris (1259), between Henry III of England and Louis IX of France * Trea ...
, and that the US should formally renounce claim of authority over the Philippine Islands. To that effect, Senator Tillman addressed the matter to President
William McKinley William McKinley (January 29, 1843September 14, 1901) was the 25th president of the United States, serving from 1897 until his assassination in 1901. As a politician he led a realignment that made his Republican Party largely dominant in ...
: He quotes, '' inter alia'', stanzas 1, 4, and 5 of "The White Man's Burden", noting: Senator Tillman was unpersuasive, and the US Congress ratified the Treaty of Paris on 11 February 1899, formally ending the Spanish–American War. After paying a post-war indemnification of twenty million dollars to the Kingdom of Spain, on 11 April 1899, the US established geopolitical hegemony upon islands and peoples in two oceans and in two hemispheres: the Philippine Islands and
Guam Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic cent ...
in the Pacific Ocean, and
Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...
and
Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...
in the Atlantic Ocean.


Text


Interpretation

The imperialist interpretation of "The White Man's Burden" (1899) proposes that the white race is morally obliged to civilise the non-white peoples of planet Earth, and to encourage their
progress Progress is the movement towards a refined, improved, or otherwise desired state. In the context of progressivism, it refers to the proposition that advancements in technology, science, and social organization have resulted, and by extension wi ...
(economic, social, and cultural) through
colonialism Colonialism is a practice or policy of control by one people or power over other people or areas, often by establishing colonies and generally with the aim of economic dominance. In the process of colonisation, colonisers may impose their relig ...
: Kipling positively represents imperialism as the moral burden of the white race, who are divinely destined to "civilise" the brutish, non-white
Other Other often refers to: * Other (philosophy), a concept in psychology and philosophy Other or The Other may also refer to: Film and television * ''The Other'' (1913 film), a German silent film directed by Max Mack * ''The Other'' (1930 film), a ...
who inhabits the barbarous parts of the world; to wit, the seventh and eighth lines of the first stanza
represent Represent may refer to: * ''Represent'' (Compton's Most Wanted album) or the title song, 2000 * ''Represent'' (Fat Joe album), 1993 * ''Represent'', an album by DJ Magic Mike, 1994 * "Represent" (song), by Nas, 1994 * "Represent", a song by the ...
the Filipinos as "new-caught, sullen peoples, half-devil and half-child." Despite the chauvinistic nationalism that supported Western imperialism in the 19th century, public moral opposition to Kipling's
racialist Scientific racism, sometimes termed biological racism, is the pseudoscientific belief that empirical evidence exists to support or justify racism (racial discrimination), racial inferiority, or racial superiority.. "Few tragedies can be more e ...
misrepresentation of the colonial
exploitation of labour Exploitation of labour (also known as labor) is a concept defined as, in its broadest sense, one agent taking unfair advantage of another agent. It denotes an unjust social relationship based on an asymmetry of power or unequal exchange of value be ...
in "The White Man's Burden" produced the satirical essay " To the Person Sitting in Darkness" (1901), by
Mark Twain Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has p ...
, which catalogues the Western military atrocities of revenge committed against the Chinese people for their anti-colonial
Boxer Rebellion The Boxer Rebellion, also known as the Boxer Uprising, the Boxer Insurrection, or the Yihetuan Movement, was an anti-foreign, anti-colonial, and anti-Christian uprising in China between 1899 and 1901, towards the end of the Qing dynasty, by ...
(1899–1901) against abusive Western businessmen and Christian missionaries. Kipling politically proffered the poem to New York governor
Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...
(r. 1899–1900) to help him persuade
anti-imperialist Anti-imperialism in political science and international relations is a term used in a variety of contexts, usually by nationalist movements who want to secede from a larger polity (usually in the form of an empire, but also in a multi-ethnic so ...
Americans to accept the territorial annexation of the Philippine Islands to the United States.Greenblatt, Stephen. ''Norton Anthology of English Literature'', New York 2006 . In September 1898, Kipling's literary reputation in the U.S. allowed his promotion of
American empire American imperialism refers to the expansion of American political, economic, cultural, and media influence beyond the boundaries of the United States. Depending on the commentator, it may include imperialism through outright military conquest ...
to Governor Roosevelt: As Victorian imperial poetry, "The White Man's Burden" thematically corresponded to Kipling's belief that the
British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts esta ...
was the Englishman's "Divine Burden to reign God's Empire on Earth"; and celebrates British colonialism as a mission of civilisation that eventually would benefit the colonised natives. Roosevelt sent the poem to U.S. Senator
Henry Cabot Lodge Henry Cabot Lodge (May 12, 1850 November 9, 1924) was an American Republican politician, historian, and statesman from Massachusetts. He served in the United States Senate from 1893 to 1924 and is best known for his positions on foreign policy. ...
for his opinion and they agreed that it made "good sense from the expansion standpoint" for the American empire. Since the late nineteenth century, "The White Man's Burden" has served the arguments and counter-arguments of supporters and the opponents of
imperialism Imperialism is the state policy, practice, or advocacy of extending power and dominion, especially by direct territorial acquisition or by gaining political and economic control of other areas, often through employing hard power (economic and ...
and
white supremacy White supremacy or white supremacism is the belief that white people are superior to those of other races and thus should dominate them. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any power and privilege held by white people. White su ...
.


Responses

In the early 20th century, in addition to "To the Person Sitting in Darkness" (1901), Mark Twain's factual satire of the
civilising mission The civilizing mission ( es, misión civilizadora; pt, Missão civilizadora; french: Mission civilisatrice) is a political rationale for military intervention and for colonization purporting to facilitate the Westernization of indigenous pe ...
that is proposed, justified, and defended in "The White Man's Burden" (1899), contemporary opposition to Kipling's jingoism provoked poetic
parodies A parody, also known as a spoof, a satire, a send-up, a take-off, a lampoon, a play on (something), or a caricature, is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satiric or ironic imitation. Often its sub ...
that expressed anti-imperialist moral outrage, by critically addressing the particulars of
white supremacist White supremacy or white supremacism is the belief that white people are superior to those of other Race (human classification), races and thus should dominate them. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any Power (social and polit ...
racism in colonial empires.''Benét's Reader's Encyclopedia'', Fourth Edition (1996), p. 560. "The Brown Man's Burden" (February 1899), by the British politician
Henry Labouchère Henry Du Pré Labouchère (9 November 1831 – 15 January 1912) was an English politician, writer, publisher and theatre owner in the Victorian era, Victorian and Edwardian eras. He is now most remembered for the Labouchere Amendment, Labouchè ...
; "The Black Man's Burden: A Response to Kipling" (April 1899), by the clergyman H. T. Johnson; and the poem "Take Up the Black Man's Burden", by the educator J. Dallas Bowser. In the U.S., a Black Man's Burden Association demonstrated to Americans how the colonial mistreatment of Filipino brown people in their Philippine homeland was a cultural extension of the institutional racism of the
Jim Crow laws The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the Southern United States. Other areas of the United States were affected by formal and informal policies of segregation as well, but many states outside the Sout ...
for the legal mistreatment of black Americans in their U.S. homeland. The popular response against Kipling's jingoism for an
American Empire American imperialism refers to the expansion of American political, economic, cultural, and media influence beyond the boundaries of the United States. Depending on the commentator, it may include imperialism through outright military conquest ...
to annex the Philippine Islands as a colony impelled the establishment (15 June 1899) of the
American Anti-Imperialist League The American Anti-Imperialist League was an organization established on June 15, 1898, to battle the American annexation of the Philippines as an insular area. The anti-imperialists opposed forced expansion, believing that imperialism violated t ...
in their political opposition to making colonial subjects of the Filipinos. In ''The Poor Man’s Burden'' (1899), Dr. Howard S. Taylor addressed the negative psycho-social effects of the imperialist
ethos Ethos ( or ) is a Greek word meaning "character" that is used to describe the guiding beliefs or ideals that characterize a community, nation, or ideology; and the balance between caution, and passion. The Greeks also used this word to refer to ...
upon the working-class people in an empire. In the social perspective of "The Real White Man's Burden" (1902), the reformer Ernest Crosby addresses the moral degradation (coarsening of affect) consequent to the practice of imperialism; and in "The Black Man's Burden" (1903), the British journalist
E. D. Morel Edmund Dene Morel (born Georges Edmond Pierre Achille Morel Deville; 10 July 1873 – 12 November 1924) was a French-born British journalist, author, pacifist and politician. As a young official at the shipping company Elder Dempster, Morel ob ...
reported the Belgian imperial
atrocities in the Congo Free State In the period from 1885 to 1908, many well-documented atrocities were perpetrated in the Congo Free State (today the Democratic Republic of the Congo) which, at the time, was a State (polity), state under the absolute rule of Leopold II of Belg ...
(1885–1908), which was an African personal property of King
Leopold II of Belgium * german: link=no, Leopold Ludwig Philipp Maria Viktor , house = Saxe-Coburg and Gotha , father = Leopold I of Belgium , mother = Louise of Orléans , birth_date = , birth_place = Brussels, Belgium , death_date = ...
. In '' The Black Man's Burden: The White Man in Africa, from the Fifteenth Century to World War I'' (1920),
E. D. Morel Edmund Dene Morel (born Georges Edmond Pierre Achille Morel Deville; 10 July 1873 – 12 November 1924) was a French-born British journalist, author, pacifist and politician. As a young official at the shipping company Elder Dempster, Morel ob ...
identifies, describes, and explains that the metropole-colony power relations are established through
cultural hegemony In Marxist philosophy, cultural hegemony is the dominance of a culturally diverse society by the ruling class who manipulate the culture of that society—the beliefs and explanations, perceptions, values, and mores—so that the worldview of t ...
, which determines the weight of the black man's burden and the weight of the white man's burden in building a colonial empire. "The Black Man's Burden Reply to Rudyard Kipling (1920), by the social critic
Hubert Harrison Hubert Henry Harrison (April 27, 1883 – December 17, 1927) was a West Indian-American writer, orator, educator, critic, race and class conscious political activist, and radical internationalist based in Harlem, New York. He was described by a ...
, described the moral degradation inflicted upon the colonised Black people and the colonist white people. In the
decolonisation Decolonization or decolonisation is the undoing of colonialism, the latter being the process whereby imperial nations establish and dominate foreign territories, often overseas. Some scholars of decolonization focus especially on independence m ...
of the
developing world A developing country is a sovereign state with a lesser developed industrial base and a lower Human Development Index (HDI) relative to other countries. However, this definition is not universally agreed upon. There is also no clear agreem ...
, the phrase ''the white man's burden'' is synonymous with colonial domination, to illustrate the falsity of the good intentions of Western
neo-colonialism Neocolonialism is the continuation or reimposition of imperialist rule by a state (usually, a former colonial power) over another nominally independent state (usually, a former colony). Neocolonialism takes the form of economic imperialism, gl ...
towards the non-white peoples of the world.Plamen Makariev. Eurocentrism, ''Encyclopedia of the Developing World'' (2006) Thomas M. Leonard, Ed. , p. 636: "On one hand, this is the Western 'well-intended' aspiration to dominate 'the developing world.' The formula 'the white man's burden', from Rudyard Kipling's eponymous poem, is emblematic in this respect."; Chisholm, Michael. ''Modern World Development: A Geographical Perspective''. Rowman & Littlefield, 1982, , p.12: "This Eurocentric view of the world assumed that, but for the 'improvements' wrought by Europeans in Latin America, in Africa and in Asia, the manifest poverty of their peoples would be even worse."; and Rieder, John. ''Colonialism and the Emergence of Science Fiction'' 2008. Wesleyan University Press, Middleton, Conn., p. 30: "The proto-narrative of progress operates equally in the ideology of the 'white man's burden' — the belief that non-whites are child-like innocents in need of white men's protection — and the assumptions that undergird Victorian anthropology. From the most legitimate scientific endeavour to the most debased and transparent prejudices runs the common assumption that the relation of the colonizing societies to the colonized ones is that of the developed, modern present to its own undeveloped, primitive past." In 1974, President
Idi Amin Idi Amin Dada Oumee (, ; 16 August 2003) was a Ugandan military officer and politician who served as the third president of Uganda from 1971 to 1979. He ruled as a military dictator and is considered one of the most brutal despots in modern w ...
of Uganda sat atop a throne while forcing four white British businessmen to carry him through the streets of Kampala; as the businessmen groaned under the weight of Amin, he joked that this was "the new white man's burden".


See also

*
Orientalism In art history, literature and cultural studies, Orientalism is the imitation or depiction of aspects in the Eastern world. These depictions are usually done by writers, designers, and artists from the Western world. In particular, Orientalist p ...
*
Civilizing mission The civilizing mission ( es, misión civilizadora; pt, Missão civilizadora; french: Mission civilisatrice) is a political rationale for military intervention and for colonization purporting to facilitate the Westernization of indigenous pe ...
*
Christian mission A Christian mission is an organized effort for the propagation of the Christian faith. Missions involve sending individuals and groups across boundaries, most commonly geographical boundaries, to carry on evangelism or other activities, such ...
*
Economic growth Economic growth can be defined as the increase or improvement in the inflation-adjusted market value of the goods and services produced by an economy in a financial year. Statisticians conventionally measure such growth as the percent rate of ...
*
Faccetta Nera "'Faccetta Nera'" ("Little Black Face" or "Pretty Black Face") is a popular marching song A march, as a musical genre, is a piece of music with a strong regular rhythm which in origin was expressly written for marching to and most frequently p ...
*
Development theory Development theory is a collection of theories about how desirable change in society is best achieved. Such theories draw on a variety of social science disciplines and approaches. In this article, multiple theories are discussed, as are recent d ...
*
Rudyard Kipling bibliography This is a bibliography of works by Rudyard Kipling, including books, short stories, poems, and collections of his works.''Rudyard Kipling: A Bibliographic Catalogue'', James McG. Stewart, ed. A.W. Yeats (Dalhousie University Press, Toronto), 1959 ...
* "
The Gods of the Copybook Headings "The Gods of the Copybook Headings" is a poem by Rudyard Kipling, characterized by biographer Sir David Gilmour as one of several "ferocious post-war eruptions" of Kipling's souring sentiment concerning the state of Anglo-European society. It wa ...
" (1919), by Rudyard Kipling * '' The Tears of the White Man'', by
Pascal Bruckner Pascal Bruckner (; born 15 December 1948, in Paris) is a French writer, one of the "New Philosophers" who came to prominence in the 1970s and 1980s. Much of his work has been devoted to critiques of French society and culture. Biography Bruckner ...
* ''
The Tyranny of Guilt ''The Tyranny of Guilt: An Essay on Western Masochism'' (french: La tyrannie de la pénitence. Essai sur le masochisme occidental) is a book by Pascal Bruckner about the origin and political impact of the contemporary political culture of Western ...
'', by Pascal Bruckner *
White savior The term white savior is a critical description of a white person who is depicted as liberating, rescuing or uplifting non-white people; it is critical in the sense that it describes a pattern in which people of color in economically under-develo ...
*
Valladolid debate The Valladolid debate (1550–1551) was the first moral debate in European history to discuss the rights and treatment of an indigenous people by European colonizers. Held in the Colegio de San Gregorio, in the Spanish city of Valladolid, it was ...
*
Yellow Peril The Yellow Peril (also the Yellow Terror and the Yellow Specter) is a racist, racial color terminology for race, color metaphor that depicts the peoples of East Asia, East and Southeast Asia as an existential danger to the Western world. As a ...


Citations


General references

* ''A Companion to Victorian Poetry'', Alison Chapman; Blackwell, Oxford, 2002. * Chisholm, Michael (1982).'' Modern World Development: A Geographical Perspective''. Rowman & Littlefield, 1982, . * Cody, David
"The Growth of the British Empire"
The Victorian Web, University Scholars Program, National University of Singapore, November 2000. * Crosby, Ernest (1902). ''The Real White Man's Burden''. Funk and Wagnalls Company, 32–35. * Dixon, Thomas (1902). ''The Leopard's Spots: A Romance of the White Man's Burden—1865–1900''. * ''Encyclopedia of India''. Ed. Stanley Wolpert. Vol. 3. Detroit: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2006, pp. 35–36. 4 vols. * "Eurocentrism". In ''Encyclopedia of the Developing World''. Ed. Thomas M. Leonard, Taylor & Francis, 2006, . * Greenblatt, Stephen (ed.). ''Norton Anthology of English Literature'', New York, 2006. .

Fordham University. Full text of the poem. * Labouchère, Henry (1899)

* Mama, Amina (1995). ''Beyond the Masks: Race, Gender, and Subjectivity''. Routledge, 1995, . * * Miller, Stuart Creighton (1982). ''Benevolent Assimilation: The American Conquest of the Philippines, 1899–1903.'' Yale University Press. . * Murphy, Gretchen (2010). ''Shadowing the White Man's Burden: U.S. Imperialism and the Problem of the Color Line''. NYU Press. * Pimentel, Benjamin (26 October 2003). "The Philippines; 'Liberator' Was Really a Colonizer; Bush's Revisionist History". ''San Francisco Chronicle'': D3. * Sailer, Steve (2001). "What Will Happen in Afghanistan?".
United Press International United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20th ...
, 26 September 2001. * '' The Shining''. Jack Nicholson's character Jack uses the phrase to refer to whiskey.
The Text of the poem
* {{DEFAULTSORT:White Man's Burden 1899 in international relations 1899 poems Anti-black racism Anti-Filipino sentiment Anti-indigenous racism British colonisation in Africa Eurocentrism History of the Philippines (1898–1946) Imperialism Philippine–American War Poetry by Rudyard Kipling Racism in the United Kingdom Race-related controversies in literature White supremacy Works about New Imperialism Works about white people Works originally published in American newspapers Works originally published in McClure's