#506 The Spanish-American War and "The White Man's Burden"

"The British John Bull and the American Uncle Sam bear The White Man's Burden (Apologies to Rudyard Kipling), taking the coloured peoples of the world to civilisation" in Judge magazine, 1 April 1899. Wikimedia.​

Background on Spanish-American War:

• February 1898 U.S.S. Maine destroyed by mysterious explosion and sank; 266 U.S. sailors died; press blamed Spain and demanded war
• 20 April 1898 Congress declared war on Spain
• Spanish forces were defeated in three months, in what John Hay, the American Secretary of State, later called a “splendid little war.”
• Eventual result: U.S. annexed Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Guam; brief occupation of Cuba and then conditional independence (Platt amendment allowed U.S. to intervene freely in Cuba and U.S. navy granted permanent lease on base at Guantanamo Bay).

Poetry analysis: “White Man’s Burden”:

• Introduction (from George Mason University):
  • In February 1899, British novelist and poet Rudyard Kipling wrote a poem entitled “The White Man’s Burden: The United States and The Philippine Islands.” In this poem, Kipling urged the U.S. to take up the “burden” of empire, as had Britain and other European nations. Theodore Roosevelt, soon to become vice-president and then president, copied the poem and sent it to his friend, Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, commenting that it was “rather poor poetry, but good sense from the expansion point of view.” Not everyone was as favorably impressed. Poet Ernest Crosby penned a parody of Kipling’s work, “The Real White Man’s Burden,” and published it in his 1902 collection of poems Swords and Plowshares. Crosby also wrote a satirical, anti-imperialist novel, Captain Jinks, Hero, that parodied the career of General Frederick Funston, the man who had captured Philippine leader Emilio Aguinaldo in 1901.
• Read the document containing two poems Rudyard Kipling, “The White Man’s Burden” and Ernest Crosby, “The ‘Real’ White Man’s Burden” (PDF)
• Consider the questions at the beginning of each page.

Homework: Assignment #507