Jim Zwick, ed. Anti-Imperialism in the United States, 1898-1935.
http://www.boondocksnet.com/ail98-35.html
Assignment: Use Jim Zwick's Anti-Imperialism site to explore primary sources about anti-imperialism in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in the U.S. Once you have spent some time reading documents, read Rudyard Kipling's The White Man's Burden, and at least three responses to it. We will be discussing this poem and reactions to it as a class.
- Parts of the Anti-Imperialism Site to explore:
- History of Anti-Imperialism http://www.boondocksnet.com/ai_hist.html
- Literature of Anti-Imperialism: http://www.boondocksnet.com/ai_lit.html
- Platform Statements of American Anti-Imperialist Organizations: http://www.boondocksnet.com/ai_plat.html
- Primary Sources to Examine:
- African-Americans in the Anti-Imperialist Movement: http://www.boondocksnet.com/ail/afamhist.html
- Moorefield Storey, The Moro Massacre (1906): http://www.boondocksnet.com/moro/moromass.html
- El nacimiento, The Voice of the Filipinos: http://www.boondocksnet.com/vof/index.html
- George Ade, Children Cannot Understand These Things (1899): http://www.boondocksnet.com/lit/children.html
- "The White Man's Burden" and Its Critics: http://www.boondocksnet.com/kipling/
- Questions to Consider:
- 1) According to Kipling, what was the White Man's Burden? Why did white men bear it? Why didn't they share it with other races and women?
- 2) Who were the people Kipling refers to as "half devil, and half child" in the poem? In what other ways did Kipling described these people?
- 3) What was happening in 1899 to make Kipling write the "White Man's Burden"?
- 4) What just reward did the "White Man" get for carrying his "burden"? Why did he deserve that reward?
- 5) Who did Kipling think would read this poem? What do you think that this audience might have said in response to it? Would they agree with Kipling?
Last modified: Thursday, 8 June 2000