US History Honors

December 20th, 2021:

"Debate over U.S. imperialism at the turn of the twentieth century occurred not only in newspapers and political speeches, but in poetry as well. In 1899, the British novelist and poet Rudyard Kipling wrote the poem “The White Man’s Burden,” which 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.” Other authors, by contrast, wrote parodies and critiques of Kipling’s poem and the imperial ideology it espoused. “The Black Man’s Burden” and “The Poor Man’s Burden,” by H.T. Johnson and George McNeil, respectively, were two such parodies." - Eliza Fabillar, American Social History Project, George Mason University

Assignment: Read the following synopsis and poem by Rudyard Kipling, entitled The White Man's Burden. Using your knowledge of social studies, explain how The White Man's Burden justifies Imperialism - pay attention to the ways in which Kipling speaks about indigenous (native) peoples and their culture versus "Anglo-Saxon" peoples and their culture. 2-3 pages Double Spaced, TNR Font.

Additional Readings:

The Philippine - American War, 1899-1902 - Office of the Historian

The Story of American Imperialism - NPR

Anti-Imperialist writings - Mark Twain

DUE: January 8th, 2021