The White Man’s Burden was a recruiting pitch aimed at American colonizers

Evidence

In the late nineteenth century, when Kipling wrote “The White Man’s Burden,” he was simply reinforcing an idea that was by then widespread. Kipling wrote of the inherent superiority of the West and its “burden” to civilize and tame the peoples of the East. Characterized as “half devil, half child,” the colonized were seen both as evil and barbaric and as childlike and therefore in need of protection. When the poem was originally published, Kipling used the subtitle “The United States and the Philippine Islands” as a way to urge the Americans to take on the same responsibilities as the British. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 127 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

The Negro, however sincere, is the slave of the past. None the less I am a man, and in this sense the Peloponnesian War is as much mine as the invention of the compass. Face to face with the white man, the Negro has a past to legitimate, a vengeance to exact; face to face with the Negro, the contemporary white man feels the need to recall the times of cannibalism. — Frantz Fanon, Constance Farrington, Black skin, white masks, 825 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: ‘The White Man’s Burden’ was subtitled to recruit America into empire — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 127; The white man’s burden myth framed colonial exploitation as a noble sacrifice. — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race: Reflections on…, 77; The Negro faces the white man burdened with a past to legitimate — Frantz Fanon, Constance Farrington, Black skin, white masks, 825 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• ‘The White Man’s Burden’ was subtitled to recruit America into empire #corroborates (0.98) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 127
• The Negro faces the white man burdened with a past to legitimate #complicates (0.72) — Frantz Fanon, Constance Farrington, Black skin, white masks, 825