The White Man's Burden Essay

The essay that I am presenting today is “Strivings of the Negro People” by W.E.B Dubois. This essay was written in as an article in the Atlantic Monthly in 1987, but before I get to essay, I would like to give some background information about Mr. Dubois. Both scholar and activist, W.E.B. Du Bois was born on February 23, 1868, in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. He studied at Harvard University and, in 1895, became the first African American to earn a doctorate from Harvard. He wrote extensively and was the best known spokesperson for African American rights during the first half of the 20th century. Du Bois co-founded the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in 1909. He died in

Their business interests demand that colonial markets should be opened and developed and that foreign competitors should be shut out. Such aims require political control and imperialism.”By Parker T. Moore, Imperialism and world politics, 1926.Politics and the military also had significance in causing new imperialism. One example is that when a nation had many colonies it believed it would be more powerful and secure. The second example is nationalism, which was a motive for achieving a goal for a nation. Last cause was the poem “The White Man’s Burden“, which was written by Rudyard Kipling, to justify imperialism.

The idea of Imperialism a policy of extending a country's power and influence through diplomacy or military force. The two readings of The white man’s burden and The Black Man's Burden: The White Man in Africa from the Fifteenth Century to World War I show to different sides of people and how they were affected by imperialism.

Source 1 is an image that is showing a man in a washroom washing his hands with soap. It can be made out that the man is white and of high social class. It is an advertisement about Pears’ soap and its advances in cleaning purposes. But on the other hand we can read the saying “The White Man’s Burden” which is used to indicate that white men have a responsibility o0f being paternalistic towards the first nations. In this case it is most likely first nations since in the background there are signs of ships and imperialism. The ideological perspective presented in the source is globalization. If there was no competition between the European countries it was most likely that America would have never been found. The links between the principles

Starting in the mid-nineteenth century, Europeans developed a superiority complex when comparing themselves to the people of less-developed nations. During the age of imperialism, many European powers ventured into Asian, African, and South American lands in order to colonize and impose the rules of Western society. Rudyard Kipling’s poem, “The White Man’s Burden”, properly depicted the racist ideals that developed with imperialism, as Europeans believed it was their duty to civilize the people they viewed as savages. Europeans held a racially superior point of view for almost an entire century. In the latter half of the twentieth century, however, waves of immigrants began flooding into various European nations. This caused the perception

The economic, political, and social forces that were most responsible for the new imperialism of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were the desire for resources, capitalism, a new consumer market, cheap labor, then nationalism from the Romantics, distractions that prevents revolts, and lastly Rudyard Kipling's "White Man Burden", which epitomizes the opinión held by most of Europe. European imperialism grew from 1870-1920 because of economic, political, and social forces.

“Take up the white man’s burden--send forth the best ye breed--Go bind your sons to exile to serve your captives’ need…” -Rudyard Kipling, The White Man’s Burden, 1897

Minorities are still fighting to be seen as equals and treated as human but people still think we have achieved equality today. It really is up to educators to teach children about white privilege and how it affects people. White privilege is something that white people benefit from just because of what they look like, but they have no control over it. This can range from having more opportunities for jobs to being more likely to have enough money to go to private school. I am focusing more on the idea that white people have these benefits and have the privilege to deny that such a divide exists. Being able to dismiss the idea of white privilege shows ignorance and can minimize the experiences of those who have suffered at the hands of white privilege.

Many white Americans are living with the fear that they didn't really deserve their success, and that maybe luck and privilege had more to do with it, than brains and hard work. There are numerous reasons for the widespread discrimination at all levels, but the main reason for the existence of discrimination is a privilege to certain groups of people, and widespread social prejudice towards certain groups of people. Differences between people have always existed, but they gain in importance only when are different importance given to certain differences, so it creates privileges. People who are privileged in one society are often not aware of their privilege. It is very easy to be oblivious to the privilege. The problem of discrimination

Our country was founded on the notion that “all men are created equal,” while this concept is an integral part of America’s Declaration of Independence, the fundamental idea has never genuinely been practiced. Our country established a white supremacy culture in its founding days, and has accepted the concept since. White supremacy is the belief that white people are superior to those of all other races. Although there have been valiant efforts, the inequality of the races has never been truly rectified. People are not born practicing white privilege. White privilege is taught, and learned. America’s school system, media, and culture are driving factors that lead white privilege to be a custom within society today.

During this time in a movement known as the Great Migration, thousands of African-Americans also known as Negros left their homes in the South and moved North toward the beach line of big cities in search of employment and a new beginning. As Locke stated, “the wash and rush of this human tide on the beach line of Northern city centers is to be explained primarily in terms of a new vision of opportunity, of social and economic freedom, of a spirit to seize, even in the face of an extortionate and heavy toll, a chance for the improvement of conditions. With each successive wave of it, the movement of the Negro becomes more and more a mass movement toward the larger

Europeans contained the belief that their customs and religious values were the sole method in living. Missionaries from throughout Europe desired to journey to foreign lands in order to teach the civilized and Christian ways of living to the natives. Often missionaries were in competition for converts, and thus supplied imperialism with other drives (Patterson, par. 10). The Social Darwinist ideas were prevalent in this time. The Europeans believed in the survival of the fittest, and it was generally accepted that the Anglo-Saxons were the superior race. In the 1890’s Rudyard Kipling published “Whiteman’s Burden”. This poem defines the white man as responsible for civilizing the “others”. It is supportive of the imperialism of other countries

However, some westerners actually genuinely thought that they should help and westernize the inferior countries of the world. The British went into Africa, thinking that it was their duty to spread their advances of medicine, law, western civilization, and the Christian religion. This was proved to be embraced in the "anthem of imperialism," called the White Man's Burden by Rudyard Kipling. He expressed in the poem that the duty of the "white man" was to teach and help the people who they cast the inferior rank to. However, it is hard to believe that this was Britain's most important goal in their imperialism.

To begin with, in order to understand how Meiji Restoration prevented Japan from being colonised, it is indispensable to gain insights into the motivations behind it. The peace brought by the policy of sakoku, closing country, in the Tokugawa period resulted the rapid development of Japanese economy and diverse culture. On the other hand, it also led to heavy taxes on peasants, and an increase in the debts of samurai class and the economic status of merchants. Hence, it elicited the discontent of samurai and peasants as the economic disparity between social classes was enlarged. In addition to that, the Tokugawa was also challenged by the West. With the invasion of Commodore Matthew Perry in 1853, the U.S. demanded Japan to open the whole

     In one of his most famous poems, Rudyard Kipling said, "Take up the white man's burden!" (146). He was only one of many who believed in the virtues of imperialism in the late nineteenth and the early twentieth centuries. During that period, imperialism was on the rise, and Africa was being swallowed up by competing European nations. The imperialists had many arguments supporting imperialism. They said it was beneficial and, in some cases, essential. Their arguments did not satisfy everyone, but that did not bother them. The justifications ranged from economics to social services, while touching on everything else in between (Hayes 222-3).