Feb. 10, 1899: Bigotry and racism behind the Philippine-American War
Rudyard Kipling / Photo from Wikipedia
On Feb. 10, 1899, McClure’s monthly magazine published a poem by Rudyard Kipling entitled, “The White Man’s Burden: The United States and The Philippine Islands.”
The poem encouraged and emboldened the expansionist and imperialist in the United States. The imperialist believed that they had an honorable and needed duty to acquire a colony in the Philippines.
Six days before the publication of the poem, fighting between the American forces and the Philippine Revolutionaries erupted on a bridge outside of Manila.
The tension between the Americans and the Filipinos had been boiling for months. The fighting could have occurred at any time. The publication of the poem and the outbreak in fighting pressured the United States Senate to ratify the Treaty of Paris.
The Filipinos had formed a constitutional republic in January 1899. The Filipinos thought that they had won the right to be an independent and free country since they had defeated Spanish colonialism in the Philippines.
The Americans believed that the islands belong to them since the Treaty of Paris ceded the Philippines to them. With major differences, conflict was inevitable.
The year 1899 was probably the zenith of imperialism in the world. The British, French, Spanish, Netherland, Belgium were the leaders in imperialism.
The Spanish empire was on a rapid decline. The Germans, Japanese and the United States were the novices in expansionism, but they were now serious players in the colonial game.
Underneath the motivation for imperialism was bigotry and racism. The imperialist countries thought that they were superior based on their white race.
They thought that the inferior “natives” lacked the innate skills and talents for self-government. They assumed that it was their duty to civilize the unfortunate ones.
Based on these thoughts, the imperialists were willing to accept the “burden” of colonialism. The Japanese imperialists were an exception to the “White Man’s Burden.” They believed that all Japanese were superior to all others.
Rudyard Kipling was a celebrated writer of his time. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1907. He had lived for years in India, which was one of many British colonies.
His poem, “The White Man’s Burden” was very controversial. For those who promoted expansionism, Kipling was the spokesman and author for the colonial cause. For anti-expansionist, he was the poster boy for bigotry and racism.
Rudyard Kipling’s literary reputation diminished after World War I. The extreme carnage and destruction from the war changed American and world opinions on imperialism. From that point in time, imperialism was on the decline.
Dennis Edward Flake is the author of three books on Philippine-American history. He is a Public Historian and a former park ranger in interpretation for the National Park Service at the Eisenhower National Historic Site in Gettysburg, PA. He can be contacted at: [email protected]
