In 1899, Rudyard Kipling (of Jungle Book fame) wrote a little poem that generated more than a little controversy. Kipling's poem, "The White Man's Burden," was a plea for America to be more involved overseas and, in particular, in the Philippines. Many people not only disagreed with the worldview expressed in the poem but also found it to be racist.
Until 2007 or so, there was an excellent website that featured Kipling's poem and many of the responses, which came in the form of editorial cartoons, poems, essays, and letters to the editor. This website has unfortunately been taken down. However, some of the resources are still up on various places on the web.
As a believer in the learning opportunities available in looking at the original poem and the response, I have started to re-gather these resources and put them back in one place. White Mans Burden .Net (White-Mans-Burden.Net) is now onine in hopes that teachers and students around the U.S. might find it useful.
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