What might Mark Twain's opinion of “The White Man's Burden” have been?

Throughout his adult life, Mark Twain was an implacable opponent of imperialism, including American imperialism, which was a relatively new development in his lifetime. Twain, along with a number of other prominent public figures, called for an investigation into widespread abuses by the Belgian colonial authorities in the Congo.

It should come as no surprise, then, that he was strongly opposed to the Spanish-American War of 1898, which he saw as the latest in a long line of exploitative imperialist enterprises. The subsequent American takeover of the former Spanish colony of the Philippines also met with his fierce disapproval on the same grounds.

Given Twain's anti-imperialism, one can readily understand his contempt for Rudyard Kipling's poem “The White Man's Burden,” which was an apologia for American imperialism. At a time when American public opinion was generally in favor of U.S. control of the Philippines, and most Americans endorsed the sentiments expressed in Kipling's poem, Twain was very much in a minority, albeit a very vocal one, in expressing disdain for “The White Man's Burden” and the values it sought to promote.

In a scathing criticism of the poem, Twain asked, “The White Man's Burden has been sung. Who will sing of the Brown Man's?” The implication of Twain's remark is that imperialism is not a burden for the white man, but rather for the colonial subjects he exploits.

How might the ideas in "The White Man's Burden" and "The Brown Man's Burden" have influenced Mark Twain's beliefs and actions?

“The White Man’s Burden” was written by Rudyard Kipling in 1899 as a call to action: it was intended to motivate men in the US to colonize the Philippine Islands. Kipling’s message was that it was the white man’s inherent responsibility to bring their culture to minority groups that were seen as uncivilized during that time period. “The Brown Man’s Burden” was written by Henry Labouchère as a response to Kipling’s poem. It is satirical and is written in a style similar to the one Kipling used in “The White Man’s Burden.”

Kipling admired Mark Twain in his youth and was able to meet him in 1889. Twain followed Kipling’s work as well; however, he didn’t necessarily agree with Kipling’s ideas. There are many works by Twain that suggest he was influenced by Kipling—in “The Stupendous Procession,” he writes, “The White Man’s Burden has been sung. Who will sing the Brown Man’s?”

Other relevant works you might investigate by Twain are “To the Person Sitting in Darkness” (a satirical piece about nationalism) and “The War Prayer,” which discourages imperialism. Because nationalist and imperialist attitudes were so common during this time, the act of writing these types of essays may have been a burden due to the historical context (the Philippine–American War). However, “To the Person Sitting in Darkness” was well received—in fact, despite the prevalence of imperialism at the time, many satirical poems and essays were published in response to Kipling’s poem (this includes “The Brown Man’s Burden”).