Thesis Titles Addressing Gaps and Selection of an Appropriate Title
Gap 1: Transnational Solidarity
Title: "Burdens Across Borders: H.T. Johnson’s Anti-Imperialist Solidarity and the
Transnational Black Radical Tradition, 1899–1920"
Focus: Traces Johnson’s influence on anti-colonial networks (e.g., W.E.B. Du Bois, Philippine
anti-war activists).
Gap 2: Religious Rhetoric
Title: "Divine Justice vs. Divine Mandate: Biblical Frameworks as Weapons of Resistance in
The Black Man's Burden"
Focus: Analyzes Johnson’s theological critique as foundational to Black liberation theology.
Gap 3: Economic Colonialism
Title: "Profit, Toil, and Blood: Comparative Economics of Exploitation in Kipling’s and
Johnson’s 'Burden' Poems"
Focus: Uses Marxist theory to dissect labor/land theft motifs in both texts.
Gap 4: Modern Imperialist Discourses
Title: "The White Man’s Burden 2.0: Neocolonial Rhetoric in U.S. Foreign Policy from
Kipling to the War on Terror"
Focus: Examines Kipling’s lexical legacy in 21st-century statecraft, using Johnson’s poem as a
counter-framework.
Gap 5: Intersectional Silences
Title: "Unvoiced Burdens: Gender, Race, and the Erasure of Colonized Women in Imperialist
and Anti-Imperialist Poetry, 1899–1914"
Focus: Applies feminist postcolonial theory (Spivak, Mohanty) to recover marginalized voices.
Hybrid Gap (1+4)
Title: "Echoes of Empire: The Black Man’s Burden as Blueprint for Contemporary Anti-War
Movements"
Focus: Studies Johnson’s impact on anti-Iraq/Afghanistan activism through archival movement
materials.
"The White Man's Burden" by Rudyard Kipling (1899)
Key Idea: Justifies imperialism as a "civilizing mission."
Imperialism/Colonialism Focus:
● Directly advocates for U.S. colonization of the Philippines in the aftermath of the
Spanish-American War, assigning the "burden" of colonization as a civilizing burden to
civilize and uplift "sullen peoples ... half devil and half child".
● Embraced by imperialists such as Theodore Roosevelt, who considered it a call to expand
American hegemony.
● Served as propaganda to justify brutal wars such as the Philippine-American War, in
which 250,000+ Filipinos perished.
Main Components:
1. Paternalistic racism occupies a secondary position to white peoples of the world - the
assumption that colonized peoples are inherently savage, backward, and need to be
guided by benevolent Westerners.
2. Dualistic focus on sacrifice ( "savage wars of peace") and economic exploitation ( "seek
another's profit")
"The Black Man's Burden," H.T. Johnson (1899)
Core Theme: Dismantling the hypocrisy in imperialism and creating a connection with racial
oppression.
Imperialism/Colonialism Focus:
● Critiques Kipling by noting the violence of colonized places (Cuba and Hawaii) and
linking it to American racism.
● Target domestic oppression: Jim Crow laws, lynching ("fiendish midnight deeds"), and
native American genocide ("sealed the Red Man’s problem").
● Frames imperialism as simply an extension of white supremacy, where colonizers
"menaced feeble folks" with military power.
Key Elements:
1. Religious condemnation: Points out that the brutalities of imperialists will provoke the
wrath of God ("reign God’s judgments fierce").
2. Transnational solidarity: Merging the suffering of black Americans with colonized people
suffering around the world.
Comparative Strength for Research :
Research Advantages of Kipling's The White Man's Burden
Kipling's poem provides unique access to pro-imperialist ideology at the height of its influence.
As a fulcrum of U.S. colonial policy in the Philippines, the poem contextualizes the mechanisms
of racial paternalism (as in "half-devil and half-child") employed to rationalize military
occupation and economic exploitation of imperialized communities. Since it appeared in
McClure's Magazine (1899), researchers can align it with other historical moments of
consequence related to the Spanish-American War, instances of political discourse surrounding
anti-imperialism, and Theodore Roosevelt's expansionism. Researchers will even be able to trace
the developments of this vague legacy through propaganda material (e.g., political cartoons
appearing in Puck), speeches made by imperialist leaders, and even manifestations in
contemporary neocolonial discourse. The poem's unabashed racism and ethnocentrism also tell
an important story of literature as an instrument of empire, along with numerous interdisciplinary
connections to political history, propaganda studies, and critical race theory.
Research Strengths of Johnson's The Black Man's Burden
Johnson's response is a significant piece of anti-imperialist resistance and intersectional critique.
Johnson recontextualizes Kipling's "burden" by exposing it as the violence of lynching, land theft
from Native Americans, and the hypocrisy of the "Christian" colonizers. Johnson's work suggests
a transnational analysis connecting overseas empire (such as the Philippine-American War) and
domestic racial terror (Jim Crow). By publishing Johnson's response in The Christian Recorder,
we are able to observe a moment of black intellectual activism at the turn of the twentieth
century, as well as some of the only evidence of how marginalized communities counter-narrated
hegemonic narratives of the day. Considering themes of divine justice, solidarity with the global
colonized (or "Brown races"), and condemnation of U.S. exceptionalism identifies new avenues
for research in diaspora politics, liberation theology, and decolonial theory. And unlike Kipling,
who presents a discourse of top-down imperialism, Johnson centralizes the subaltern in his
response, making it an essential text for research on resistance literature.
Suggestions for your Thesis
If you want to explore an analysis of pro-imperial ideology, propaganda, and its connection to
racial paternalism, choose The White Man's Burden. Because it provides a tremendous amount
of sources that are focused on political history, war, and the elite justification of empire.
If you want to explore anti-imperial ideology, racial justice, and common global struggles against
oppression, choose The Black Man's Burden. It draws connections between colonialism and
systemic racism and centers on marginalized voices.
Hybrid Approach: Both poems impactfully intersect. You may want to consider a thesis
comparing how each text presents a "burden" metaphor in the poem — imperial duty in Kipling
vs. systemic oppression in Johnson. This could be an entry point for an exploration that draws on
literary analysis, colonial history, and critical race theory.
Data collection:
Primary Sources
1. Kipling, R. (1899). The white man's burden. McClure's Magazine, 12, 290-291.
Link: [Link] Original
poem scan from Internet Archive
2. Johnson, H. T. (1899, February 23). The black man's burden. The Christian Recorder,
46(43), 1.
Link: [Link]
Library of Congress newspaper archive
Secondary Sources: Kipling Focus
3. [Link]. (n.d.). The white man's burden by Rudyard Kipling.
Link: [Link]
Imperialist rhetoric analysis
4. Zamani Alavijeh, H. (2024). Racial ideologies and imperial discourses: A New
Historicist reading of Kipling’s “The white man’s burden.” Journal of Critical Studies in
Language and Literature, 5(3), 7–13.
Link: [Link]
Academic journal article
5. Wikipedia contributors. (2024, June 15). The white man's burden. In Wikipedia.
Link: [Link]
Historical context
Secondary Sources: Johnson Focus
6. LitCharts. (2020, August 8). The black man's burden summary & analysis.
Link: [Link]
Theme analysis with a racial justice focus
7. Victorian Prose and Poetry. (2024). The black man's burden (1899).
Link:
[Link]
Annotated historical edition
8. [Link]. (2021, May 25). The black man's burden by H. T. Johnson.
Link: [Link]
Imperialism critique
Comparative Analyses
9. American Social History Project. (2008). Art, commentary and evidence: Analysis of
"The white man's burden."
Link: [Link]
Satirical responses including Johnson's poem
10.IvyPanda. (2020, May 4). "The white man's burden" by Rudyard Kipling.
Link: [Link]
Contrast of imperialist/anti-imperialist views
