This poem by Lulu Baxter Guy turns the tables on Rudyard Kipling's "The White Man's Burden," suggesting that the real "burden" was borne by African-Americans under the weight of racial oppression. Making an impassioned plea for racial equality, Guy implores readers to "think of the brave deeds [African-Americans] have done," such as those of the black soldiers who took part in the charge of San Juan Hill during the recent Spanish-American War. The Black Man's Burden Take off the black man's burden,This boon we humbly crave.Have we not served ye long enough?Been long enough your slave?Cut loose the bands that bind us,Bid us like men be strong.Think of the brave deeds we have done;Look not for all the wrong.Take off the black man's burden,'Tis this that we demand;Think not of all the crimes you've heardBut that march up San Juan.Oh, South, can't you rememberWhen you fought to hold our lives?How loyal was the black manTo your daughters and your wives?Take off the black man's burden,Ye men of power and might.Wait not one for anotherBut dare to do the right.The blood, the smoke, the ashes,Of martyred men that's slain;Comes wafted to you from the southBut for another's gain.Take off the black man's burden,His mind can then expand.He'll prove your equal in the race,Stand every whit a man.We'll wait till the burden's lifted,And to those who crush us down,Will come the words of God to Cain, "Thy brother's blood crieth from the ground." Source | Lulu Baxter Guy, "The Black Man's Burden," Cleveland Journal, 26 December 1903.
Among the dozens of replies to Rudyard Kipling’s pro-imperialist poem "The White Man's Burden," was “The Black Man’s Burden,” written by African-American clergyman and editor H. T. Johnson and published in April 1899. A “Black Man’s Burden Association” was even organized with the goal of demonstrating that mistreatment of brown people in the Philippines was an extension of the mistreatment of black Americans at home. Take up the black man's burden!Not his across the seas,But his who grows your cotton,And sets your heart at ease,When to the sodden rice fieldsYour children dare not go,Nor brave the heat that singes likeThe foundry's fiery glow.Take up the black man's burden!He helped to share your ownOn many a scene by battle-cloudsPortentously o'erblown;On Wagner's awful parapet,As late where Shafter's planWas for the boys to take the lead, He showed himself a man. Source | John White Chadwick, Later Poems, (Boston: Houghton Mifflin and Co., 1905). "The Black Man's Burden” is a poem written by H. T. Johnson in 1899. The poem was a retaliation to Rudyard Kipling's poem "The White Man's Burden” (1897). In the poem, Johnson criticizes the subjugation of black people at the hands of their white oppressors. He calls out the systems of racisms that lay across the foundation of which the US has been built upon. He also criticizes the desire to oppress non-whites by bullying them through use of brute and military force, as a means of controlling them. The poem consists of thirty-two lines and is written in iambic trimeter. It also follows a ABCBDEFE rhyme scheme, which provides a musical lyricism to the poem. The poem was written during the Philippine-American War (1899), which served as the basis for Kipling’s ideology of ruling non-white nations. You can help us out by revising, improving and updating this section. Update this sectionAfter you claim a section you’ll have 24 hours to send in a draft. An editor will review the submission and either publish your submission or provide feedback.
H. T. Johnson’s ‘The Black Man’s Burden’ was not the only piece that posed a firm and terse response to Rudyard Kipling’s infamous poem ‘The White Man’s Burden’. Others who were against the ideology presented in Kipling’s work wrote what they thought to be the real burden of the early 20th century. It was the colonizers’ idea to civilize the indigenous people of some faraway land. They not only tried to teach them manners but also uprooted their contact with their own cultural identity. Kipling’s jingoistic poem centered on this idea. But Johnson’s response was not feeble one!  ‘The Black Man’s Burden’ by African-American clergyman H. T. Johnson describes how the whites piled on the burden of shame, guilt, and subjugation on the blacks. Johnson anticipates how God will punish the colonizers. This poem elaborates what the colonizers did to the natives of Hawaii and Cuba in the first stanza. According to the speaker, they only fought with their clubs and arrows. Whereas the fearless armies menaced the feeble folks. One by one, they ended the red man’s problem with bullets. However, the speaker advises them to defend their honor by not behaving barbarously. In the following stanzas, Johnson alludes to the discriminatory Jim-crow laws and how the colonizers piled the burden of shame on the African-Americans. Whatsoever, God’s wrath is going to end this long cycle of shame and guilt. On this note, Johnson ends his poem. MeaningThe title ‘The Black Man’s Burden’ alludes to the infamous jingoistic poem of Kipling. It is a direct response to his poem. So, Johnson just replaced the word “White” with “Black” to create an ironic effect. The title of this piece refers to the burden of shame and guilt that the colonizers piled upon the black, brown, and red men. They kept on piling their ideology on them by defusing the inner potential of colonized. In this piece, Johnson writes in a humorous, satiric, and ironic tone. He adopted this tone to make his point clear to the colonizers and Kipling. That if they are so idealistic about their divine duty, they have to behave themselves first. Otherwise, the divine power will take cognizance and punish them severely. StructureJohnson’s poem consists of four octaves or stanzas having eight lines each. In each octave, there are two quatrains. This poem contains a set rhyme scheme. The first three stanzas contain the ABCB DEFE rhyming scheme. While the last stanza has ABAB CDCD. This piece also has a regular meter. Johnson wrote it in the iambic trimeter with a few metrical variations. It means there are three iambs per line. The last part of alternative lines is hypermetrical. Literary DevicesJohnson’s ‘The Black Man’s Burden’ includes several literary devices which include but are not limited to the following figures of speech:
Detailed AnalysisStanza One
Johnson ironically begins his poetic response to Kipling’s jingoistic piece, ‘The Black Man’s Burden’. While Kipling begins each section of his poem with “Take up”. In that place, Johnson writes “Pile on”. This phrase depicts how the colonizers piled on their burden on the colonized people. Johnson’s speaker rather tells them, “No problem, pile on us.” This phrase adds an ironic tone to this piece. In the first stanza, the speaker tells the colonizers to pile on the burden of subjugation, guilt, and shame on black men as it is very close to their door. He satirically asks them why they are heading toward Cuba and Hawaii for subjugating those innocent people. Are they not satisfied with what they have already done? The third and fourth line of this stanza contains an allusion to America’s geopolitical expansion upon the island nations in Pacific and the Atlantic Ocean. Besides, in these lines, Hawaii and Cuba stand for their people. It is a use of metonymy. In the following lines, Johnson depicts how the fearless armies menaced the innocent and weak folks. They tried to defend themselves with traditional clubs and arrows. Whereas the brutal forces made them suffocate with their “rifles’ smoke”. It is a roundabout way of saying that they killed them with rifles. Stanza Two
The second stanza begins similarly. This scheme of beginning each section with the same line is called a refrain. To criticize Kipling’s poem, Johnson imitated this technique. In this section, he describes how the black man’s painful wail is drowned by laughter. The colonizers mocked their pain. The speaker can remember how the white colonizers oppressed the North American Indians (referred to as “Red Man”). They were a problem to them. So they brutally wiped them in no time. The following line contains a reference to “Brown” men. The colonizers called them “browns”. When Johnson penned down this poem, the Philippine-American War was going on. That’s why he says now the American forces are taking up the brown man’s problem. However, they could not solve their ironic “problem”. So, they felt it was easy to kill them. It would end all the problems. The line “With bullets, blood or death—” bears this idea. This line also contains a climax. In the last two lines, the speaker mockingly tells them that they would have defended it with “honor’s holy breath.” This line hints at the fact that they were not honorable at all. They hid their black faces under the white facade of honor. Stanza Three
The third stanza deals with the cruel custom of slavery, existing racism in white-dominated nations, and the sufferings of blacks. According to the speaker, African-American people can bear the pain even if they are physically stable. This highlights how strong they were both physically and mentally. The white’s oppression can burden black men brutally. But it cannot harm their tolerance. The following section begins with a reference to the “Jim-crow laws”. Through this discriminatory law, the blacks were economically and socially segregated. The rulers denied them their basic rights. Besides, the speaker is also aware of the “midnight deeds”. It is a reference to the brutal acts performed silently. It never got public attention. The national leaders and rulers knew about those deeds. They winked at such things. But, the speaker is sure that those deeds will definitely breed trouble in near future. Stanza Four
The last stanza of this poem deals with God’s revenge on those who denied the innocent colonized people their rights. The way they are increasing the burden on them will pierce the sky one day. When the acts will come to God’s attention, they will not be in the safe zone anymore. The speaker says then God’s fierce judgment will reign on their children. Their battleships and armies may have suppressed the voices of the colonized people and made them fearful. But, Johnson is sure about the fact that they will not be spared. God will do justice to them. When He comes to reign, then they will come to their senses. In this way, the last stanza features a hopeful tone. Readers can also find that this stanza contains a regular rhyming pattern that is not present in the previous stanzas. As the poet is optimistic in this section, this stanza has such regularity. Besides, the rhyming words of this section create an ironic effect too. Historical ContextH. T. Johnson’s ‘The Black Man’s Burden: A Response to Kipling’ was written in April 1899 after the publication of Kipling’s ‘The White Man’s Burden’ in February 1899. In this poem, Rudyard Kipling encouraged American colonizers to civilize the native Filipinos. The themes of racism, white supremacy, manifest destiny are featured in this poem. Readers can also find these themes in other Rudyard Kipling poems. However, writers like Mark Twain, Henry Labouchère, H. T. Johnson, and J. D. Browser quickly responded to Kipling’s jingoistic poem through their works. In this poem, Johnson critically explores the reality behind the idea of “white man’s burden”. FAQsWhat is the “black man’s burden”? It is a metaphorical reference to the burden of shame, guilt, and oppression that the African-Americans (“black man”) bear on their backs. What is the main idea of ‘The Black Man’s Burden’? The main idea of this poem deals with the oppression that the blacks faced from the white colonizers and how the colonizers are going to be punished by God. Why was ‘The Black Man’s Burden’ written? In February 1899, Rudyard Kipling wrote his jingoistic poem ‘The White Man’s Burden: The United States and the Philippine Islands’. The poet H. T. Johnson wrote ‘The Black Man’s Burden’ in response to Kipling’s poem. What does the “white man’s burden” mean? The “white man’s burden,” is an imperialist term that is used to justify imperial conquest or colonization as a mission of civilization. It is ideologically related to the 19th-century continental expansion philosophy of the manifest dynasty. Who was H. T. Johnson? The poet of ‘The Black Man’s Burden’ H. T. Johnson was an African-American clergyman, writer, and editor. Similar PoetryHere is a list of a few poems that similarly explores the themes present in H. T. Johnson’s satirical poem ‘The Black Man’s Burden’. You can also read about the best-known poems about freedom vs confinement and moving slavery poems. |
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