Final answer:
The "White Man's burden" was a term used to depict the paternalistic and racist belief that white colonizers had a duty to civilize non-white populations. This concept justified the exploitation of colonized peoples under the guise of providing civilization and was personified in Rudyard Kipling's 1899 poem. It was criticized for its imperialistic and racialized ideology.
Step-by-step explanation:
The term "White Man's burden" refers to the racist and paternalistic belief during the era of colonization that it was the responsibility of white people to civilize and govern non-white people. This concept was popularized by British poet Rudyard Kipling in his 1899 poem "The White Man's Burden: The United States and the Philippine Islands," where he justified imperialism as a noble enterprise. Imperialism was seen as a duty to spread Western civilization, including Christianity and monogamous marriage, to societies considered less advanced. However, this ideology often acted as a cover for the exploitation and domination of colonized people.
Kipling's poem was written in response to the U.S. acquisition of the Philippines, suggesting that imperialism was a sacrifice by the colonizers for the supposed benefit of the colonized. The poem and the idea of the White Man's burden gained acceptance among some, like Theodore Roosevelt, while others used it as a symbol of the harms of imperialism.
An illustration of this concept is the editorial cartoon "The White Man's Burden", which depicts Great Britain and the U.S. delivering ungrateful colored peoples of the world to civilization, reflecting the racialized and condescending attitude of this ideology.