Which literary work is associated with the concept of the "White Man's Burden"?

The concept of the "White Man's Burden" is most famously associated with a poem by Rudyard Kipling, written in 1899. This poem was intended to convey the idea that Western powers had a moral obligation to civilize and uplift non-Western societies, reflecting the imperialist attitudes prevalent during that era. Kipling's work captures the sentiment of many Western leaders and intellectuals at the time, who believed that colonialism was justified as a means of bringing progress and enlightenment to 'lesser' civilizations. The poem urged the United States to take on the responsibilities of empire after the Spanish-American War, suggesting that the U.S. had a role to play in steering other nations toward development and civilization.

While Mark Twain, Theodore Roosevelt, and Karl Marx were significant figures in their own rights, their works do not encapsulate the specific notion of the "White Man's Burden" in the same manner as Kipling's poem. Twain often critiqued imperialism, Roosevelt was more associated with American expansionism and foreign policy, and Marx focused on class struggle and economic theories rather than colonial justifications.