Grant reflected the attitudes of many whites when he said he favored a humane course to bring Native Americans "under the benign influences of education and civilization. It is either this or war of extermination. They had a notable success against General George Armstrong Custer and his troops, but the army's defeat at the Battle of Little Bighorn in America's centennial year, , would cause the federal government to redouble its efforts.
Some of the area in which Rushmore stands was eventually purchased by the state of South Dakota and developed as Custer State Park; the rest was part of the Black Hills National Forest. In his bestselling history of Native Americans' experiences in the West, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, Dee Brown explains that the "battle" was actually a massacre where hundreds of unarmed Sioux women, children, and men were shot and killed by U.
They demanded the federal government honor the treaties made with various tribes. The FBI became involved in what became known as the Second Siege at Wounded Knee, and a tense standoff resulted in the death of two Native Americans and injury to others on both sides. In a case that continues to spur controversy, A.
In , with a history of turmoil as a background, a white man living in Connecticut came into the Black Hills and dynamited and drilled the faces of four white men onto Mount Rushmore. At the outset of the project, Gutzon Borglum had persuaded South Dakota state historian Doane Robinson the presidents would give the work national significance, rejecting Robinson's initial suggestion that the sculpture honor the West's greatest heroes, both Native Americans and pioneers.
It was built on land the government took from them. The Black Hills in particular are considered sacred ground. The monument celebrates the European settlers who killed so many Native Americans and appropriated their land. Robinson envisioned an ode to the old West, with carvings of historic figures such as Lewis and Clark and Lakota leader Red Cloud.
He reached out to Stone Mountain sculptor Gutzon Borglum —who would transform the granite mountain into what it is today. Borglum had gained fame for sculptures honoring U. By August , Borglum had agreed to work on Mount Rushmore—but not the way Robinson had pitched it.
Theodore Roosevelt, who had overseen the construction of the Panama Canal, was a symbol of economic growth. And Abraham Lincoln was selected for having fought to preserve the nation in the Civil War.
Over the next 16 years, Borglum wrangled with the federal government about funding and control of Mount Rushmore—which he never technically completed. Borglum hoped to carve the presidents down to their waists and chisel a description of the memorial next to them. S historical artifacts. In , Borglum began blasting a foot tunnel into the mountain for his Hall of Records. Worried about funding as war loomed in Europe, however, the U.
Borglum was still refining those heads when his health began to deteriorate. He died on March 6, , leaving his son, Lincoln, to continue his work. The project was declared finished on October 31, The tunnel that Borglum had drilled for the Hall of Records sat empty for decades until , when the National Park Service placed a titanium vault in the floor, filling it with information on Mount Rushmore, the presidents, and U.
However, the filming itself sparked a controversy. The National Park Service and the U. Department of the Interior cried foul, and ultimately asked Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to remove the credit line at the end of the movie thanking them for their cooperation. Mount Rushmore opened to the public even as the Lakota continued legal challenges. In the decades since, the memorial and its surroundings have served as a flash point for the treatment of Native Americans.
Although the loss of the land was a far bigger concern for many Lakota, Cheyenne, and Arapaho, Hill says that some indigenous people wanted the site to recognize their history, too. Native nations have also taken issue with the way Mount Rushmore told their story—and that of U. As Sprague points out, even Lincoln was enthusiastic about western expansion and, in , dispatched U.
Related: Untangling the complex legacy of Teddy Roosevelt at the national park bearing his name. The civil rights movement of the s inspired a wave of protest among Native Americans across the country. In the summer of , protest came to Mount Rushmore when a few dozen activists from the organization United Native Americans scaled the memorial to demand the return of the Black Hills to the Lakota. They camped atop the memorial for months—and then returned the following summer for a briefer protest that ended in their arrests.
In , the long-running legal dispute finally reached the U. Supreme Court. In the landmark United States v. Explore some of the people who helped Mount Rushmore National Memorial become a reality. Find out more about why these presidents were chosen and how the mountain was carved. Phones are answered from a. Monday through Friday. Explore This Park.
0コメント