Manisha Basak

11/12/12
CPR 1109.101
Ashima Krishna
Assignment # 7
Mount Rushmore: A conflict over cultural heritage
Mount Rushmore stands as a shrine of democracy. It represents freedom,
expansion, and unity through four of Americas greatest presidents. Located in the Black
Hills of South Dakota, Mount Rushmore is situated in a location that used to belong to
Native Americans. As with much of the American Midwest that used to be inhabited by
Native Americans, problems still exist regarding the rightful ownership of the land. Over
the years, the Sioux Native Americans have been pushed out of the Black Hills but
conflict still remains over the question of rights to cultural heritage. Mount Rushmore
has become a major symbol of American national heritage and although that cannot be
changed, American relationship with Native Americans can still be fixed. The American
right to cultural heritage does not triumph over the Native American right. To solve the
conflict of Mount Rushmore, the two sides need to collaborate their cultural heritages
and make amends to their long problematic relationship through education and
understanding.
To understand the conflict that exists at Mount Rushmore, it is essential to
understand the history surrounding the relationship between the Native Americans and
the American government. The Black Hills were listed as uninhabited by Americans
even though the area is a sacred land for the Sioux people. Not only did the Sioux live
on the land, they used the area to contact the spiritual world. In the beginning of the
relationship between the Sioux and the American government, the US tried to respect
the Sioux. In 1868, the Treaty of Fort Laramie gave the Sioux ownership of the Black
Hills. Shortly thereafter, gold was discovered in the area leading to a huge influx of
American miners. The introduction of these people created conflict with the Sioux
leading to the Great Sioux War of 1876. By giving the land back to the Native
Americans the conflict could have been solved, but the discovered gold was too
profitable. Therefore, the US government forced the Sioux off their land. To further the
insult to the Native Americans, in 1927, sculptor Gutzon Borglum began to carve the
faces of four American presidents into the Sioux sacred land. In spite of all this, the
American government should still be credited for trying to patch the relationship. In
1980, a US Supreme Court ruling gave the Sioux monetary compensation for the land
but the Native Americans were not interested in the money; they just wanted their land
back.
1

The most well known perspective of Mount Rushmore is what it symbolizes for
America. Since its creation Mount Rushmore has been a symbol of democracy and
freedom. The monument was originally supposed to be a homage to the leaders of the
American West, which included Chief Red Cloud, an important Native American figure.
The sculptor, Borglum, thought having four of Americans founding fathers would be a
greater ode to democracy and would mean more to the American public. On the
building of the site, he said, "The purpose of the memorial is to communicate the
founding, expansion, preservation, and unification of the United States with colossal

1. People & Events: Native Americans and Mount Rushmore, PBS,
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/rushmore/peopleevents/p_sioux.html
statues of Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt."
2
Since then, the
monument has done just that by acting as a unifying force among Americans.
Mount Rushmore also serves many purposes by having significance as a
national heritage site. In A Geography of Heritage, it states, The nation-state required
national heritage to consolidate national identification, absorb or neutralize potentially
competing heritages of social-cultural groups or regions, combat the claims of other
nations upon its territory or people, while furthering claims upon nationals in territories
elsewhere.
3
Mount Rushmore has achieved national identification by becoming one of
the sites that symbolically represent America. It has also successfully overcome the
other competing heritages of the area, such as the Sioux, making Americas heritage
come out on top. Although most Americans do not have a personal heritage connection
to Mount Rushmore, they can connect to the ideals the monument represents.
Consequently, they feel a sense of unity with each other that is achieved through the
site. This is an example of how a national heritage site can create a sense of
nationalism.
The Native American perspective of cultural heritage at Mount Rushmore is very
different from why it is significant to Americans. The Sioux have a problem with the
monument in the Black Hills for three main reasons. First, the area is sacred to them
culturally and religiously. Second, the US government built on land that was stolen from
the Sioux, when it was rightfully theirs. Third, the monument celebrates four of
Americas heroes but is an insult to the Native Americans. In an interview, Jay Winter
Nightwolf, a Native American radio host, said, It should have never been taken, nor

2. Daily Kos: Indians 201: Mount Rushmore (Updated), last modified May 09, 2012.
3. Brian Graham, Greg Ashworth, and John Tunbridge, A Geography of Heritage, (New York: Arnold, 2000), 183.
should have been made a national monument with four presidents that fostered nothing
but hatred and contempt towards Native people. The only people that should be up
there are Geronimo, Crazy Horse and Chief Sitting Bull. Those are our Founding
Fathers.
4
As it turns out, his view is prevalent throughout the Native American
population.
In his journal article on American Indians in the West, Leo McAvoy says,
Symbolism is an important part of sense of place and place meaningsWe need to
consider the symbolism of more than just the dominant White culture.
5
To Americans,
George Washington is the father of our country and to the Native Americans, he is the
person who called for their extermination in New England. Thomas Jefferson is the
father of democracy but he also appropriated all the Indian land in the West. Although
Teddy Roosevelt made many national parks, he did so at the expense of the Native
Americans losing their land. Finally, Abraham Lincoln preserved the Union and
abolished slavery, but he also sanctioned the countrys largest mass execution when he
approved the hanging of 38 Sioux tribesmen. To establish a good relationship with the
Native Americans that share American land, it is essential to consider the symbolism of
the indigenous people who have lived in the West for centuries.
6

When dealing with a historic site, there are three steps that need to be taken to
come to a conclusion on preservation. First, the question of historic or cultural
preservation arises. Second, interested parties are allowed to voice their opinions.
Third, the US government typically determines the significance of the site.
7
When one

4. Daily Kos: Indians 201: Mount Rushmore (Updated)
5. Leo McAvoy, American Indians, Place Meanings and the Old/New West, Journal of Leisure Research 34 (2002):
387.
6. Leo McAvoy, 394.
7. Sherene Baugher, Sacredness, sensitivity, and significance (Florida: University Press of Florida, 2004), 252.
of the interested parties is a Native American group, a few complications arise. The
biggest problem in their cultural representation is who represents the Native
Americans? There have been efforts to voice the different tribes. The National
Association of Tribal Historic Preservation Officers (NATHPO) has representatives from
various tribes that meet with the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP) and
the National Park Service (NPS) on matters regarding historic and cultural preservation.
However, there are over 300 different Native American tribes. Unlike the US, these
tribes are not unified under a common national view. Every tribe is different and each
of them have unique perspectives and demands. In the case of Mount Rushmore, the
practices of the Sioux tribe and their connection to the Black Hills is something
understood only by them and if their tribe is not represented by the NATHPO, their
voices are unheard.
There are other problems with allowing the US government to have the final
decision in determining the significance of a historic site. Americans do not have a full
understanding of Native American culture and they fail to reach compromises with them
because they seldom foreground the ethnographical context and the ethnohistoric
relations that would make a true collaboration with local and nonacademic stakeholders
possible.
8
Americans view land ownership in terms of money or prize in a war. Native
Americans build connections with their land. The land, not necessarily the monuments
or buildings, is the center of Native American culture. Based on the findings of a
research, it turns out that the most prevalent expressions of place meanings for
American Indians are culturally relevant, cultural/symbolic sense of place expressions

8. K. Anne Pyburn, Archeology as Activism, 175.
of their tribes shared ties to the land.
9
This is in contrast to Americans who place more
value on personal connections and the natural resource benefits at a site.
Because Americans share the Black Hills with the Sioux, it is essential for the two
groups to come to some form of an agreement. One solution is to give all of the Black
Hills back to the Native Americans. Although this may seem extreme, it is currently
being suggested by the United Nations. James Anaya, a special rapporteur for the UN
said, It is evident that there have still not been adequate measures of reconciliation to
overcome the persistent legacies of the history of oppression and that there is still much
healing that needs to be done.
10
Most people can agree with this statement, but giving
up Mount Rushmore does not seem logical. As it has been established, Mount
Rushmore has tremendous national significance to Americans and giving this
monument back to the Sioux would create more tension and bitterness between the two
groups. Furthermore, the carvings at Mount Rushmore cannot be undone. Lillian
Friedberg compared the experiences of Native Americans to the Holocaust. She
accurately describes the relationship Native Americans have with their land when she
says that the land is not like their temple, it is their temple and therefore Mount
Rushmore must be placed on a par with burning synagogues.
11
The Sioux cannot
contact the spiritual world because men have changed the land. Instead of giving it back
to them, another approach for reconciliation should be taken.
A second solution would be to incorporate Sioux culture at Mount Rushmore.
There are three ways to do this. Sioux language translations can be placed on signs to
indicate Sioux presence in the area. Pamphlets about Sioux culture and tradition can be

9. Leo McAvoy, 387.
10. Daily Kos: Indians 201: Mount Rushmore (Updated)
11. Lilian Friedberg, Dare to Compare: Americanizing the Holocaust, The American Indian Quaterly 24 (2000): 373.
distributed along with the Mount Rushmore information to educate the public. College
students can also collect oral histories from the Sioux elders to develop a better
understanding in the next generation of intellects. Gerard Baker became the first Native
American superintendent of Mount Rushmore in 2004 and since that time, he has been
trying to implement these steps to heal the relationship.
12

The third solution would be to build a separate memorial in the Black Hills to
celebrate the Sioux tribe. This is underway with the construction of the Crazy Horse
Memorial. In 1939, Sioux Chief Henry Standing Bear invited Korczak Ziolkowski to
carve a memorial for the Sioux nation in the Black Hills. Ziolkowski passed away in
1982 but the family is looking after the construction of the project. Once completed, the
statue of Chief Crazy Horse is expected to be larger than any of the Mount Rushmore
figures.
13
The memorial also has some controversy over its building because the area in
which it is being constructed is considered to be sacred to the Sioux, so there are some
Native Americans against its construction.
The Black Hills should never have been taken away from the Sioux. The main
insult inflicted upon the Sioux by the Americans was destroying their sacred land. Mount
Rushmore cannot be changed nor can it be returned to the Native Americans. It has
become a shrine of democracy for the American people and it will remain as such but
there is still time to heal the relationship America has with Native Americans. They have
had a turbulent past and the Native Americans have expressed their resentment over it.
Sharing land does not necessarily have to be a problem. The two sides just need to

12. Mount Rushmore: Two sides to every story, The Economist, July 31, 2008.
13. Tim Giago, Mt. Rushmore Seen Through Native Eyes, The Huffington Post, June 8, 2008.
come together and understand and respect each others cultural heritages. After all, one
of the many things Mount Rushmore represents is unity.





















Bibliography

Friedberg, Lilian. Dare to Compare: Americanizing the Holocaust. The American
Indian Quaterly 24 (2000): 353-380.

Graham, Ashworth, and Tunbridge. A Geography of Heritage, New York: Arnold, 2000.

Glass, Matthew. Producing Patriotic Inspiration at Mount Rushmore. Journal of the
American Academy of Religion 62 (1994): 265-283.

McAvoy, Leo. American Indians, Place Meanings and the Old/New West. Journal of
Leisure Research 34 (2002): 383-396

Pyburn, K. Anne. Archeology as Activism. Cultural Heritage and Human Rights, New
York: Springer, 2007.

Baugher, Sherene. Sacredness, sensitivity, and significance. Florida: University Press
of Florida, 2004.

PBS. People & Events: Native Americans and Mount Rushmore. Accessed November
21, 2012. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/rushmore/peopleevents/p_sioux.html.

Mount Rushmore: Two sides to every story. The Economist, July 31, 2008. Accessed
November 21, 2012. http://www.economist.com/node/11848993

Tim Giago. Mt. Rushmore Seen Through Native Eyes. The Huffington Post, June 08,
2008. Accessed November 21, 2012. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tim-
giago/mt-rushmore-seen-through_b_105931.html

Mount Rushmore Controversy: U.N. Official States Black Hills Should be Returned to
Native Americans. The Inquisitr, May 08, 2012. Accessed November 21, 2012.
http://www.inquisitr.com/232006/mount-rushmore-controversy-u-n-official-states-
black-hills-should-be-returned-to-native-americans/

Daily Kos. Indians 201: Mount Rushmore (Updated). Last modified May 09, 2012.
Accessed November 21, 2012.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/05/09/1090057/-Indians-201-Mount-
Rushmore-Updated