GMA Reports How Mt. Rushmore Built On Stolen Land

Mount Rushmore National Memorial was carved out of granite rock by sculptor Gutzon Borglum and crew from 1927 to 1941.

The heads of Presidents George Washington, Tomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln have become synonymous with South Dakota.

On Tuesday morning Cecilia Vega visited the monument and talked about its legacy and complicated history.

Get our free mobile app

Part of the history reported on by Vega is that for indigenous people “Mt. Rushmore is a reminder of land that was stolen and centuries of mistreatment that followed.” It was noted that for “many Native American's it's an inescapable monument to injustice.”

Lakota native Darrel Red Cloud stated the monument is hypocrisy. In the 19th century when Native American's were trying to keep settlers out of the Black Hills the United States Government agreed to give the land to the tribes.

That was before gold was discovered in the hills. That changed everything. The Indians were forced to move to reservations as fortune seekers rushed into the region in search of riches.

Maureen Mickey Ballinger with the National Park Service clarified that Mount Rushmore represents much more than one man or one president stating, “The focus of this is actually focussing on the first 150 years of United States history. That is our mission to share the cultures and the history of America.”