Mount Rushmore Sits on Land the Supreme Court Says Was Taken Illegally
Contested Ground
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Mount Rushmore is one of the most recognizable monuments in America. But the land beneath it is the subject of a Supreme Court ruling that has never been resolved.
In 1980, the Supreme Court ruled that the Black Hills were taken from the Sioux Nation without just compensation. The Lakota refused the money. It has been growing in a trust account ever since, now worth more than a billion dollars.
In this video, we investigate the three stories still unfolding on the same granite: the broken Fort Laramie Treaty, the sacred mountain the Lakota call the Six Grandfathers, and the 1.6 billion-year-old geology that will outlast every argument about it.
🔎 In this video, we explore:
The 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty and the Black Hills
Custer's 1874 expedition and the gold rush
United States v. Sioux Nation (1980)
Why the Lakota refuse more than $1 billion
The Six Grandfathers before Mount Rushmore
Gutzon Borglum and the carving of the monument
The geology of the Black Hills granite
How long the faces will actually last
Harney Peak becoming Black Elk Peak
What do YOU think should happen to this mountain? Tell us in the comments.
👉 Subscribe to Contested Ground for more famous places where the story isn't finished yet.
📚 Sources:
National Park Service, Mount Rushmore National Memorial: Geologic Activity (nps.gov/moru)
National Park Service, Rushmore Rocks! lesson plan
United States v. Sioux Nation of Indians, 448 U.S. 371 (1980)
Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868
PBS NewsHour, "Why the Sioux Are Refusing $1.3 Billion" (2011)
ICT News, "Black Hills still not for sale" (Oglala Sioux Tribe and the FOIA request)
Eos (AGU), on the geology and Lakota name of the Six Grandfathers
🎨 Some visuals in this video are AI-generated reconstructions for illustration.
#MountRushmore #SouthDakota #Geology #NativeAmericanHistory #UnexplainedMysteries
Mount Rushmore Sits on Land the Supreme Court Says Was Taken Illegally
Contested Ground
21 views
Mount Rushmore is one of the most recognizable monuments in America. But the land beneath it is the subject of a Supreme Court ruling that has never been resolved.
In 1980, the Supreme Court ruled that the Black Hills were taken from the Sioux Nation without just compensation. The Lakota refused the money. It has been growing in a trust account ever since, now worth more than a billion dollars.
In this video, we investigate the three stories still unfolding on the same granite: the broken Fort Laramie Treaty, the sacred mountain the Lakota call the Six Grandfathers, and the 1.6 billion-year-old geology that will outlast every argument about it.
🔎 In this video, we explore:
The 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty and the Black Hills
Custer's 1874 expedition and the gold rush
United States v. Sioux Nation (1980)
Why the Lakota refuse more than $1 billion
The Six Grandfathers before Mount Rushmore
Gutzon Borglum and the carving of the monument
The geology of the Black Hills granite
How long the faces will actually last
Harney Peak becoming Black Elk Peak
What do YOU think should happen to this mountain? Tell us in the comments.
👉 Subscribe to Contested Ground for more famous places where the story isn't finished yet.
📚 Sources:
National Park Service, Mount Rushmore National Memorial: Geologic Activity (nps.gov/moru)
National Park Service, Rushmore Rocks! lesson plan
United States v. Sioux Nation of Indians, 448 U.S. 371 (1980)
Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868
PBS NewsHour, "Why the Sioux Are Refusing $1.3 Billion" (2011)
ICT News, "Black Hills still not for sale" (Oglala Sioux Tribe and the FOIA request)
Eos (AGU), on the geology and Lakota name of the Six Grandfathers
🎨 Some visuals in this video are AI-generated reconstructions for illustration.
#MountRushmore #SouthDakota #Geology #NativeAmericanHistory #UnexplainedMysteries