this post was submitted on 15 Aug 2024
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TIL The Sculptor of Mount Rushmore Had Ties to the KKK (en.wikipedia.org)
submitted 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) by TrippyFocus@lemmy.ml to c/til@lemmy.ca
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Gutzon Borglum was the sculptor and was involved with the KKK. He was chosen because he was the sculptor of the "Shrine to the Confederacy” which was the inspiration for Mount Rushmore.

Guess it shouldn’t be too surprising given the way the land was taken from the local tribes despite it being sacred.

Credit to this comment by u/alcoholicorn that drove me to look it up.

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[–] sunzu2@thebrainbin.org 35 points 2 months ago (3 children)

Wait until your find that early US presidents were slavers and slaver families still control decent chunks of US economy.

J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.'s predecessor banks (Citizens Bank and Canal Bank) participated in slavery in Louisiana during the 19th century. These banks accepted enslaved individuals as collateral for loans, demonstrating how financial institutions were complicit in perpetuating the system of slavery.

James Roosevelt, a great-great uncle of President Theodore Roosevelt, owned slaves in New York during the early 19th century. He was a wealthy landowner and merchant who inherited several enslaved people.

[–] pop@lemmy.ml 8 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Wait until your find that early US presidents were slavers and slaver families still control decent chunks of US economy

Anyone with a history book on US knows the revolution was about extremely rich people wanting a country of their own to rule, so they didn't have to pay taxes to the royal family, which it propagandized as a people's rebellion. It was a war among the colonists about who gets to loot the riches of the land.

So it isn't a surprise, they've kept their initial agenda above everything and everyone else.

[–] BruceTwarzen@lemm.ee 1 points 2 months ago

So... Like 12 people?

[–] Crikeste@lemm.ee 4 points 2 months ago

Don’t forget to mention that the United States did a genocide so thoroughly that Hitler called it “the first great cleansing”. We were his ‘inspiration’, per se.

And on the topic of Teddy (you’ll notice language very similar to that of the Nazis):

When Theodore Roosevelt was a young man, he travelled to the great plains where he conducted several hunting trips.

When the visit was over, he wrote a book about his experiences.

In this book, we can read the following words about the American buffalo and the so-called Indian problem:

“The destruction [of the buffalo] was the condition precedent upon the advance of white civilization…

“Above all, the extermination of the buffalo was the only way of solving the Indian question…

“The disappearance [of the buffalo] was the only method of forcing them to at least partially to abandon their savage mode of life.

“From the standpoint of humanity at large, the extermination of the buffalo has been a blessing.”

Source: Theodore Roosevelt, Hunting Trips of a Ranchman

[–] some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org 16 points 2 months ago

Holy shit. No wonder Trump loves it so much.

[–] kandoh@reddthat.com 15 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I wonder if restoration of the Mountain is possible

[–] Faydaikin@beehaw.org 7 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Turning it back into a regular looking mountain side? I think that ship has sailed.

[–] tacosanonymous@lemm.ee 7 points 2 months ago

I’m willing to try. Could just use some trebuchets and see how it goes. Maybe a lil dynamite as a treat.

[–] kandoh@reddthat.com 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I mean — it was a sacred mountain, so I presume it looked interesting and not just 'regular'.

[–] Faydaikin@beehaw.org 3 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

There are pictures of it before the carving.

Though I agree it's a shame to deface nature the way it was, the label of "sacred" is usually attributed to perfectly mundane things in order to make them special.

The Americas are home to some ridiculously beautiful landscapes. I'd be equally appalled if someone had carved the faces into a part of the Grand Canyon.

[–] Dagwood222@lemm.ee 13 points 2 months ago

[off topic]

'Black Hills' by Dan Simmons. Cool little novel about a Native working on the construction of Mt. Rushmore.

[–] araneae@beehaw.org 10 points 2 months ago

The whole project was essentially about destroying a culturally significant landmark. The KKK connection isn't a coincidence, we built Rushmore to break a people's heart.

[–] LadyMeow@lemmy.blahaj.zone 6 points 2 months ago

The respectthedead podcast did one on him, super fascinating

[–] John_McMurray@lemmy.ca 6 points 2 months ago

Yeah him and like 7 million other Americans back then.