The dark history of Mount Rushmore - Ned Blackhawk and Jeffrey D. Means
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TEDEd Animation
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Between 1927 and 1941, workers blasted 450,000 tons of rock from a mountainside using chisels, jackhammers, and dynamite. Gradually, they carved out Mount Rushmore. Today, the monument draws nearly 3 million people to South Dakota’s Black Hills every year. But its façade belies a dark history. Ned Blackhawk and Jeffrey D. Means explore the destruction of the sacred Six Grandfathers Mountain.
Because the Supreme Court ruled that the Black Hills were unlawfully taken by the U.S., it offered money in compensation if the Lakota would surrender their claims to any land within the Black Hills. Should the Lakota be able to received their payment for the stolen land and maintain their right to continue to seeks its return to the Lakota Nation?
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Meet The Creators
- Educator Ned Blackhawk, Jeffrey D. Means
- Director Anton Bogaty
- Narrator Jake Hart
- Composer Cem Misirlioglu, Greg Chudzik
- Sound Designer Cem Misirlioglu
- Director of Production Gerta Xhelo
- Editorial Director Alex Rosenthal
- Producer Bethany Cutmore-Scott
- Associate Editorial Producer Cella Wright
- Content Associate Abdallah Ewis
- Script Editor Alex Gendler
- Fact-Checker Jennifer Nam
