Mount Rushmore: A Sculpture and a Sacred Landscape
High above the forests of South Dakota’s Black Hills, four enormous stone faces look out from a granite mountainside. Mount Rushmore National Memorial shows U.S. presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln. Each face is about 60 feet tall—as high as a six-story building. But the story of this place begins long before workers carved the mountain.
The Black Hills, called Paha Sapa in Lakota, are sacred to Lakota people. For generations, Lakota communities have lived in, traveled through, hunted in, and held ceremonies in the region. Other Indigenous peoples also have longstanding connections to the Black Hills. The hills were not an empty landscape waiting for a monument.
In 1868, the United States made a treaty with Lakota and other Native leaders that recognized a large reservation, including the Black Hills, for their use. A treaty is a formal agreement between governments or nations. After gold was found in the Black Hills in the 1870s, miners entered the area. The U.S. government then took the Black Hills in 1877, despite Lakota opposition.
- sacred:
- Having special religious or spiritual importance.
- reservation:
- Land set aside for the use of a Native people or peoples.
- opposition:
- Disagreement with or resistance to something.
- compensation:
- Money or something else given to make up for a loss.
- dispute:
- A disagreement between people or groups.
- granite:
- A hard kind of rock.
- preservation:
- The act of protecting something so it continues to exist.
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Preview questions from this passageShowHide
- 1What is the main idea of the article? Include two details that support it.
- 2Why does the author say the Black Hills were not an empty landscape?
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About this explanatory article passage for Upper Elementary
“Mount Rushmore: A Sculpture and a Sacred Landscape” is a explanatory article reading passage about Mount Rushmore and the Black Hills, written for Upper Elementary. It takes about 3 minutes to read (498 words) and comes with an interactive quiz and a printable worksheet with comprehension questions and an answer key.