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Mount Rushmore is one of the most famous of the United States’ national monuments. The monument is a massive sculpture depicting four US presidents: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Teddy Roosevelt. Carved into the vast, granite face of South Dakota’s Mount Rushmore, the sculpture was completed over the course of fourteen years, from 1927 to 1941. Mount Rushmore, often referred to as the “Shrine of Democracy,” offers an idealized, albeit breathtaking, depiction of the United States’ triumphs.
By analyzing questions, you can see patterns emerge, patterns that will help you answer questions. Qwiz5 is all about those patterns. In each installment of Qwiz5, we take an answer line and look at its five most common clues. Here we explore five clues that will help you answer a tossup on Mount Rushmore.
BLACK HILLS
Mount Rushmore belongs to an isolated mountain range in western South Dakota known as the Black Hills. The mountains are not actually black, but at a distance they may seem that way. Their name comes from the native Lakota people. Other attractions in these ponderosa pine-covered hills include the tallest mountain, Black Elk Peak, as well as the extensive cave system known as Wind Cave.
GUTZON BORGLUM
Rushmore’s lead sculptor, Gutzon Borglum, was a hot commodity in his day. Some of his early works include The Mares of Diomedes and a memorial to Pickett’s Charge on the Gettysburg battlefield. As Borglum matured, he developed a distinctly “American” style and worked on canvases large enough to support it. Prior to Rushmore, Borglum had made the initial design for the vast Confederate monument on Stone Mountain, but his work was eventually scrapped.
DOANE ROBINSON
Doane Robinson was the state historian of South Dakota who first approached Borglum about doing some form of monument in the Black Hills. Robinson had wanted several giant granite pillars known as The Needles sculpted into famous Americans, but Borglum chose Mt. Rushmore instead. During the initial years of construction Robinson acted as the unofficial manager of construction, but once federal money was secured for funding in 1929 he was replaced.
CRAZY HORSE MEMORIAL
Local Native American peoples viewed the Mount Rushmore monument as an abomination. The mountain, known to the Lakota as Tȟuŋkášila Šákpe or Six Grandfathers, played a central part in their own history. Lakota elder Henry Standing Bear decided to commemorate this history with a monument of his own. In 1948 he commissioned Polish-American sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski, who had worked on Mount Rushmore, to construct a colossal sculpture honoring the Oglala Lakota warrior Crazy Horse. The Crazy Horse Memorial is not yet completed, but when it is, it will be the second tallest statue in the world.
NORTH BY NORTHWEST
Mount Rushmore is famously incorporated in Alfred Hitchock’s 1959 film North by Northwest. The movie’s climax features the protagonists, played by Eva Marie Saint and Cary Grant, climbing down the mountain while being pursued by hired goons.
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Quizbowl is about learning, not rote memorization, so we encourage you to use this as a springboard for further reading rather than as an endpoint. Here are a few things to check out:
Read this article to learn more about Korczak Ziolkowski, and how he initiated the massive undertaking of the Crazy Horse Memorial.
Borglum’s son Lincoln finished Mount Rushmore, but the boy’s path wasn’t always a smooth one.
Visit this website to learn more about the geography and the geology of the Black Hills.
Mount Rushmore was built in flagrant violation of an 1868 treaty.
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