Crazy Horse Memorial facts for kids
The Crazy Horse Memorial in 2020
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| Coordinates | 43°50′7.45″N 103°37′16.67″W / 43.8354028°N 103.6212972°W |
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| Location | Custer County, South Dakota, U.S. |
| Designer | Korczak Ziolkowski |
| Type | Mountain carving monument |
| Material | Pegmatite granite |
| Length | 641 ft (195 m) (planned) |
| Height | 563 ft (172 m) (planned) |
| Beginning date | June 3, 1948 |
| Dedicated to | Crazy Horse |
The Crazy Horse Memorial is a huge mountain carving being built in the Black Hills of South Dakota, United States. It will show the Oglala Lakota warrior Crazy Horse riding a horse and pointing to his tribal lands. A Lakota elder named Henry Standing Bear asked sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski to create this memorial. It is run by the Crazy Horse Memorial Foundation, which is a group that doesn't aim to make a profit.
Work on the monument started in 1948 and is still going on today.
Contents
About the Memorial
The plan for the memorial includes the giant mountain carving, a museum about Native Americans, and a cultural center. The carving is being made from Thunderhead Mountain. This land is considered special by some Oglala Lakota people. It is located between Custer and Hill City, about 17 miles (27 km) from Mount Rushmore.
When finished, the sculpture is planned to be 641 feet (195 m) long and 563 feet (172 m) high. Crazy Horse's outstretched arm will be 263 feet (80 m) long. The opening under his arm will be 70 feet (21 m) wide and 100 feet (30 m) high. His finger alone will be 29 feet 6 inches (9 m) long!
The face of Crazy Horse was finished in 1998. It is 87 feet 6 inches (26.7 m) high. To give you an idea, the faces of the four U.S. Presidents at Mount Rushmore are each 60 feet (18 m) high.
Who Was Crazy Horse?
Crazy Horse was an important Native American war leader of the Oglala Lakota people. He fought against the U.S. government to protect the lands and way of life of the Lakota people. Some of his most famous battles against the U.S. military were the Fetterman Fight in 1866 and the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876.
He gave up to U.S. troops in May 1877. Sadly, he was fatally wounded while being held at Camp Robinson in what is now Nebraska. Crazy Horse is remembered as one of the most famous and respected Native American leaders. The U.S. Postal Service even honored him with a postage stamp in 1982.
Building the Monument
Henry Standing Bear, an Oglala Lakota chief and respected elder, asked Polish-American sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski to create the Crazy Horse Memorial. This was in the Black Hills of South Dakota. In 1931, Henry's older brother, Luther Standing Bear, wrote to Gutzon Borglum. Borglum was the sculptor carving the presidents' faces at Mount Rushmore. Luther suggested that Crazy Horse should also be sculpted there. He said Crazy Horse was "the real patriot of the Sioux tribe." Borglum never replied.
Henry Standing Bear then tried to get Borglum to carve Crazy Horse on Mount Rushmore. But he faced many challenges. In 1939, Henry Standing Bear wrote to Korczak Ziolkowski, who had worked on Mount Rushmore. He told Ziolkowski, "My fellow chiefs and I would like the white man to know that the red man has great heroes, too."
Henry Standing Bear chose not to ask the government for money. Instead, he wanted the project to be funded by private donations. He believed this would help keep the memorial's true purpose alive. In 1940, Ziolkowski spent time with Standing Bear. He learned about Crazy Horse and the Lakota way of life. Standing Bear shared his anger about the broken Treaty of Fort Laramie from 1868. This treaty had promised the Black Hills to the Native Americans forever.
The Memorial Foundation
The Crazy Horse Memorial is a non-profit project. It does not accept money from the federal or state governments. The Memorial Foundation pays for the project by charging fees for visitors. It also earns money from its gift shops and from private donations. Ziolkowski reportedly turned down US$10 million from the federal government twice. He felt the project was more than just a carving. He worried that government involvement would change his plans for the memorial's educational and cultural goals.
After Ziolkowski passed away in 1982 at age 74, his wife, Ruth Ziolkowski, took over. She led the project from the 1980s to the 2010s. Ruth decided to focus on finishing Crazy Horse's face first. Her husband had originally planned to work on the horse first. She believed that a completed face would attract more tourists. This would bring in more money for the project. Seven of her children also worked on the memorial.
Sixteen years later, in 1998, Crazy Horse's head and face were finished. His eyes are 17 feet (5.2 m) wide, and his head is 87 feet (27 m) high. Ruth Ziolkowski and seven of her children continued the work. Her daughter, Monique Ziolkowski, is also a sculptor. She adjusted some of her father's plans to make sure the outstretched arm would be strong enough. After two years of careful planning, work began on the much larger horse part of the sculpture.
Ruth Ziolkowski passed away in 2014. Monique Ziolkowski then became the CEO. Three of her siblings and three of the Ziolkowskis' grandsons continue to work on the project today.
When Will It Be Finished?
When construction began in 1948, the artist thought it would be done in 30 years. As of 2022, there is no exact date for when the monument will be completed. However, parts like the hand, arm, shoulder, and the top of the horse's head are estimated to be finished by 2037.
The Full Vision
The memorial is meant to be the main part of a larger educational and cultural center. This center will include a campus of the University of South Dakota. It will have classrooms and a place for students to live. This was made possible by a US$2.5 million donation in 2007 from T. Denny Sanford, a generous person from Sioux Falls, South Dakota. This part of the project is called the Indian University of North America and the Indian Museum of North America. The current visitor center will be a key part of this larger center.
Paul and Donna "Muffy" Christen also donated US$5 million in 2010. This money helps support the university campus. The campus offers college classes in subjects like math, English, and American Indian studies. The memorial foundation has also given over US$1.2 million in scholarships. Most of these scholarships have gone to Native American students in South Dakota.
Fundraising and Events
The Memorial foundation started its first national fundraising effort in 2006. The goal was to raise US$16.5 million by 2011. The first project planned was a US$1.4 million dormitory. This building would house 40 American Indian students who would work as interns at the memorial.
Why Some People Disagree
Korczak Ziolkowski saw the monument as a way to honor the spirit of Crazy Horse and Native Americans. However, some Native Americans believe the memorial is not respectful to Crazy Horse. This is because Crazy Horse did not want his picture taken. He was also buried in a secret place so his grave would not be found.
Elaine Quiver, a relative of Crazy Horse, said in 2003 that Henry Standing Bear should not have asked Ziolkowski to create the memorial on his own. In Lakota culture, important decisions like this need agreement from family members. This agreement was not given before the first rock was blasted in 1948. She said that carving the sacred Black Hills, which are burial grounds, was wrong. She felt it was a disrespect to their culture.
Seth Big Crow, another relative, wondered about the money the Ziolkowski family had collected from the visitor center and shops. He questioned if the project was more about making money than finishing the carving.
Other traditional Lakota people also do not support the memorial. In his book, John Fire Lame Deer, a Lakota medicine man, said that turning a beautiful wild mountain into a statue was "a pollution of the landscape." He felt it went against the spirit of Crazy Horse. In 2001, Lakota activist Russell Means said that carving the mountain was an insult to their entire being. He compared it to carving up a holy mountain in Israel.
In a 2019 article, author Brooke Jarvis wrote that many Lakota people felt the memorial had become a tribute to the Ziolkowski family, not to Crazy Horse himself.
See also
- List of colossal sculpture in situ
- List of tallest statues
- List of the tallest statues in the United States
- In Spanish: Monumento a Caballo Loco para niños
