×
GreekEnglish

×
  • Politics
  • Diaspora
  • World
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Culture
  • Sports
  • Cooking
Thursday
19
Mar 2026
weather symbol
Athens 9°C
  • Home
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • World
  • Diaspora
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Culture
  • Sports
  • Mediterranean Cooking
  • Weather
Contact follow Protothema:
Powered by Cloudevo
> World

Could the racist past of Mt. Rushmore’s creator bring down the monument?

Things are taking a turn to the surreal...

Newsroom July 3 04:12

Confederate President Jefferson Davis has been toppled from the most iconic street in Richmond, Va., and his neighbor, rebel Gen. Robert E. Lee, may soon follow. A U.S. vice president and ardent slavery defender, John C. Calhoun, was plucked from his 115-foot perch in the center of Charleston, S.C. And President Theodore Roosevelt may soon disappear from the steps of New York City’s American Museum of Natural History.

Is there any monument in the United States that’s too big to fail a racial history test? A piece of public art with a connection to our checkered past that is too important, too monumental, to be removed from the face of America? Could Mt. Rushmore be that ultimate test?

We could soon find out. President Trump is planning to spend Friday watching the fireworks — and, no doubt, lobbing a few verbal ones — in the Black Hills of South Dakota. His visit will likely remind Americans that Rushmore’s presidential problem is as plain as the nose on George Washington’s face. Washington (owner of 123 slaves) and Thomas Jefferson (who enslaved more than 600 humans throughout his life) are only the beginning. Roosevelt’s mixed legacy — the Smithsonian flat-out calls him a “racist” even while noting he invited Booker T. Washington to dine at the White House — adds another pockmark on those faces of history.

See Also:

>Related articles

Metron Analysis and MRB show a rise of ND by nearly two points, reaching 31.1% due to the war

MRB: Almost two-point gains for ND, reaches 31.1% in vote estimate – PASOK moves to second place at 14% with a 17.1-point gap

IB to be introduced in 13 public schools from September, says Zacharaki – See which schools have been selected

PM Mitsotakis announces €3.5 billion support measures for economy

Yet Mt. Rushmore’s hold on history is threatened by elements that go beyond the question of whether its subjects merit memorializing. Even before the first chip of rock had been hewn from the mountainside, Native Americans objected that the carving was on land they considered both sacred and stolen. Less controversial at the time was the past of Rushmore’s creator, an enigmatic Danish American named Gutzon Borglum. By the early 1900s Borglum was a celebrated sculptor, especially of Lincoln statues. He was also an avowed racist.

Read more: The Los Angeles Times

Ask me anything

Explore related questions

#Black Lives Matter#extreme left#ideology#left#Liberals#Mt. Rushmore#neo-liberals#politics#usa#wing#world
> More World

Follow en.protothema.gr on Google News and be the first to know all the news

See all the latest News from Greece and the World, the moment they happen, at en.protothema.gr

> Latest Stories

Metron Analysis and MRB show a rise of ND by nearly two points, reaching 31.1% due to the war

March 19, 2026

Chuck Norris: Actor rushed to the hospital, his health condition remains unknown

March 19, 2026

MRB: Almost two-point gains for ND, reaches 31.1% in vote estimate – PASOK moves to second place at 14% with a 17.1-point gap

March 19, 2026

IB to be introduced in 13 public schools from September, says Zacharaki – See which schools have been selected

March 19, 2026

Greek Patriot missiles in Saudi Arabia protected every EU and global citizen, says Dendias – Opposition fires back, claiming involvement in war

March 19, 2026

Vangelis: The Biography – From the Forminx to Aphrodite’s Child & the Oscar, his feud with Logaridis & getting the door slammed in his face by his very own record label

March 19, 2026

The Iranians struck a US F-35 for the first time – It made an emergency landing at a base in the Middle East

March 19, 2026

ONEX-Hanwha Ocean strategic agreement for shipbuilding cooperation focusing on Greece

March 19, 2026
All News

> World

The Iranians struck a US F-35 for the first time – It made an emergency landing at a base in the Middle East

“The aircraft landed safely and the pilot is in stable condition,” said US Central Command spokesperson Captain Tim Hawkins

March 19, 2026

Iran is intent on returning to nuclear enrichment, the head of US intelligence said today

March 19, 2026

Britain, France, Germany, Italy, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands & Japan declare their readiness to contribute to safe passage through the Straits of Hormuz

March 19, 2026

The shocking moment an Israeli missile lands next to a Russian journalist in southern Lebanon (video)

March 19, 2026

Provocative statements of the AKP Vice President about the military armament of the Greek islands: “Your weapons are not enough for Turkey”

March 19, 2026
Homepage
PERSONAL DATA PROTECTION POLICY COOKIES POLICY TERM OF USE
Powered by Cloudevo
Copyright © 2026 Πρώτο Θέμα