Nathaniel Stolarsky, Mr. Lewis and Mr. Rochelson, Humanities Project, 15 April 2024. Thomas Jefferson should be removed from Mt. Rushmore Thomas Jefferson should be removed from Mt. Rushmore because he was a racist as shown in his treatment of slaves and how many slaves that he had, he was a hypocrite which is shown in his writing about equality, and put the U.S. in debt from the Embargo Act of 1807. Thomas Jefferson should be removed from Mount Rushmore because he was a racist as shown in his treatment of slaves and how many he had. Thomas Jefferson had a good number of slaves throughout his lifetime and his treatment of them was as any typical slave owner at the time. This meant that treatment of enslaved people included whipping them, starving
The detrimental and unfair categorization of people by race, gender and more, commonly known as discrimination, affects many in society both mentally and emotionally. Many instances of this act of hatred occurred among Aboriginal and Native Canadians in the 20th century. However, for a little Native Indian boy stepping onto the rink, this is the norm that surrounds him. Saul Indian Horse, in Richard Wagamese’s “Indian Horse”, faces discrimination head on, where his strengths for hockey are limited by the racial discrimination from the surrounding white ethnicity. Consequently, this racism draws him into a mentally unstable state, where he suffers heavy consequences.
The 8th grade class took a 4 day trip to Washington. We did many things to explore Washington D.C. including visiting monuments. Some people think differently of how a monument should be made. Good monuments to some people could be to make people remember about the person or thing being remembered or to just reflect the person’s life or importance. In “The Follower Problem” by David Brooks, David thinks a good monument should show power and authority.
Through her writings in Crazy Horse: The Strange Man of the Oglalas, Mari Sandoz shows that the Native Americans initial view of the European settlers was a peaceful one. In the beginning, there was no prediction that these settlers would eventually kill off the majority of the native population. “Even when there were quite a few on the trail the Indians had let the whites use his trader town while he sat with his pipe and blanket looking on as they bought perhaps a handful of gunpowder or the last cup of flour for a sick woman, or had their footsore oxen shod at three dollars a shoe”(Sandoz). As the number of white settlers continued to increase, so did the spread of disease, the over-hunting of the precious buffalo, and the consumption of
The government had ordered all Sioux to leave their territory after discovering gold near Black Hills. This led a battle between the Sioux and Americans. The Americans were defeated but the Natives lost the trust of Americans. On the other hand, I think the treaties being
A monument that is not desired will not be effective or honored such as the Crazy Horse Memorial in South Dakota. People have to favor a monument being put in place in order for it to work. An example of this would be the Crazy Horse Memorial sculpture being developed in South Dakota. Lawrence Downes argues in Source C (Downes), “The Crazy Horse Memorial has some of the same problems: it is most definitely an unnatural landmark. Some of the Indians I met in South Dakota voiced their own misgivings, starting with the fact that it presumes to depict a proud man who was never captured in a photograph or drawn from life.”
They automatically saw it as theirs. This caused chaos for the Sioux people and all native american tribes alike. They were in constant battle with the US army to try and keep them from taking their land. Without this land, the tribes will lack food and
On December 29, 1890, Native Americans were practicing the ghost dance in Lakota Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. This had frigtened the Americans and as a result they called for help from the government. When the troops came, they attempted to disarm a Lakota man which led to shots being fired. This led to 150 of Lakotas being murdered in what's called the Wounded Knee Massacre. Natives were living in
The Journey of Crazy Horse: A Lakota History, written by Joseph M. Marshall III, recounts the awe inspiring life of the legendary Lakota warrior, Crazy Horse, and his never ending struggle against the whites. His humble beginning on the path of the warrior began with the making of his bow. “Shaping a stave into a bow was the story of any boy’s journey on the path to becoming a warrior” (Marshall 21). Thus, the imagery and process of creating his bow mirrors that of Crazy Horse’s maturation from a naïve young boy into an accomplished and renowned warrior and leader.
That memorial isn’t for all of the Native Americans removed
In Robert Utley’s article, he describes how remembering the battle for Native Americans is often accompanied by negative emotions (72). Although this battle was a victory for the Native Americans, it was one of many battles fueled by discrimination and racism that inevitably resulted in their homeland being stolen from them. By naming the battlefield and monument after Custer, it represented a celebration of oppression and racism among white Americans. Utley made a point in his article that “the Battle of Little Bighorn involved two sets of antagonists…, but the monumentation commemorates only one, the losers” (72). It is peculiar how even though the Native Americans won the battle, the Americans soldiers were the only ones honored and labeled as heroes to the American government and people.
Countless Indians died from the conflict, their enemy had more soldiers and weapons than them. Nonetheless the biggest issues wasn’t the soldiers or weapons it was actually the disease the Europeans brought over, and unforgiving environments. There was a quote by Lakota chief sitting bull in the exhibit that said “if the white men take my country, where can I do?’. The Indians were taken from their homes and Im sure the thought back then was, “how would they make up for what was taken from them, how would they be able to make themselves whole again?”
One must keep in mind that, monuments may never make everyone happy. As long as a monument was not made with the intention of attacking a group of people it deserves to be
In the news today, a continual debate can be found about the significance of Confederate monuments and if they should remain or be removed. Confederate monuments that have been erected throughout the U.S. should be kept because of the preservation of America’s history. For instance, in the article, The Unbearable Lightness of Confederate-Statue Removal, the author lists how slaveholder monuments aren’t the only statues being vandalized, but the Lincoln Memorial and Mount Rushmore are other symbols of U.S. history that some believe need to “blow up” (Murdock). Every historical symbol can have both people who appreciate it and who oppose it. That doesn’t mean that we should tear down all symbols, but
I believe if one place starts to take down statues of our past then the whole country will follow in its steps. With removing the many monuments from our past altercations it would cause future ones. Everything that has ahappened up unto this point in the country has led us to be the powerful and strong country that we are today. The monuments at the time meant a great deal and showed honor and valor to those it deemed worth of such, by taking these down we not only take with us a valuable piece of American History but a lesson. Each monument has a vast story behind it that is a reminder to us of whats happened and why they 're there.
