The Dark History of Mount Rushmore National Memorial

National Park After Dark

Danielle LaRock & Cassandra Yahnian

True Crime, Places & Travel, History, Society & Culture

4.6 • 5.8K Ratings

🗓️ 13 October 2025

⏱️ 69 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Carved into the granite heart of the Black Hills, Mount Rushmore is one of America’s most recognizable (and controversial) monuments. Beneath the towering faces of four presidents lies a dark and often untold history of stolen land, massacres, and the erasure of Indigenous people who have called this place sacred for generations. From sculptor Gutzon Borglum’s troubling past to the Lakota’s ongoing fight for recognition through the nearby Crazy Horse Memorial, this episode explores how a monument meant to celebrate a nation has become a lasting reminder of the violence and displacement.Learn more about the Save Our Signs ProjectFor a full list of our sources, visit npadpodcast.com/episodesFor the latest NPAD updates, group travel details, merch and more, follow us on npadpodcast.com and our socials at:Instagram: @‌nationalparkafterdarkTikTok: @‌nationalparkafterdarkSupport the show by becoming an Outsider and receive ad free listening, bonus content and more on Patreon or Apple Podcasts. Want to see our faces? Catch full episodes on our YouTube Page!Thank you to the week’s partners!Cash App: Download Cash App Today: [https://capl.onelink.me/vFut/ejy661fu] #CashAppPod. Cash App is a financial services platform, not a bank. Banking services provided by Cash App’s bank partner(s). Prepaid debit cards issued by Sutton Bank, Member FDIC. See terms and conditions at https://cash.app/legal/us/en-us/card-agreement. Direct Deposit, Overdraft Coverage and Discounts provided by Cash App, a Block, Inc. brand. Visit http://cash.app/legal/podcast for full disclosures.Ollie: Take the guesswork out of your dog's well-being. Go to ollie.com/npad and use code npad to get 60% off your first box!Quince: Use our link to get free shipping and 365-day returns.Blueland: Use our link to get 15% off your first order. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Public monuments tell us more than history.
0:05.0	They tell us who and what a nation chooses to honor.
0:08.5	For generations, the bronze statue of J. Marion Sims stood proudly along New York's Fifth
0:14.1	Avenue, celebrating him as the father of modern gynecology.
0:18.9	Yet the truth behind his fame was built on something much darker.
0:22.4	Sims conducted repeated surgeries on enslaved black women without anesthesia, believing they felt
0:28.4	less pain. His statue's eventual removal wasn't about erasing history. It was about finally
0:34.5	acknowledging the truth and no longer celebrating him.
0:38.0	Across Manhattan, another monument sparked outrage, the towering bronze statue of Theodore
0:43.3	Roosevelt outside the Museum of Natural History.
0:46.6	It showed the president high on horseback with an indigenous man and an African man walking
0:51.6	below him.
0:52.7	When it was unveiled in 1940, it was seen as a celebration
0:56.2	of leadership. Today, many argue it's a celebration of white supremacy. In 2022, after years of
1:03.7	debate, the statue was finally taken down, its removal marking a slow shift towards acknowledging
1:09.4	the harder truths, even around celebrated presidents.
1:13.5	Elsewhere, across dozens of cities, statues of Christopher Columbus have been defaced, removed, or
1:19.5	quietly boxed away. Once hailed as the bold explorer who discovered the new world, Columbus is now
1:26.3	recognized for bringing in centuries of violence,
1:29.1	enslavement, and indigenous genocide. Red paint has stand his statues in Baltimore and Boston,
1:34.3	where protesters have left messages calling him what history long ignored, a conqueror, not a hero.
1:42.0	Each of these monuments, from doctors to presidents to explorers, reveals a turning
	...

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