A reader wrote to ask me about Hanging from Jefferson's Nose: Growing Up On Mount Rushmore, a new picture book about the father and son who carved Mount Rushmore. Lincoln Borglum's father, Gutzon Borglum started carving what we know today as Mount Rushmore, and when he died, Lincoln finished the project.
I gather the book is an interesting story of the work involved, but that it is also a 'hurray' for America that doesn't provide a thoughtful look at the complete story of the place or people. Though he is commonly heralded as a great patriot that Coury would like us to emulate, he was a member of the Ku Klux Klan, working on a monument to the Confederacy.
Hanging from Jefferson's Nose is by Tina Nichols Coury. Here's an excerpt from her website:
In character as “The Rushmore Kid” she [Coury] visits schools across the United States to present her popular "Why I Love America” program, which promotes an understanding and appreciation of the essential qualities that make America great.I understand and appreciate love of ones nation, but we ought to be critical of the things about America that are not great, too. Blind allegiance is dangerous. The mistakes made by its leaders, for example, must be something that children learn, and there are plenty of mistakes made with regard to the ownership of the Black Hills and Mount Rushmore.
That land was taken without the consent of the Lakota people. The U.S. government has tried to settle with them by offering them money, but, that land is sacred to the Lakota's, and they were not, and are not interested in the money. They want the land.
The Lakota's do appear in Coury's book, but not in the way I just described. Here's the page they're on:
I'll start by noting problems with Sally Wern Comport's illustrations. She shows several men dancing around a fire in a stereotypical way. The man in the foreground on the left is playing a drum with his open palm. That is an error. Native peoples across the United States use a drumstick to play the drum.
I'd like to know what the source for the drawing was because old black/white silent-film footage of the time shows some Native dancers at an event at Mount Rushmore. It was during the day, not at night, and the dancers weren't dancing around a fire. In fact, I've never seen Plains Indians dancing around a fire, except in stereotypical drawings by non-Native artists.
The text for the page offers a clue about that event:
Winters were harsh in the Black Hills. For the Lakota Indians who lived there, food was scarce. The Borglum family helped out often and went so far as to arrange for a buffalo herd to be donated to the tribe. At the powwow to celebrate, the grateful Indians made Lincoln and his dad blood brothers of the Oglala Lakota Tribe at the Pine Ridge Reservation. Lincoln was happy to lend a hand but dog-tired after dancing all night.They had a powwow to celebrate? Again, I'd like to know the source of that information.
In The Great White Fathers: The Obsessive Quest to Create Mount Rushmore, John Taliaferro writes that the Borglum's provided a herd of cattle and blankets and that the Oglala's were grateful to him and held a ceremony at Pine Ridge during which they made him an honorary member. Borglum wanted buffalo meat served at the dinner, but his efforts to hunt and kill one didn't work out. At the powow, did they dance all night
Wow! Debbie, you do realize this is a childrens book. I read it to a few neighborhood kids who never heard the story. Until your revelation, I am amazed that not 1 Indian ever tapped a drum with his hand. If you have children, how do you ever take them to a movie or read them a childrens book? Dr. Seuss, no, doesn't use proper english. How about a Disney movie, The Lion King or Bambi? Nope, Animals can't speak. I believe that the author is trying to tell a story without getting involved in politics. Maybe you should try the same.
Dear Anonymous -
I really hope you are not a librarian. I especially really hope you are not a children's librarian! Comparing Dr. Seuss' improper English to the attempted genocide and continued cover-up that these stereotypes encourage shows your lack of concern for populations other than your own. Nice choice with the Disney movies because it sounds like you live in one (singing zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay). I'm not even sure why you are on this site at all. Do you even know what this blog is about? Though I didn't personally know about American Indians not playing drums with their hands, when I clicked on the link showing the page I certainly smelled that stinky rat about the white man (of which I am one - all too often sorry to say) helping the natives when their food was scarce. Yeah, right. The Lakota just didn’t know how to survive those harsh winters… for centuries! And your ignorant plea to leave politics out of this?! Are you kidding me? Perpetuating this white-man-as-savior/everyone-else-is-weak-and-inferior garbage is extremely harmful. And subversively political!!! Yeah, let’s start teaching this to kids at an early age. Great idea. Thank goodness for Debbie Reese trying to educate us all. It’s called discourse, Anonymous. It’s how we progress and better serve all of humanity. Or are you just the lazy author of this book?