Today I Learned (TIL)

6549 readers

28 users here now

You learn something new every day; what did you learn today?

/c/til is a community for any true knowledge that you would like to share, regardless of topic or of source.

Share your knowledge and experience!

Rules

Information must be true
Follow site rules
No, you don't have to have literally learned the fact today
Posts must be about something you learned

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

Kokomheart@lemmy.ca

JCSpark@lemmy.ca

211

TIL The Sculptor of Mount Rushmore Had Ties to the KKK (en.wikipedia.org)

submitted 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) by TrippyFocus@lemmy.ml to c/til@lemmy.ca

15 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Gutzon Borglum was the sculptor and was involved with the KKK. He was chosen because he was the sculptor of the "Shrine to the Confederacy” which was the inspiration for Mount Rushmore.

Guess it shouldn’t be too surprising given the way the land was taken from the local tribes despite it being sacred.

Credit to this comment by u/alcoholicorn that drove me to look it up.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] kandoh@reddthat.com 1 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I mean — it was a sacred mountain, so I presume it looked interesting and not just 'regular'.

[–] Faydaikin@beehaw.org 3 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

There are pictures of it before the carving.

Though I agree it's a shame to deface nature the way it was, the label of "sacred" is usually attributed to perfectly mundane things in order to make them special.

The Americas are home to some ridiculously beautiful landscapes. I'd be equally appalled if someone had carved the faces into a part of the Grand Canyon.