#OTD: A Native American group called United Native Americans occupied Mount Rushmore on August 29, 1970, to protest the broken Treaty of Fort Laramie. The treaty, signed in 1868, had granted the Sioux rights to all land in South Dakota west of the Missouri River, including the Black Hills where Mount Rushmore is located. The occupation was led by young activists who set up camp behind the carved faces of the four U.S. presidents to demand the return of their land, which the U.S. government took after gold was discovered, violating the treaty. The protest lasted several months and brought significant attention to the unresolved land rights and treaty violations against Native American tribes, particularly the Sioux.
The activists renamed the monument “Crazy Horse Mountain” and raised slogans emphasizing Sioux Indian power. The 1970 occupation is considered the first Indian uprising in South Dakota since the defeat of General Custer in 1876. Subsequent protests and occupations of the site continued to press for honoring treaty promises and returning the land to Native peoples.
The Treaty of Fort Laramie set aside the Black Hills and surrounding areas as Sioux territory, but after gold was found, the U.S. government seized the land illegally, nullifying the treaty without consent. Legal battles have continued, notably a 1980 Supreme Court ruling in favor of the Sioux, though the tribes have not accepted monetary compensation, insisting on land return instead.
