Snapshot · Empire: World History
In 1980, the Supreme Court ruled the 1877 seizure of the Black Hills unconstitutional and awarded the Lakota $17.1 million plus 103 years of interest, totaling $105 million — money the Lakota refused to accept.
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At 50:27 · chapter starts 50:20
From around the time Rushmore was conceived, the Lakota had been pursuing a land claim against the US government for the theft of the Black Hills. In 1980, that claim found its fullest expression when the Supreme Court sided with a lower court ruling and found the 1877 seizure unconstitutional — 'a more ripe and rank case of dishonorable dealings,' in the court's own extraordinary words. The award: $17.1 million at 1877 values plus 103 years of interest, totalling $105 million. The Lakota refused it. They refuse it today, even as the fund has grown to over $2 billion. Their reasoning is crystalline: taking the money would legally acknowledge that the Black Hills were sold. The Lakota's position, as Davis articulates it, is not that the hills went for a bad price — it's that they were never for sale. It is, Davis suggests, its own kind of monument: a monument to refusal.
In 1980, the US Supreme Court ruled the 1877 seizure of the Black Hills unconstitutional, calling it 'a more ripe and rank case of dishonorable dealings' in American history, and awarded the Lakota $105 million. The Lakota refused — and still refuse today, even as the settlement has grown to over $2 billion. Their position: the hills were never for sale, so there is no price to accept.
The Lakota's refused Supreme Court settlement, worth $105 million in 1980, has grown to over $2 billion today with accrued interest — yet the Lakota still refuse it, insisting the Black Hills were never for sale.
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