Crazy Horse Monument

"My fellow chiefs and I would like the white man to know the red man has great heroes, too" - wrote Lakota Chief Henry Standing Bear, inviting sculptor Korczak Ziolkovwski to carve a monument of Indian Chief Crazy Horse in the Black Hills. Crazy Horse is known for his part in the Native American resistance to white expansion in the western United States. As a young man, Crazy Horse fought against United States troops in Wyoming under the Oglala chief Red Cloud. Then he became the leader of a band of Oglala and Cheyenne who refused confinement to reservations.

When work started in 1948, it did not have any financial support. Korczak felt that Crazy Horse should be a nonprofit educational and cultural project, built by the interested public and not the taxpayer. Twice he turned down ten million dollars in federal funds, which could have allowed him to finish the project during his lifetime. Now, most of the project financial support comes from admission fees.

In the beginning of the work, Korczak prepared three books of detailed plans for the project, so now, after his death, his sons and students continue the work.

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Last updated: Sunday, September 16, 2001